Hi.I'm curious about life as a 3 sgt in units eg. arty or
armour. am currently in sispec, so trying to find out. =)
"Operational life" says it all, lah. Speaking for Arty, if
things haven't changed: you'll join the surviving mono-intakers for
their trade course &, once everyone else is posted in too, the
unit shall train together progessively (i.e BTY EXs, then BN Exs)
to pass the FATEP test & obtain REDCON status. After that, the
unit becomes operational for standbys & mob mannings, etc.
Cyclically, this is done twice in active time (& every ICT
during reservist).
For the old 120mm SP mortars (21 SA), individual BTYs were forever
attached out post-FATEP to support infantry EXs so plenty of
weekends burnt (usually dry runs on Fri & Sat & live firing
on Sun). Dunno how the 155mm units were kept busy, although they've
got their own annual live firing overseas & thus their own
schedule momentum. On the whole, arty & armour also do a lot of
vehicular & equipment maintainence -- even officers are
expected to come down to the garage & help out. On & off,
the unit may also be arrowed to participate in parades/GOHs, to set
up static displays, to do blind clearance, etc. Of course, the
training programme won't neglect regular PT, SOC, unarmed combat,
swimming, etc. either.
The 3SGs shall take turns doing duty DI during these activities,
while also doing COS & guard commander, etc.
