The big acronym that kept me busy on Thursday: COS.
But before I
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COS means Company Orderly Sergeant. As the name implies, this job is actually done by a specialist. But in my unit where there is not enough specialists to go around, the men with the rank of Corporal have to do this too. Hence the running joke "Corporal Or Sergeant". The difference lies in that once we the men start doing COS duties we no longer have to do guard duties.
COS is the running equivalent of a general desk reception clerk in the corporate world. Basically I am the point of contact of all matters on that day, answering all the phones that ring in the office and disseminating information to concerned personnel, which means the contact list is my best friend for that day.
From being at the receiving end of saikang arrows I am now at the shooting end. During duty everytime someone asks for people to help him I need to provide him the manpower, but being the bad guy and calling up those who are free.
On that evening I pull the flag down, and the following morning the flag up, together with the other two COSes, and everyone knows that handling the flag is probably more important than handling your own life. The flag must not touch the ground, the flag must be hung the right side up ["Red is up or down?"], the flag must be folded nicely etc etc.
Keeping track of personnel movement in and out of camp is also my job. I need to know who is on MC, who is going for medical appointments, who is in camp, who is not.
COS duties aren't that easy to do as I have come to realised; my first duty wasn't that bad because most of the regulars were out of camp. Comparing guard duties with COS duties, both are hard work. Fortunately I don't have many months left [Choy!].
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This was the second time I was involved in the organising of Army Half Marathon, since my unit was the organiser for both last and this years. Like last year I was attached to the same senior specialist to help out at the command post, like setting up and tearing down the command post, laminating printouts, helping the commanders buy coffee, get them food etc, because you don't expect the commanders to do so.
Arrived on Friday afternoon to set up the command post, this time at Padang instead of the floating platform last year. Stayed back until nighttime to watch the Fireworks Festival before going home, reporting the next morning, all the way until Sunday afternoon where we tore down the command post and went back to camp to unload the stores.
It was a miracle that the run proceeded on as usual, because it was raining for most parts of Friday and Saturday. Even as we monitored the weather on Saturday night the forecast was still expecting thunderstorms the following morning. Luckily the skies cleared in time for the run, coming down again only after the race when we were halfway tearing down the command post.
The only complaint many had was the mud at the Padang field, no thanks to the rain from the previous two days and subsequently the 30,000+ participants' feet that helped turned the once green field into complete brown mud bath, with many cursing and swearing [I could hear them] as they walked through the field in their sports shoes.
I made possibly one of the best decisions in my life when I decided to turn up in my combat boots on Saturday. Haha.
Upcoming this week, yet another battalion full troop exercise, hopefully it will not be too xiong. Can I start smelling my ORD air?
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