Posting Order

Basic Section Leader Course concluded last Friday, after 8 weeks of training as an infantry specialist.

And with that, I’m posted out to another vocation.

My condolences to my fellow comrades who got posted back to infantry, and will continue with the Advanced Section Leader Course. Spending the whole two years of your army life in infantry must really- *emotion censored by Official Secrets Act*.

There are the happy people who were posted to Provost. A highly selective group of honorable, honest and well-behaved bastards who have such clean history that the military police would want them.

There are the lucky people who were posted to Air Force. A highly selective group of lucky kids who probably don’t need to carry a rifle or wear the kevlar helmet for the rest of their national service.

And there are the confused people who were posted to CBRE. A highly selective group of expendable and insurance-covered dogs whose duty requires them to stand up against major active terrorist threats, and not some imaginary enemy the rest of the defence force is preparing for. They are also known as the bomb squad.

I happen to one of those expendable and insurance-covered dogs.

CBRE, which is Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosives in full, is exactly what it is.

We deal with chemicals that burn your eyeballs out. We deal with biological nanobots attack that may destroy the entire eco-system. We deal with radioactive things like… North Korea. And we go around defusing explosive mines that those infantry bastards planted, or unexploded bombs that those Air Force kids dropped.

Just kidding. We do nothing but suffer in training, actually.

I have read, online, the horrors of being in the unit.

But what I don’t understand is this:

Why must we dig shellscrapes in the chemical-proof suit that seems like winter-wear for Antarctica, when we just need to deal with terrorists threats?

Outside: Total coolness. Total protection.

Inside: Living hell of sweat, heat and tears.