I realised that I tend to post during big transitions in my life. From high school graduation, entering BMT, graduating SCS, and now, finally, coming up to ORD.
Since the last post, much has changed. Germany most of all. Exercise Panzerstrike was the most fun I've had in a long time. Amazing memories were made in Bergen Belsen, bonding with my men, bonding with my fellow tank commanders and generally having a hell of a good time. Photos are up on Facebook. One of the best times of my life, I wish I could go back.
Being in a combat company is much like being in an office, a normal day job. There are periods of tear your hair out, frantic, sleepless running around, and there are days where you wake up at 10am and again at 12 noon. Every second spent in camp and even out of camp is spent glued to your phone, on edge for that call, sms or whatsapp that calls you into action.
Being the HQ Platoon Sergeant is an interesting place to be. For one, while the other platoons have 12 men, my platoon has 17 and all of them as combat ready as the rest. In a platoon, there are usually 2 officers and 2 sergeants. But for HQ, there's only me, and Isaac. Its a big challenge for the two of us to take care of 17 men and all their needs, the last thing you need is a call at night for help or with a dilemma. But in the end, its pretty worth it. Without officers, the load of command is certainly heavy, but it also gives one the freedom and flexibility to command as one sees fit. Part of my responsibilities is planning duties and keeping track of the leave and off of the company, allowing me to experiment with new ways to do stuff. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the work I've been doing. My men always come to me straightaway with their problems, and I always help them in one way or another. That to me is the essence of command, taking care of your charges. The day they stop coming to me with their problems, there would be less work for me, but also means I would have lost their trust.
ORD is coming up, and I have to admit I'm quite stumped as to what to do for the next 9 months before I hop over to UK. I'm going to try for the EDB scholarship again, learn programming in Python and HTML, finally get my driving license. Other than that, I'm going to have to think about some sort of overarching purpose.
