Guard Duty

Part and parcel with any military. guard duty.

where ever u are. which ever unit. sea land air. gota do done.

As usual, we had lessons on it. briefed on what to do. how to react to different plays. we were taught all.

in those days, the helmets issued to us was the tin pot, with the inner liner. the outer layer can be taken off.

guard duty for us newbies on that island was just to get us used to it. the long walk. the looking at shit in the night. cant see shit.

the tin pot was taken off. we walked the rounds in just the inner part of the helmet.

every one did it. my turn came. we reported to the “ camp gate” after dinner.

im like, wad camp gate? the whole island is one bloody camp. no fence round our place. the fence is the waters round the island.

we all slept in one large room.

me and my buddy were chosen to do the 3am to 4am slot. bahhhhh. fuk my sleep interrupted.

So, we got woken up. went out to the front. dressed in our shitty SOB, comfy greens, comfy inner liner helmet.

we do not carry guns and bullets. we carried the baton and wicker shield.

our round lasts one hour. 1 hour to walk round camp 3 on the outskirts. some parts we would cross into the camp. but basically, its one large round. we have to pace ourselves. cant walk too fast. cant walk to slow.

so we started. distance between us two, 4-7 meters apart.

many stories were told. here is haunted. there is haunted. when u reach this part, don’t look at that part. do not speak to one another. do not look at that rock outcrop. stick to the pavement. do not drift away from it. don’t not smoke. do not look at that bunk when u reach this corner.

bah so many things they told us. all the do`s and don’ts.  I think we broke so many “laws”. we smoked. we looked everywhere. we even sat down away from the pavement.

one nice view is the main land. from that island at a certain stretch, u can see the skyline of the city. we looked at it everyday we pass that spot. SOC. runs. lessons. but this was the first time we were looking at the city at night. it is a very nice view. with clear skies that is.  that night was clear. could see all the way to downtown. well, that lasted about 1 smoke.

the only sexciting thing that happened was when we neared a part of the SOC ( standard obstacle course). The Jacobs ladder. We were told about this as well. do not look to the top of the ladder.

while passing, I had a very quick look.

did not see anything. but after another 10 meters, I felt a cold chill from my head down to my legs. I kinda walked faster. my buddy walked faster too.

nothing happened.

we walked till we came to a “brighter” area. cool. all cool.

we cont. walking, doing our duty. got back to the guard room. handed over to the next pair.

reported nothing.

as nothing happened.

both of us had a smoke. chatted about wad happened. well, we both came to an agreement.

do as told. do not look if told not to look.

obey orders lol.

that’s it. end of my first guard duty. pretty boring if u ask me.

I went on to do more guard duties later on in my NS. there was only once it was dam sexciting! but that’s a story for another day.

so ended guard duty on that island.