Last Days in Thun/ Bern: The Central Officer's Course

After the UOS I attended the first week of the Panzer/Artillerie Offiziersschule. This first week of any new school or course is known as the KVK, the Kader Vorkurs. That is when all the officers and under officers spend a week together, getting to know each other and prepping for the up coming period of service together.

Though I wouldn't be attending the Pz/Art OS, I was still obliged to attend. While there, we learned some of the basic skills required of an officer: Learning how to read a map, the basic geography of Switzerland, the Tactical signs used on maps and the entire theory block and test on being a military sports instructor (which would come to my aid at a later point). At the end of this all, I was required to return all of the Corps Material (Material that belongs to the army and needs to stay on base) that I acquired during my first week in Thun as a recruit.

The following week, I arrived in Bern at the Mannschaftskaserne in the middle of the city. I was to spent the following four weeks in Bern with all of the aspiring officers from all of the branches of service.

We were divided into three companies, each named after one of the Swiss Generals. (Switzerland has had only four full fledged Generals as they need to be elected and confirmed by the Swiss Parliament) I had the honor of being in the best company: WILLE (Named after Ulrich Wille, General of the Swiss Army during the first World War).

While there I was able to make new friends, see old ones like Suresh G. (who I've know for close to 8 years from the church we both attended in Zurich) Within WILLE we were divided into six classes, each headed up by a Major. Over the course of four weeks, we learned the basic thought processes an officer and platoon leader needs to master, we looked at the various elements of the SAF from the Armoured Corps and Artillery to the Air Force, Special Operations Command and SWISSINT (the Peace Support branch of the SAF). We played Five games of Ultimate Football, not soccer, but American Football. It was interesting. I quickly realized that it was a team building exercise. Our class won out in the end and as the best team from WILLE competed against the best teams from HERZOG and GUISAN (the other two companies). We won against GUISAN and tied against HERZOG. Unfortunately, HERZOG won against GUISAN with a better Goal difference and was declared the victor of the competition.

The best experience out of this all however was the contact I had with people from the different branches of the SAF. Our class, as well as all the other classes were a healthy mix of everything from infantry and engineers to tankers and medics. It was great to be able to swap stories and see how the other half lives. At the end of it all we were a close knit group. We then said our good byes and went our separate ways, off to a week of vacation and then to our respective Officer schools.

L: the badge we had made as a souvenir from our time in Bern
R: The WILLE Co. Badge, comprising the Wille family coat of Arms, the Officer's Dagger and a scroll representing Instruction/Teaching