"Sergeant..."

Hey all!!

I am sorry that I haven’t posted anything recently but a lot has happened last week and this week. As I said in the last blog entry, I was class sergeant last week. I will try to explain the duties of the class sergeant. Throughout the Academy, Deputy Johnson has assigned a class sergeant and an assistant class sergeant. The responsibility of both is to ensure that each day and all activities run smoothly. Any problems experienced by recruits are the responsibility of the class sergeants, whom are expected to either solve the problem or inform Deputy Johnson of the situation. If there assignments due, the class sergeants must ensure everyone turns it in. If there happens to be an inspection scheduled for your week, you, as the sergeant, have the responsibility of giving commands, tracking and identifying whatever is wrong with each recruits uniform or other situation during the inspection. In general, the class sergeant is the liaison between the instructors and the rest of the recruits. It is a big responsibility in addition to your normal class work and activities. And it is stressful for one wants to do it right.

With that being said, I actually enjoyed myself. Being in charge and making sure everything is working properly is a good test for the recruits. However, when the class sergeant makes mistakes, it is very obvious to everyone and that sergeant is subject to ridicule and jesting comments that at present appear to be fair game for the rest of his / her natural life. This is experience speaking. As an example of this, I was organizing paper work when Deputy Johnson came into the classroom and says “Excuse me sergeant.” I stood up and answered smartly, “Yes Sir?” Now this all sounds fine and indicates good protocol. However, unknown to me, there was an actual sergeant that was scheduled as an instructor for that day standing right behind me. It is easy to see the results of this exchange that appear to be following me for the rest of my career. In my defense, as I was answering, I did think it was rather strange that the head instructor was calling me “Sergeant’. However, the fact that I was at least thinking it was not right to be addressed as a sergeant does not really matter in the large and intertwined life of harmless harassments regarding mistakes. For the rest of the day, Deputy Johnson addressed me as “sergeant” in what I thought to be rather a sarcastic tone of voice considering the situation. I am sticking to my story that he really was talking to me and that he was just practicing, getting use to calling me by that rank for when it actually happens. (I am kidding of course). Even with the sarcastic comments I have received throughout the halls of the academy, it is all in good fun and was a good time. I enjoyed it.

Big test Today and must get back to prepping for that

…. Until later…

Kevin