Tuesday, August 19, 2008
yes im at home! after enduring two days of pure paradise, i made it back home to tell my tale. okay kidding. actually its my nights-out today, just having stayed in camp for two days.
anyway i was sorted to a course which according to the sergeant, is the slack-IEST of all the remaining slack courses. after two days of assessment and observation, i have to agree. why? simple. firstly my course have a five day work week, which means for sure we will be able to get out of there by friday evening unless confinement. second, our in-charge declares that, 'if you give us a good time, we will definitely give you a good time'. basically it means that we will have alot of canteen breaks, nights out (hopefully) and other welfare stuff. next is regarding our training programme - there is no night training at all. so it basically means that throughout the 13 weeks of my course, 70% of the time will be spent for lessons, 10% spent training up ippt and soc, which i dun mind at all. the rest of the time, especially during the evenings, will be free~ beyond the welfare and stuff, i will also learn exciting things which i cant declare to the entire world, which i think is much better than the mundane things other slack units do. next, i can throw away my camou, since i dun ever need to paint my face green ever again. same goes for the heavy field pack, though i will not throw it away cuz my sgts said it can be used to store all the titbits which we want to eat during our outfield lol.
men of steel, arty!
7:11 PM
Sunday, August 17, 2008
POP loh!
sispec warriors we are the warriors, sispec warriors with pride we will lead!passing out of sispec is definitely much harder den the one in the chalet. this time the long distance march is just right before the graduation parade. so that means after enduring 28km of semi-fast march, straight away we are ushered into the parade with the full attire. still, its an honour worth enduring for, as we are given our insignia (or ranks), which is pasted onto our sleeves during the parade to signify the promotion. during the later part of our day, we are given our posting, and im posted to artiliery to become arty spec! im nt sure whether its for the good or bad, so hope for the best bah.
its a fast eight weeks...i really hope its the last experience to be in such a siong company. besides getting tekan ever so often, we really learn all sorts of creative punishments that is really all out to humiliate rather than physical strain. no way will i ever use that even if i have no choice.
singapore finally have our silver olympic medal! haha random. but i cant help but feel slightly frustrated during the gold medal match. china is just tooo strong.
anw i lost my wallet today, together with all my important cards and documents. it is almost impossible to find it back since i left it on a sbs bus. totally lost my mood for anything else. all the troublesome procedures of getting back all the cards, especially my identification card. let it be a lesson learnt...
9:15 PM
Sunday, August 10, 2008
some random thoughts came floating over in my mind today. it must be because i am too free and have too much sleep.
i kinda wondered what have i gained so far in the past four months. sure, i have learnt how to navigate in the damn forest, i have learnt how to chiong sua with my rifle, i have learnt how to sleep in lecture without letting the lecturer know (lol) and the list goes on and on. however, im sure all this knowledge will rust away and be obselute (except the sleeping in lecture part) in two years time. in two year's time, i am sure i will question myself - what have i done in the past two years? i am very sure if i carry on life as i am now, the answer will be slacking away, wasting time and weekends on computer games and meaningless movies. in the end, what i have gained is just useless soldier knowledge and a wasted two years. so after pondering for a while, i came up with a list of things i want to do after i finished my advanced training and settled down on a unit.
1) learn driving
2) continue learning swimming? Its a pity i left it at Gold level when i was in sec 2. if not i would have maybe gone to learn to become a lifeguard. diving may be another option for me..
3) take SATS? i know i cant change my A levels results to stand a better shot in entering pharm next year, but at least taking this might keep my brain working and hopefully can contribute abit to the university admission (even though they alr said SATS WILL NOT be considered)
4) train up in a recreational sport i like.. Pool? But the only thing that prevent me from doing so is the hefty cost of training =.=
well thats all i can think of now..
6:39 PM
One more week to becoming a corporal! finally something to put on my sleeve, and finally not the lowest life form in the military context. i will also have the pride to have an invisible CSB, which is the normal circumstances mean the combat skills badge (which i will only get for advanced training), but in this case means Charlie Survival Badge hehe.
Going back to
tekong was an interesting experience. navigation exercise is obviously the most fun - I can go wherever I want, rest anywhere as long as I want without any sgts interfering, all as long as my group finds the number of checkpoints required to pass. on the way we saw many recruits, which makes me think of the shack but still fun times i had when i was one too. saw many 3sgts bmt instructors also..some stopped us to ask where we are from. two of the sgts i met even gave us cold cordial drinks to us! i guess its because all of them know what we have been through cuz they have been through this themselves too, so they will care and help those training to become like them. i swear i will become a good 3sgt if i get posted back to tekong!
Interestingly, my base was patrolled by one particularly ever hungry wild boar. its really huge and pinkish, and its also amazingly smart enough to open our field bags that is zipped close. every night there's supposed to be some people awake to simulate the chance of enemies coming to invade, but there is no need for that as there is really a real enemy, role played by the wild boar lol.
9th August- happy national day singapore!
went to watch fireworks with mm for national day celebrations for the second time - the first time i watched was during pri 5. there are a few conk ups here and there, and its a lesson to be learnt - never believe everything planned will work properly during public holidays, for shops i think that will be opened are closed. nevertheless, the rain did not stop us from watching the show at a field across the floating platform. i personally think the black knights gave the best visual performance, with planes whizzing past each other at high speeds. two planes even made a heart shape using the smoke, which was like waaaaaah.
confidence and loyalty...hmmm amazing its the person that i think that cant teach that makes me learn more about myself.
12:12 AM
Saturday, August 02, 2008
one-in-a-lifetime's-experience
today was the selection test for one particular unit that i really have little interest in joining. nevertheless i was still sporting enough to take the test i was there for in the first place, that is, their version of the obstacle course. it was there i got my FIRST and hopefully LAST experience of wearing a bomb suit. to picture me wearing one, just imagine an astronaut's suit on the moon. except in this case gravity heavily weighs me down.
totally. just by
walking up four sets of stairs with that suit already made pant as though i have ran 2km. the more i try to breathe, the more i pant =.= its really one of those times where you really feel like dying and just give up...but its not me who suggested to give up and fail the test, its the instructor tagged along to me that forced me to give up. i must have really looked like im going to faint any moment then =x
its the seventh month - i din realise it until my section mates told me. and just nice on that day it was field camp, and beside the spot that im sleeping in contains one lone banana tree. wth -.- normally i dun believe in this kind of stuff, and i would not be even bothered about it if not for the fact that they came to tell me some creepy stuff about what this tree can be and what it can do, right before i sleep. its all in the mind.......... but of cuz nothing happened la. if not i wouldn't be here typing about my experience lol.
i still suck at low rope.........grrr. at this rate i think im gonna be the only few who fail soc in my company.
6:21 PM