Semper Fidelis

2006-10-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

The place: Moudon, French Switzerland
Duration: two days
Event: Pistol/Rifle course

Will return with pics and report.

2006-10-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

I won't go into details about my meeting with the Captain, but I will say it was a success.
I was back on the field on Monday, which was great, because they just so happened to have a little march planned for us. Details: three hours, 45 minutes. 40 kg pack.

2006-09-17T09:19:00.000-07:00

Wherever you are, Baby, you know this is for you...
Kocham Cie

2006-09-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

Tonight I'm going to ask for an official meeting with the Company Commander to have a serious talk about what I'm doing in CDMT section. It's just not acceptable for someone who was able to stay in the six months of Basic to spend a whole repetition course doing bullshit odd jobs. No matter what I may have done. I just hope it isn't some personal thing from one of my superiors that I don't know about...
First I'll ask the sergeant major for a military rule-book, so I can make sure I go through the matter correctly, I know my rights, and I don't slip up in some way. Then I'll talk to the sergeant major and see what other useful info he may be able to offer me.
If they tell me they put me there because of past performance, well, past was past.
Now is now and I'm ready to go.
I'll ask for a week's trial period in the field to prove it to them, and that ought to be enough.

SF

2006-09-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

Onions... gotta love 'em.
And when you're peeling enough for 400 people... it's enough to make anyone cry.
Should have worn my gas mask!

2006-09-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

As you might imagine, cooking a meal for 400 people presents its challenges.
Doing it every day of the week, three times a day, and washing the dishes each meal leaves in its wake can be exhausting. The experience left me with a new respect and appreciation for the guys who, unlike me, are there all the time.
The guys and I worked our butts off and managed to have a good time of it. Check out the pics :)

2006-09-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

A rather unpleasant surprise awaited me at our new barracks.
Instead of being with the regular troops, I was newly assigned to the CDMT section. This is a reserve of people they call on to do menial tasks such as kitchen work, guard duty, shooting guard, et cetera. The irony in this is that there are other people who would just love to be in my place, since it's a relatively easy affair; you just spend three weeks doing physically undemanding work and watch the rest of the lot get wet, cold and dirty... but that's not where I want to be - I didn't invest so much time and effort getting into and staying in fighting fit physical condition just to spend three weeks in the kitchen. I dare say you might call that being 'overqualified' for the job!
Needless to say, I've done quite a lot to try to change the situation, talking to my sergeant, seargeant major, lieutenant, first lieutenant and even the company commander (three times)... but all to no avail. I don't say I tried everything because I suppose that if I had, something would have resulted from my efforts. It would seem I'm stuck for the moment.
However, it's not all bad. As I mentioned before, my situation is not without its advantages.
For one thing, I've had more time to take pictures and make journal entries, and even though they may be far less interesting than they could have been, they do provide some insight into a soldier's daily life which you may find interesting.
Another advantage, which I only really came to appreciate toward the end of the first week, is that I came into contact with a different group of people and got to see things from a totally different perspective, which I will do my best to share with you in some of my following entries.

2006-09-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

2006-09-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

Picture taken during Parents' Day, well into the six months of basic training. Notice the tactical vest. It holds two extra mags, has two grenade pouches and has a pouch on the back for maps or other stuff. Our unit is the only one in Switzerland they are issued to.

2006-09-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

Comrade, Grenadier Heim!

Three days to go and preparations are well underway.
My first repetition course is coming up and to tell the truth I'm very curious... is it going to be anything like Basic?
I mean, sure, it'll be tough, but Basic was a veritable Hell, complete with sadistic demons we had to salute and call seargent or lieutenant...

Anyway, some news has reached me about new command: col. Odermatt will no longer be our school commander. The new commander has already made it clear that things are going to be, if anything, tougher under his loving care.
He stated that if any recruit - or Grenadier - that doesn't more than fit the mould will be, quite unceremoniously, thrown out.

As mentioned, I'm curious to see how everyhing's going to turn out, especially since this is my first rep (repetition course).
I've spoken to two people about it and have received conflicting reports. Hardly surprising.
One was a sergeant-in-training who said they had it so easy they were conducting push-up sessions in the rooms just to fight the boredom... however this was before the change in command. The other version was given sergeant Metaxas, saying that our captain would be a certain Waeber, who apparently chomped on iron bars for breakfast and would just LOVE a little change in diet... us. Sarge Metaxas' warning was that I should start training for some serious walking. Fair enough.

Semper Fidelis