The Practical Service

After a week of Vacation at the End of Officer School, 19 Aspiring Translation Officers from all over Switzerland, arrived at the Barracks in Kloten to begin 15 weeks of training in the art and finesse of being a Translation Officer.

At first I was unaccustomed to the amount of paper/office work this required. I made some great friends while there however. On base were also a few of my friends from officer's school who were leading their platoons there for the next 14 weeks before they went on for 7 weeks of service in the field.

We were training in a host of things from effective communication and the presentation of plans and ideas, to 3 weeks of intensive language courses as well as planing trips around Switzerland for fictional visiting dignitaries, consecutive and simultaneous interpretation, Swiss History, Swiss Politics and the Political System, Etiquette and fine dining/manners. All of which was interesting and gave a nice and constant change in pace and topic.

Towards the end of our Service, at the beginning of June we were all promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. (Leutnant in German). The Promotion ceremony was held in a 12th century church in Dübendorf. Not only our class teacher Major Fäs from Officer School, but the Colonel and our Brigadier General were in attendance. The ceremony itself was well done, a timely and eloquently put piece by the Military Chaplain of the Brigade as well as a funny and inspiring speech by the former head of the Military Intelligence Service (a close friend of our commanding Officer during the Practical Service).
What made the ceremony quite special for me was the attendance of my former XO (Executive Officer) from boot camp who originally gave me the recommendation to become a Translation Officer.

Shortly after our promotion, a few of us attended our Officer's Ball, which was held at the Victoria Jungfrau Hotel in Interlaken. I had the honor of being accompanied by the lovely Teal S. I had such a great time seeing many of my friends from officer school as well as a few from central officer training in Bern.

Before I knew it, the 15 weeks of service were up on the 20th of June and so too came to an end almost a years worth of consecutive Service in the Army. I was glad it was over, but the transition back to civilian life would definitely take some getting used to.