Standard Obstacle Course

The SOC was the most ‘feared’ activity when I was doing my national service 18 years ago. In fact, I was so terrifically bad at the course during boot camp that I failed the course each practice run (and got myself viciously knocked on the head each time by my boot camp instructors), only passing it on the very last few days of Basic Military Training.

Either way, after I was posted into a combat unit half a year later after completing my vocation training, I resolved to train on my own. So, whenever I could in the early evenings when the rest of my bunkmates were having night-outs, I’d stay in and run the course on my own. In retrospect, that sort of stunt was dangerous, since Training Safety Regulations even back then forbade any soldier from attempting the course without proper supervision—the course is one common source of injuries—but I was so fixated with passing the damn thing I didn’t care about very much else.

In any case, 18 years after the fact I’m now older, fatter and weaker. I gave up and sold my Benro A-250EX tripod as the D300 + Sigma 150mm macro + SB-600 setup came perilously close to toppling when mounted onto the thing. A Gitzo, the Mother of All Tripods that one of our smallgroup friend owns (*envy*) was out of the question as it was awfully expensive for the height, usable load and horizontal column configuration I wanted for macro photography. So, I chose the next best; a Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 tripod with a 488RC2 ballhead. It’s also made of carbon fiber which is lighter than aluminum equivalents, but this model is a little longer as it had to meet my eye-level. So, now the entire set up weighs about 2 kg i.e. lighter than the M16 rifle with kevlar helmet, pouches and everything else you carry when running the course, but still.

I was looking around for a suitable tripod bag or strap (the Manfrotto didn’t come with either), and stumbled across a useful read about how people carry tripods. One of the photos on the site is quite a unique way of carrying a tripod, and aptly called “The Swashbuckler”. Now that gave me a chuckle!

Check out the picture on the right here; it comes from the article on that site. The writer for the site has an RSS feed where he posts really good articles on photographic and CS3 tips too, and it’s well-worth bookmarking.

In any case, I don’t think this method of carrying would suit me. The tripod + folded ballhead measures 67 cm from head to toe, and the damn thing would be knocking against my ankles.

So, it’s likely gonna be a Thinktank Bazooka bag assuming if I can’t find anything cheaper. The Bazooka bag looks uber cool, and a couple of people taking pictures in public areas have even been stopped by security thinking those cases are actually rocket launchers or something. :)