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Friday, June 26, 2009, 10:15 PM
I was enlisted into the Service on 12 June 09, thank God that Siew Peng and Samuel came to send me off. Really appreciate them =) I could see the Changi Airport Tower clearly from my room... the vast sea... the jetty... oh! when the weather is clear, I could see the Central Business District as well (no joking). I'm quite surprised to see that, it really goes to show how small Singapore is.
There's a lot of regimentation and discpline over here as compared to the civilian living. Everywhere we go, either we march or we run. My section mates are nice people although our background are pretty much diversified. There are "ah bengs".. and "civilised" people. Ah, don't really know how to describe, nevertheless, they are nice people =) I could mingle with them pretty well except on some issues. Ever since the day I introduced to myself..what I did in Polytechnic.. ah, felt quite funny =\ My section mates sometimes called me "scholar" or "wiser", my platoon mates occasionally called me that too. Felt weird. After coming into the Army, I really thank God that after NS, i could return to studying.. cause over here, i'm quite surprised to learn that in fact, there are less than 8 people out of 45 of my platoon heading over to University.
Okay, on the training... every night, generally, we sleep at 10:30pm, and the next day, wake up at 5:30 am and to assemble at the parade square by 5:45am. Usually I woke up pretty early, around 4.00am plus I would wake up to do my laundry.. settle my spirit.. visualize my future. We do Physical Training (PT), Combat Physical Training 1 (CPT 1), Combat Physical Training 2 (CPT2), Strength Training (ST) and also Basic Close Combat Training (BCCT). To add on, we also do road marching. To date, we have completed 9 km of road march. The load we carry is pretty heavy! Oh dear. And it's not even full battle order (FBO). Okay, items include this stupid helmet, body vest, a jack knife, 1 full water bottle, 1 full water bag, 1 bayonet, 1 rifle and sling. The vest itself included magazine pouches, utility pouch, grenade pouch, SOG pouch and torch light pouch. Personally, I enjoyed the Basic Close Combat Training alot alot! =) They taught us how to fight using fists, elbows and legs. We were taught at which part of the body we should target to inflict maximum damage to the enemy. We were also told to be aggressive. Every move we did, we shouted with all our might and there was swiftness in our movements.
On one day, which I considered quite miserable.. we wore all of the above.. did 3 km of road marching.. came back, super drained.. cause of the super hot weather, by the way, I have become much tanner than before, had sunburnts in my left and right shoulders... exhausted already, and guess what? with all the stupid helmet, sweat, vest, rifle, water bottles.. they gave us 1 minute to run and assemble at the 5th storey (the highest level in the block) and we can only use 1 staircase. Obviously this is not possible, 45 people dashing up a staircase and to assemble in an order manner? And true enough, just when I reached the top, super exhausted, they gave new command, in 1 min, run down and assemble. We dashed down once again, in all our rush, making sure our rifle is in good condition (if not we would have hard time maintaining the condition). Okay, now gasping for breath, we were given military commands to execute drills. We screwed up big time. When it was supposed to turn right, I believe because of all the "crazy stuffs" that the Sergeants gave.. our fellow platoon mates can't differentiate the command clearly. Some turn left and some turn right. And this error kept going on.. until.. the Platoon Sergeant shouted, "******************************!!!!!!!!! can't even do a Keluar Baris (dismissal from the parade)?? What the ************** you are doing? ***** you!" He spoke that so loud that even the Whiskey and Scorpion company recruits turn their heads back to look at us. And we were given 5 minutes to run up again and assemble. Sounds good? 5 mins instead of 1 min.. by the time we reached.. our bunk just had a tornado, everything was flipped over and we were at pumping position.
Oh yes, everyday, without fail, we need to do many chin ups. At least 45 chin ups a day when I included the CPT 2 requirements. My arms hurt badly now. During the 2nd day after I was enlisted, I could do 10 pull ups in one shot. Now, after going through the training, my muscles ached so badly that I could only do 1 or even 0. My commander said it is normal, so hopefully things may improve. So to hit the 45 chin ups target, is... really...tiring.. I need to split them up in many sections. 2.4 km running is fun! =) I enjoy running the coastal line... could listen to the waves.. feel the howling wind... enjoy the sun!
During my free time... I read my book I bought in Malaysia.. I'm glad I brought that book in, if not I would be bored to death.. and probably grow smaller in my inner being. Because most of the talks that my section mates involve hmmm.. mature themes, which is in conflict of my values and my vision, I usually walk away to the windows facing the sea to read my book while they talk about their "experiences". I brought in the NUS calender thingy as well.. everytime i read the bible or the Law of Attraction, I will take that out.. and tell myself 2 more years.. just 2 more years, I will enter into NUS... 4 more years... I see myself excelling in NUS.. visualize the smile of my face.. feel the gentleness of my spirit... gaze at the radiant bright white light. hahaa! Yup =) I played English Chess too with my section mates. So far.. hmm, lost 1 match only. hee, the rest all win. xD
Another worse day was fire drill... I was sleeping halfway... suddenly the Commanders executed the fire drill. I got up quickly, took my dog tag, took my helmet, took my First Aid Dressing (FAD) and dash down to the parade square. Luckily my weapon and bayonet have yet to be presented to me back then. If my rifle and knife are in my cupboard, I would need to bring them down as well. The evacuation of the building took the Company 4 minutes. I thought it was a good timing, but ended up, I was wrong. Haha, we received scoldings from the officers. Just yesterday afternoon... i was caught unprepared when my Commander came into my room. I was taking afternoon nap ah!! very tired. Luckily my buddy woke me up and I dashed out of my bunk to assemble. not bad huh! I think I'm more alert these days. Last time, when i sleep, it's hard to wake me up.
Area cleaning is the worse.. ah, shall not talk about that. So unreasonable.. we got punished with regards to our standardization and cleaniness despite trying our best. How to ensure 100% dust free condition? How to ensure no strands of hair would not fall on our corridoors? For that, all we heard was, "knock it down!! down down down down down down down.......down down down.." and we echoed.."1, 2,3,4,5,6...". Super shag.
Today when I left Tekong island... as I was heading back home in MRT, saw some infants and children sleeping soundly on the carrier.. guess they are tired ba.. so coincidental huh, most of the children I came across were sleeping. =) They looked so innocent and beautiful. And on that moment, I felt a sense of purpose why I'm serving my country. It led me to recall the song we sang during road march...
Training to be soldiers
Training to be soldiers,
Fight for our land,
Once in our life, two years of our time.
Have you ever wondered?
Why must we serve
`Cause we love our land and we want it to be free, to be free, YA!
Looking all around us,
People everywhere,
Children having fun,
While we are holding guns
Have you ever wondered?
Why must we serve
`Cause we love our land and we want it to be free, to be free, YA!
There's another song that I like it very much as well.. the rhythm and the tone of the song attracted me. It goes like this..
Battalion Square
When the whistle blow,
Silence everywhere.
When the Flag goes up,
In the Battalion Square.
Soldiers all around,
Never let you down.
`Cause we are the BEST,
In the SAF.
(Chorus)
Oh Echo-oOo echo out loud YA!
Ulysses warriors marching into town ya!
Oh Echo-oOo echo out loud YA!
Ulysses warriors never let you down ya!
Up in the sky,
Planes fly high.
When the parachutes blooms,
Like flowers in the sky.
I wanna be,
A Ulysses warrior!
`Cause they are the BEST,
In the SAF.
Repeat Chorus (x1)
For my weekends.. I would be revising my Mathematics, backtrack alittle.. and then progress! YEA! NUS! my vision. I can do it!