…they don’t like the police, they don’t expect you to disobey their commands, stopping you from wearing soldier wears is actually a law for the good of the citizens, The call to kill Boko Haram is against the military and civil law. Rigorous training, sensitivity, intelligence is what drives every soldier.
The queue at the BRT terminal in Lagos was much yesterday. I found myself on the line regardless, right behind this guy that won’t get off the phone. I realized, if I don’t get what to eat, I might not be able to stand for the next one hour forty-five minutes envisaged, so I tapped on this guy’s elbow to get his attention off the phone “Please, I’m next to you, I just want to get something”. All he gave me was a nod with a straight face. Well, Lagos guys are like that, so, I could careless about the ego he is trying to display as I assumed.
The line moves when a bus comes to take some who has earlier being on the queue. When he moves I move. He looks so young in his pair of jeans and a polo shirt with the black and white sneakers. As we were about to make an entry into the bus, one of the securities at the terminal nudged the driver towards the next terminal and that made a lot of us grunt at this because we could not wait any longer to get seated in a bus and be on our way home.
Lightly in my masculine tone, I said “No try anything funny o, make we no go clear your doubt for here” the guy in front of me looked back and smiled, that was a first for the night and said; “You are funny o” and that was the beginning of my fruitful conversation with a soldier on the BRT bus.
We sat together and he asked how I came about that military terminology of ‘clear your doubt’, I had no explanation, I just heard it from somewhere and I say it. He laughed again and that was when he told me he was a soldier and we began first with light talks like where I work and he telling me how taking a boat will help me avoid stress and save me time. I decided to find answer for all my questions on the life of a soldier.
He is an E.M.E Electric and Mechanical something, I did not get the rest. part of his training entails assembling and disengaging weapons, He showed me a picture of him doing that with his eyes closed. That was hot! Thank God I am a christian. The man who will remain anonymous through out this writing said, every soldier finds a weapon to fight with as soon as they find themselves in any environment and that is key.
The reason they don’t like policemen is because they are not disciplined on the course, they disrespect the force based on some of their actions. He cited an example of a police officer holding a riffle with bathroom slippers on and so the gross misconducts has caused them being at logger heads with the police force.
He further said, soldiers mandating that civilian puts on a wear that looks like a force uniform is for the good of the citizen. Reason being, If armed men comes to an environment where you as a civilian happens to be wearing a carmo uniform, you will be attacked because you are assumed to be skilled in attaching them or disarming them, so the first launch of attack will be on you. I went further to ask him what the fight against the Boko Haram terrorist was like for him in Maduguri based on his earlier mention on his posting there, and he explained that two laws guides the military; the civil law and the military decree, unlike we civilians who are guided by just the civil law. It was at this point he told me that the launch of attack on Boko Haram was against those laws because a soldier is meant to protect citizens of its given territory no matter what, not attacking them, enemies coming into the territory are the ones to be attacked and not the other way round. But commands are not argued as a soldier.
I even learnt some tactics to protect myself; I was taught the on-sight cover and off-sight undercover. The on-sight cover is when the enemy sees you or knows you, but you are able to quickly determine the capability of the weapon in use and you are able to find your weapon or protect yourself from the weapon, the off-sight undercover is you not letting the enemy identify you before you strike them. I was also taught the entry and exit. Don’t go out through the path or door you came in through.
An exiting bus ride after I thought I was having a weird day. Thumbs up to the Nigerian military. God bless Nigeria!
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