Mar 04 2009
reservist training
Howdy folks…yes this update is long overdue.
I’ve been away from work for over a week now because I’m doing my military reservist training. In Singapore, this happens about once a year where they call us back for about 2 weeks to “refresh” our minds so that we don’t forget what we are doing in the military world.
It’s kind of fun actually and usually it’s a great time of catching up with old friends. This time though I’ve joined a new unit and am currently attending a training course. So it’s back to school once more and boy…has it been tough. My guess is that they tried to fit a few months worth of work into a 2 week course so you can imagine the kind of crash course we are literally going through. But it’s been good, somehow when you are forced to learn quick, you usually do, guess it’s the whole sink or swim concept.
What I also really enjoy about these yearly “retreats” is the chance to hang out with the guys and to see the world from another point of view. You see, military life is just so different from the world outside. They have their own way of doing things in pretty much everything they do. And when you come in from the outside, it takes a bit of time to re-adjust. A lot of times, you find yourself fighting it because “their” way of doing things just seems so counter productive. For example, you work on something and you are told of all these processes and templates you have to go through and fill out. It’s like you have to go through 10 steps to achieve something when it could probably have be done in 5 steps. So the thinking part of you fights it and keeps asking why. Then a few days later when you are more ingrained into the system, you begin to understand why it requires 10 steps. You may not agree with it, but you realize whey it’s not done in 5 steps. Anyhow the joke is that even if you could do it in 5 steps, the military would probably expand it to 10 because “complicated is good and simple is bad”. After all, how can I show you how “smart” I am if it was that easy to achieve what I did!
But don’t get me wrong, it’s not all like that. Many within the military are trying to change that old school of thought. They understand the need to adopt the change, to move with the times and to skip unnecessary “showmanship” steps that are really just there for show. But they have a tough fight because they fight a system that is built on rhetoric and hierarchy. The military works on a top down approach and that is unlikely to ever change. It can’t because that’s what makes it the military.
Well, I’m down to the last 2 days of the course. We wrap up on Friday and it’s back to the real world on Monday. I must say it’s been a wonderful learning experience. Though we keep complaining about it (you have to, it’s like a requirement for men in the reserves to do so), I can tell that the guys (about 20 of us) have had a fruitful experience. We’ve learnt more than we thought we would and for me that is the best takeaway from it. So if any of you who taught the course get to read this, I say…thanks guys!
That’s it. Now you know where I’ve been. Thanks for the comments and the emails, keep them coming in!
