Monday, September 26, 2005

Warning: below post is interspersed with SAF lingo. Fortunately
the author has kindly included a glossary at the end. so be nice to
him.

sunday COS duty in SAFPU has got to be the most boring thing on earth. luckily there're still computers with internet in the SOP mess. there's practically no one in camp other than the duty personnel, which in my coy's case is 3 people. i basically burned my sunday sleeping, reading, eating, being online and watching tv, not much difference to what i usually do on a sunday, albeit just in camp. i got so damn bored i found myself observing, with interest (!!!), ants that were attracted to a blob of toothpaste in the washbasin.

and my pet peeve occurred again. this's the 3rd time i'm duty COS, and all 3 times the ration state screws up with some problem. this time round the storeman forgot to put up the coming week's ration state in the COS room, and i had to hunt around in the office for it since i have to tally up the ration state for tomorrow morning's breakfast. stupid storeman, for that i take your magazines, even though i may not read them. ha!

anyway did i mention i've got sore eyes now? my little brother got it, and passed it to everyone in the house. yesterday after i got home from out-camp LIFE run in the afternoon my mom so cleverly told me to babysit my brother, since she was down with the red eyes whilst he's already recovered so she didn't want to go near him in case she infected him again. he was still feverish and didn't make much noise, putting on his best behaviour. although i think it was the fever that shackled him. so i played with him and all, and he sat quietly on my bed while i played maple with my darling girl.

by evening my eyes were red and sore.

ARGH! LIKE WTF LAH!

taking half day off tomorrow to see the doc at the polyclinic cos my camp MO will probably quarantine me in the sick bay instead of giving me Attend C, which is dumb since i stay out. any sane NSF will rather rest(more like slack) at home instead of being stuck in the medical centre's sick bay for a few days.

anyway gotta run, going back to coy line to change out of this MP No.3 thats frigging uncomfortable. wore that for staff parade and didn't bother to change before heading here(SOP). Serie A on tv later, can't wait!

Glossary:
SAF - Singapore Armed Forces. some say Serve And Fuck off
COS - Company Orderly Sergeant. glorified name for company receptionist, poor guy that's in camp while everyone's at home(on weekends lah). not necessarily a Sergeant
SAFPU - Singapore Armed Forces Provost Unit. the military police of the SAF. my unit
SOP - School of Provost. a company in SAFPU that trains soldiers to be military policemen
Mess - army lingo for a rest lounge, with (usually) tv and a table-tennis table
Coy - short for Company
Burned - wasted
Ration - army lingo for a meal
Ration state - record for ration indented from cookhouse
Tally up - to make sure ration consumed matches with ration indented. if not the company will have to compensate the cookhouse, for unconsumed/wasted ration or excess eating by servicemen. duty COS usually signs extra when this happens
LIFE - Lifelong Investment in Fitness and Exercise. the SAF's long-standing campaign for servicemen to keep fit through regular exercise
MO - Medical Officer. doctors in the army. they're fully qualified medical practitioners, though some doubt that
Attend C - medical status that means serviceman allowed to rest at home instead of in camp
Stay out - rare privilege in the army, 8-5 work day instead of staying in camp and booking out on weekends
NSF - National Service Full-time, or Full-time National Serviceman
MP - Military Police, or Military Policeman. some say Multi-Purpose
Staff Parade - parade conducted by camp duty officer to account for all camp duty personnel. its an offence to book out of camp if you're duty COS