NS Terms Guide for Families and Partners
National Service can sound like a second language from the outside. Someone says he is in camp, waiting for a posting, hoping for a certain vocation, and unsure whether the next place is stay-in. Those words describe different parts of the journey.
The useful mental model is:
service → basic training → posting → vocation training or command school → unit life
A camp is a place. A unit is the organisation he belongs to. A vocation is the work or functional role he is trained for. A posting is the assignment that tells him where to report next.
This guide is for parents, partners, siblings, and friends who want to understand the basics without guessing an individual's schedule. It is unofficial. The Enlistment Notice, posting order, unit instructions, commanders, CMPB, OneNS, and the relevant uniformed Service override anything here.
