NS Part 4

Welcome to part 4 of " Life in NS ". In my last post, i talked about my POP and mentioned that i was attending a clerk course. Well, almost 4 months have passed since my last post. I am now posted to and working in Civil Defence Academy.

Looking back at my clerk course. During my 10 day course, we learnt the basics of using Microsoft office. I know it sounds like a joke. But there will be many simple things that you might not know how to do. At the end of the course, there will be a small test, making you use what you have learnt overtime. We were told that if we failed the course, we would be posted to become a General Technician ( Gen Tech ). This is one of the worst, or lowest ranking vocation. In this vocation, you would be given various tasks by your officer in charge that differs from the rest.

One example would be the guard house at the entrance. Working alongside with the provost are the Gen Techs. They do not get to go home at 5 everyday like the rest. They work a ROTA shift. Coming back to the clerk course. I assume the instructors were joking when they said that as i actually failed my test. However, my instructor told me that he would somehow pass me, which he did. At the end of the course, we were told where to report to. Since majority of my friends were staying in the east, they were posted out to 1st Div. Only me and a few others remained. A few of my friends were posted to 4th Div, while another friend a I, were posted back to CDA.

The following day, i reported to the Admin Office, which was where i was posted to. And within a few hours, i got to meet my seniors and learnt what my task was. It took me a while to know and familiarize myself with the office.

I am currently working as a charge clerk, dealing with all of the charges that occur within CDA. As you know, in NS, you can get charged for various reasons. One of the most common reasons is AWOL. Another one is not attending roll call. Civil Defence has its own act and various sections of rules, different from the SPF and SAF, that we have to abide by. I cannot share them due to obvious reasons.

In a month, i receive many cases of NSFs going AWOL, not attending roll call, reporting to the clinic late, caught sleeping etc. When an officer comes to me with a case of his guy doing something wrong, i write down the details in a specific form, similar to a police report. Once i am done with that, i create a case against him in the online system. Once the case gets approved, i get the report printed, along with the provost and the subject himself, meet a specified Junior Disciplinary Officer ( depending on his unit ) . for his trial.

There are also cases of NSFs going AWOL for a long period. After a certain number of days, he is considered a deserter and is also wanted by the police. If he were to surrender himself or gets caught by the police, he will be escorted back to CDA and held in the DB. I would then have to create a case against him, get the report done, along with the JDO, head to the DB to conduct his trial.

I get to see and handle stuff that the public and others would not be able to. For now, this is what i will share. Overtime, i will write in more stuff as i will be handling more duties.