So as I find myself moving quickly from place to place, squeezing past small gaps between people on the pavements, marveling at the seemingly slow movements of many of those around me, and the sheer difference in speed between those who were ambling gently along, and those who were, like me, in a rush to get somewhere on time, I began to wonder about the ability to move quickly.
Of course, the movement of people on the street is an unusual thing in itself - dictated by peoples schedules, attitude, a love for the scenery in a new place, amongst other things, so I quickly found myself going off on a tangent, and finding myself thinking on something I have seen in my time away with the OTC.
One of the weekends just passed, many of the freshers were out being taught various skills for working out in the field. They learnt how to set up bashers (the shelters we use whilst out in the field), cook rations, use camouflage effectively, amongst other things. And in watching a little of the activities of each of the groups, whilst going about my own activities, I saw there were vast differences in some of the sections, and even in the people in those sections, in their ability to do, quickly and effectively, what they were told to. Some people did things almost immediately, and others took much longer.
In the OTC, and the army in general, the ability to move quickly, and accurately, is exceptionally important to the welfare of all the people involved. Going out on your first exercise or two, you very quickly learn that you have to be ready to move at all times, and if you're smart, you'll pick up ways to do things faster, and vastly reduce the time it takes to get things done.
You keep things all packed away when you aren't using them. You sleep with your webbing and rifle next to you so that you can throw them on in seconds if you're attacked in the middle of the night, and you learn the fastest way to throw on all your kit Leaving enough space in the middle section of your bergen to shove your sleeping bag in without the need to roll it. Using the time it takes for your food to cook to shove some extra polish on your boots to help keep the water out, or change your socks, or dry out your boots, and feet if water has already found its way in. You buy extra bungee cords to tie your bashers up with so that if you need to run in the middle of the night, it only takes seconds to take down and stuff away, and you don't have the palava of cutting down strings. All these things are done so that we can move immediately if the need strikes, and so we try hard to learn.
When we were on annual camp, against one of the other OTCs, the plan, and the harbour area changed very quickly. Our ability to move quickly as a platoon, and as a company served us very well throughout the course of the exercise, and made a massive difference to the way the exercise turned out, even though we were a much smaller company.
I guess, being used to this kind of preparedness, and ability to move quickly over bad terrain, or just move quickly in general, you find yourself pushing the new freshers to move quickly, and getting annoyed at those who either ignore your advice, or don't seem to be able to move with any amount of speed, as both my colleagues and I found at the weekend, although we know that those who last in the OTC and enjoy being there will be the ones who eventually pick up tips, and indeed come up with their own ways of speeding up, because being able to do things at the speed people want them done means exercises become much more enjoyable, and in camp, you end up with more time to do as you want once the important stuff is out of the way. In short, the people who learn to do things faster will have more time to enjoy themselves.
So in the field, we can all learn to be quick, on time, etc. but how does that translate into the real world?
Well for a start, I hate to be late. I've always disliked it somewhat, and made an effort to be on time to everything. Now I truly can't stand it, and I don't like it in other people either. That's why you can find me pounding down the road between campuses in an effort to make it to my next lecture on time, even if I do usually end up being there 5 or 10 minutes early, before most of those with bicycles or cars have even bothered to come into the lecture theatre.
Usually, its also obvious when the fire alarm goes off. My stuff if almost always packed away all together in a bag at my feet. It doesn't take two seconds to grab when the alarm goes off. As much as you're told not to take your stuff when the fire alarm goes off, who doesn't grab their most prized possessions if they're close at hand, be it their phone (which is usually in my pocket as it is), their laptop, or something more personal. I generally think that what they mean is "don't grab your stuff if it will take time, and don't go back for something you've left." Most people can grab a bag and jacket at their feet as they stand up, and not take any more amount of time to do it. That said, people, please do what your fire drill says: Never go back for something if the fire alarm goes off.
On the other hand, this is in no way true for my flat. If I had to move out immediately, it would probably take me a good few days to do. If not much longer. My flat is my haven from time constraints. The only thing I've to ever worry about is what time I have to leave. There is no way I could apply the same high energy speed techniques as I do to the OTC to my home life. I need time to relax, rewind and reboot. My home is time for that.
Of course, flat-time is not my only reboot-time. Most Wednesdays, after lectures have finished, I will take a wander around the botanical gardens, regardless of weather, and have some down-time in nature. I'll wander aimlessly, and watch others do exactly what I do during the rest of the week - rushing around - and enjoy the gentle quietness of free time.
I guess you could say I'm hard-wired to work hard, play hard, but that wouldn't be entirely true either. I work hard, then relax. There is rarely a reason for me to play harder. Sure I socialise, and go out with friends for a pint often, but thats only part of my relax-time. My time off (when I'm not doing OTC or uni work) is often spent carving miniatures from wood, sewing, painting, or writing, often to gentle music. In otherwords, doing relaxing, gentle, time-wasting, slow things. And I love it like that.
No comments:
Post a Comment