When I started my duty earlier this evening at about 6pm, I had a quick chat with the ICT whom I was taking over and we started talking about how we are being taken advantage of this cycle because the active soldiers didn't seem to have any manpower issue for us to be covering so much of their duties. We were really having a nice chat until the active soldier that I am currently stuck with chimes in and goes...
"Sir, its already 6pm, your duty has ended, you can leave now."
... to my ICT friend, which was unnecessary because my friend is very aware he can leave, the moment I arrived, he knows he can leave, we have been doing this shit longer than the active, the reason he is staying is because we are having a conversation.
But upon hearing that comment, my ICT friend just nodded his head and made his way back to return his rifle and as he was leaving, he kept making hand gestures of how "up there" the active was, to which I just shake my head at how unlucky I was to be paired up this fella and then proceed to start taking out all the items I had in my vest and laid them out on the table, items which includes snacks, phone and my portable charger.
The goal tonight was to just watch Netflix and Disney Plus until the duty ended because its going to be pretty quiet. I was planning to strike a conversation with the active solider midway through the duty and we can have at least have an hour of chatting before we went about to do out own stuff again as that is how it usually goes, but after he chased my ICT mate away, I just didn't feel very talkative because he didn't seem very approachable.
So I did what I had set out to do from the start and started watching my show, there was a new episode of Hawkeye out and I figured I will just stream that. At the start, the active would glance over once in a while and I thought maybe he was interested to watch the show as well, I didn't offer initially because they were just quick glances and not really the lingering type, but after 10 minutes, and this was right after he came back from the main gate that he had to open for an outgoing car, he suddenly approaches me and goes...
"Do you know what you duties are? As the sentry, you are supposed to follow me at all times and protect me with your rifle."
...I was a bit stunned and just looked at him for a while, he wasn't rude when he said it, it was almost instructional and firm, but he was also actively avoiding eye contact. The active commanders don't talk to an ICT that way but here I was, being spoken to about how I should he doing my duties by a newbie who just joined the camp for a little over a month with a rank of a Private no less, I carry the rank of a Corporal.
In terms of hierarchy, I am about 2 ranks above him, throw in the fact that I am also an ICT, he is pretty much at the bottom.
So I just went Okay and he goes and sit back down on his chair, which is facing this giant fan, a position he would stay in for the entire duration of the duty period unless there were outgoing and incoming vehicles, it was really weird. I wasn't angry when he said that to me to want to cuss him out, but I was definitely annoyed enough to write a rant text to my friend.
I mean the fact that he think I, an ICT who spends 95% of my time as a civilian, would have the confidence to open fire at an Intruder, to protect him is fucking hilarious, chances are I might actually end up shooting him by accident. I'm very sure even the active soldiers would freeze up if they are suddenly required to open fire at another human being, what makes him think I could do that.
He doesn't understand that all this is really just for show, a show that I don't really want to put up for a bunch of Bangladeshi workers leaving the camp, because those were the personnel's who were leaving the camp prior to him coming up to me and schooling me about my duty as a sentry.
Anyways, I went back to watching my Show and I did get up and followed him a bit whenever he was opening the gantry for the cars because that is technically what I am suppose to do and something I would have eventually started doing regardless or whether he "schooled" me about it or not. The reason I didn't do it at the start was because the outgoing vehicles were all contractor lorries, and I didn't think it was necessary to "put on a show" for a bunch of Bangladeshi workers because at the end of the day, that is what it really is, we are just putting up a show, and the truth is, when the higher ups sees our ICT pass, they would usually close one eye if we are not performing up to the highest standard.
We don't talk for a while but then I notice he was literally just sitting in front of the fan and not even using his phone, so I decided to approach him, offered him a mentos to try and spark a conversation, asked him how long he has been in the base hoping we can start chatting because he was going to be my life line if I needed to use the toilet as he was the one with the walkie talkie required to request for a replacement, but this guy turns down my mentos offer and then just gives me the driest response, clearly not interested to talk, and the tone he replied back with sounded like I had offended him.
I tried, it didn't work, so I just gave up and left him alone for the entirety of the duty, I ranted to my friend and also to my ICT mate whom I replaced earlier and the general consensus was that the active soldier needed a good reprimanding and just be ignored for the entirety of the duty, I wasn't really keen to ask him to go fuck himself because I don't really want any feeling of hostility in the air, but I did ignore him for the rest of the duty.
I will say though, watching him do his duty is very fascinating because he is constantly giving 100% all the fucking time, do full checks on every single incoming vehicle, even though the outgoing traffic is starting to pile up, and doing all the traffic hand signals with fully straightened arms every single time.
If he was part of my platoon 9 years ago, he would definitely be an outcast because he is so fucking rigid and by the book and I feel like he doesn't have any people skill. I will have another duty at midnight tomorrow and it is still with his group, so I really hope I won't be so unlucky to be stuck with him again.
UPDATE:
UPDATE:
After sharing my experience with the other active soldiers that I was assigned to do my other duties with about this Social Retard, it turns out that the Social Retard is pretty much the Platoon's weirdo and no one really talks to him very much.
Some of the newer guys from the other Platoon who were in the same training batch as the SR also knows who the guy after I just share with them the initials on his uniform. One of my ICT mates actually managed to start a conversation with the SR and he learnt that SR wanted to become a commander after BMT. I really cannot imagine him going through command school and coming out as a Lieutenant, the guy has no social skills at all, he has no people skills, how the hell does he expect to lead a bunch of men under him with that rigid personality of his?
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