PARRRRAAAADE SHUN!!!!
you can find part 1 of Olumide's camp story here
Every
day begins officially with the sounding of the bugle (Wake-up call) at 0520hrs.
However, most people are already awake, bathed and dressed in their whites
moments prior. For those who overslept, well, speaking from experience, I’d say
waking up to the bugle is one of the most frustrating moments in camp.
In
the first few days of camp, I was bewildered by the sheer number of corpers on
the parade ground. Well, not as much as the sight of them in their whites. I
and some unregistered at the time, in mufti, looked out of place alongside
others. One of the funniest events at the morning parade, especially during the
first week was the “flashes”. Yes, camera flashes. Corpers were taking pictures
of themselves in whites very early in the morning. It was hilarious at some
point, and then it became outright annoying as the flash contrast with the dark
sky started causing me headaches.
Credit,
of course goes to the daily morning meditation to which we were to “soberly
reflect” on a form of admonition delivered by a fellow corps member. Later, the
warm up exercises which included jogging from the second week, followed by
marching practice by the platoons. This goes on until about 0800hrs when we go
for breakfast. At this point, most people were intrigued by the nature of the
morning drilling and were hence addicted to it; the weather was still cool. It
is now afternoon time and the bugle is blown again for the afternoon parade and
here we get a little bit of drama. The sun is high, combined with the humidity,
makes for a very uncomfortable weather. Corps members who decided to observe
the siesta are still sleepy eyed and the overall motivation to attend the
afternoon parade is absent. The camp officials now have to resolve to chasing
us out of the hostels to the parade ground, with the R.S.M (still don’t know
what it stands for) in the lead. This became quite the unbearable experience
and hence led many corps members to seek refuge in other areas, but that is a
story for another time.
…to be continued in Part 3: “Busy Week
(Lectures)”
+Monsur Sokunbi is a batch C 2013 Eko Koppa
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