Second, it shows that in spite of years of training, of being subjected to a strict system of surveillance and control and in spite of continuous drills and exercises, the sergeant-major in question did not show signs that all this had had any significant effect on the way he was supposed to think and act – i.e. as a soldier and not as a fellah/civilian. Having come across a fellow villager, it was natural for him to extend him an invitation to stay with him on the camp and he could not see why his commanding officers were so harsh and inhospitable to his visitor. When his friend was arrested he could not see why he was being reprimanded and punished. His body might seem to have been closely controlled, but his heart and mind appeared to still belong to a different world, that of civilian life back in the nostalgically remote lands of Egypt.

XREF: Connects to loc 664's claim that surveillance aimed to bind soldiers' minds, not just bodies — here we see that project failing. XREF: Contrasts with loc 656's claim that military routine deliberately ruptured soldiers from civilian lives. Pays off: "Surveillance aimed to bind soldiers' minds, not just bodies."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 1110