It’s a pity mobile phones and recording devices aren’t allowed in military installations any more. Or else, what a rich tapestry of you know, stuff, a blogger could take out of the things that go on in military installations that are really, you know, interesting.
I’d wish one and all a Happy New Year, but truth be told, I’ve been so depressed lately, it’s been hard to offer well-wishes.
I even found it difficult to muster a chuckle when listening to the Physical Training Instructor (PTI) at Remedial Training speak in the lingo we know and love as Army-Speak, whereby you talk like that, alright, and you punctuate your sentences alright, whereby you will be able to be heard loud and clear, alright?
But I am glad for Remedial Training. For the uninitiated, RT is what happens to you if you’re so unfit you keep failing the Individual Physical Proficiency Test the Army makes you do until you’re 40 years of age; or if you, like me, couldn’t get organised enough in the past year to remember to attend the Individual Physical Proficiency Test.
This is my second RT stint, the first being three years ago when I forgot to attend the Test because I went fishing.
It is inconvenient, this Remedial Training, because you have to take time off work and book yourself in to an Army Fitness Conditioning Centre (FCC) twice a week for a month, after which if you still cannot pass the Test, they make you book yourself into an FCC thrice a week for another month.
It almost makes you wish you were fitter, better organised and more motivated.
But I digress. I’m talking about Remedial Training here because it’s interesting how it’s changed in the last three or so years. The PTIs actually keep asking after you, how you’re doing, whether you’re feeling well, and if you don’t think you can push yourself to run harder, it’s actually ok with them.
In the words of the Commanding PTI, who said last Wednesday, and I quote,
“We don’t expect you to be training whereby you are like preparing for the Allumpics“
And I find that strangely comforting.
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