SO HOT

Just started work on wed. SO HOT. People ask what's so hot about the job. It's just an acronym for Staff Officer to Head Operations & Training. Not like anyone cares right. Just some NS thing.
Yea. Just some NS thing. Just for your info, I'm stationed in the Commander's Office, being secretary to both Commander and Dy Commander with the other guy who's really the Staff Assistant to Commander. There wasn't enough space in the Operations & Training Registry where I'm actually supposed to be.

The people in the station are very nice. And as an NSPI, I get a lot of respect from everyone in the station. People actually greet me, "Good morning/afternoon, Sir." Not that I deserve it. They probably know more than me, and have more experience than me. Rank has it's privileges. It's the 2 diamonds on my shoulders and the tucked out shirt doing all the work.

Bert has also been posted to Foxtrot division with me. He's an Assistant Manpower Officer (AMPO). One of the first things he did when he got there: assigning me to go for operations for the Thaipusam procession last Thur. Ops is as exciting as it can get for Staff Officers like me. Thaipusam was okay. Just keep everything orderly, ask them not to make as much noise, ask those who climb the barriers to climb back and seizing musical intruments they're not supposed to play. I found that to be a weird instruction to carry out. Since when were they not allowed to play music during a procession like Thaipusam? It wouldn't even be a Hindu occasion without the traditional musical instruments. Oh whatever, I just closed one eye to the traditional ones and asked those with other drums and such to stop playing and hide them. My partner, a regular Woman Police Officer I was randomly assigned with, just followed what I did. She had a Sergeant rank. This is what I mean by rank has its privileges. She has to follow what I say, even though she has been in the force longer than me and has more policing experience than me, just because I'm a Senior Officer. Like Tobey Mcguire said in the movie Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility. With my Inspector rank, I have to know what to do in situations like that. For instance, we had our dinner at the rest station before we were deployed and our Officer In-Charge said he would see us after we finished. After dinner when we came out, he wasn't anywhere to be found. As the next Officer in terms of rank, the others looked to me for further instructions. Even though I had no clue just like all of them as to what to do next. I could only try calling the Inspector (he was a regular, not NS like me) and message him when he didn't pick up. Luckily, I had been paying attention during the briefing in the station earlier and taken down the numbers of the Officers In-Charge for the ops in my sector. Ah well.
Everyone expects NSPIs to be capable of handling stuff like this, because we have the rank. It's not as if we were actually trained to face situations like this. What I learnt in my OCT course was... basically useless information and facts. Lifeskills are what help me out as an NSPI. Not knowing that the punishment for rape is 20 years imprisonment and fine or caning or that
rape by having sexual intercourse with a woman under 14 years of age with or without her consent carries a minimum of 8 years imprisonment & 12 strokes of the cane. Who cares man?

Ops finished at around 1.30am, it was 2am when we reached the station and 2.30am when I at last reached home. Since I didn't ask Head Ops what time to report for work on Fri, I came back at the usual time of 8.30am. I worked until I received an invitation from one of my newfound friends in the PNS department to take the place of someone at the Foxtrot Dinner & Dance function that evening as the person would not be able to make it. I accepted and asked my Commander for permission to leave early to prepare for the function which he was kind enough to give me. Left for home at 4.45pm. I get to claim hours for doing ops the previous night and was released from work slightly early. So yay. Dinner & Dance was okay. I was sitting with Voluntary Special Constables (VSC) Officers. They're the nice people who volunteer their time to help out the Police. They were pretty old and probably very senior in rank. However, as the table was very far away from the stage, it wasn't as pleasant as it could have been. The menu for the night was Chinese, which meant I had to use chopsticks, which I am not very proficient with. That did not make a pleasant dining experience for me as well. But the program for the evening kept me entertained enough to get through the evening. I should not complain. I did not even pay the $10 for the ticket which was worth $61. I am grateful for being able to go for the dinner and mingle with my new friends in Foxtrot.

I hope I am assigned to do more ops and will have a happy 10 months working there until my ORD.