Tsk tsk tsk. I've been gone for two weeks and look at the mess you guys made!

 

hehehe...

 

things seem to be really quiet over there. haven't heard much from australia's side. ah well.

 

Well, two weeks has passed and as you guys would have known, i had to participate in a 7 day field camp. Where i had to live out in the jungle with my company for 7 days. Well, i died and am currently blogging from heaven. (btw, everyone up here says "hi" to all of you)

 

But first, let me blog about the first 7 days before i had to go all Survivor and fight with my platoon mates for the last scrap of meat on the bone that the sergeants had finished eating.

 

I fired live rounds during the 2nd and 3rd day of training. It was more difficult and challenging than IMT. First of, the recoil is greater. When i aimed at the target and pulled the trigger, the eyesight of my rifle shot back and slammed into my head. Fortunately, i was wearing my helmet so it took in most of the blow. Secondly, the smell of gunpowder after every shot was annoying. But overall, it was fun watching the targets in front of me going down. However, there was one time where we had to fire at our targets at night. So it was quite difficult to aim properly at the targets. It also wasn't fun due to the fact that we only made it back to our bunks (company line) at 3am and had to wake up at 7am for the next day's shooting. Oh well, all in all, i got 26 out of 32 shots. Not bad, but i didn't get marksman because 28 is the minimum requirement. Argh! Stupid night firing!

 

During the fourth day, one of my section mates had to leave Tekong for an interview, but we left him a message to buy some MacDonald's for us when he comes back! :D So after smuggling it past security, he got a lot of "we will never make fun of you again" from all of us when he handed out our burgers (i had McSpicy! score!). On the same day, we were briefed about our Standard Obstacle Course (SOC) and were told to practice 2/3 of the whole thing. It was fun in a way, but when we heard that we had to run 700m first, then do the SOC, then run another 600m, it did not look very fun at that moment. Most likely this week will be when i'll have to do all these... *gulps*

 

On the fifth day of training, my sergeant gave to me

 

......

 

well, i had to redo a physical test that i'd missed because i was sick on that day. It consists of chin-ups, sit-ups, shuttle run, standing broad jump and a 2.4km run. I'm happy to type that i got a silver ranking! Praise the Lord! Especially when i had 3 nosebleeds within 15mins! My friends were concerned about my lost of blood, but thankfully i made it through without much trouble. There was also a point where before my 2.4km run, i felt ill and felt like vomiting. I think it ws because i ate too much for breakfast. So after holding it in for a while, i decided that i wanted to be at my fittest when i run, so i forced myself to throw up some of my breakfast. After that, i felt ok and when along with the run. (I came in 2nd with a timing of 10.09 mins!!) If i'd came in in 9.30 or less, i'd get a gold instead of silver ranking. But oh well, next time! ;)

 

Field camp was interesting. First day, we marched 8km from our company to our first camp, which was in a rubber plantation. Two people were assigned to a tent, which we had to build ourselves to sleep in. That was pretty much the first day. The second day, we were taught hand signals that were to be used to give commands silently. Hehehe, i can "say" enemy ambush ahead and other stuff that i can't think of atm.

Also on the second day, i was assigned guard duty for leaving my locker unlocked when i left my bunk. So yeah, guard duty out in the field was much easier than back at our camp. We only had one shift and we could rotate shifts like guarding the ammo dump for 10 minutes after prowling, that way, we could get sufficient rest. On the third day, it rained... the whole afternoon.... for 5 hours... so we were practically stuck in our tents for that whole period with nothing to do but much out biscuits and talk and sleep. Speaking of food, the army food rations were horrible! They smelled like poop when you opened it (the taste was ok, but the cabbage rice sucks! boaz beware!), and the biscuits were hard and dry, but a few of us thought of pouring a bit of water onto it and it actually tasted nice afterwards! Anyways, back to field camp. During these three days, we practiced jungle fighting and the commands to give out when engaging the enemy and other stuff. On the fourth day, we moved to our next camp site, which was about 4-6 km away. We marched about halfway before we were told to suddenly switch to file formation (where each soldier is 5-7m away from each other). It was the most challenging thing to do! We had to take cover if we stopped for any reason and also to communicate silently. Not only that, we were all wearing our Full Battle Order, meaning we were carrying everything we had with us! I reckon i was carrying about 20kg! Well, our next camp site was an oil plant plantation (what's with all these plantations?!) and as we set up our tents and our crude drainage in case of rain, we were told to prepare for our water shower! We haven't bathed for 4 long days, so a water shower was a blessing on its own! So how did i manage to survive without bathing for the last 4 days? Well, i powderbathed. Basically we all had to bring one large Prickly Heat Powder and powder ourselves until we were as white as geishas. It was pretty hilarious seeing everyone white. Even so was the feeling of hot and cold at the same time (prickly heat powder has that effect on you). However, the most painful part to put it was the groin area for the guys. Hard to explain the feeling, you guys have to try it for yourselves to understand :P Anways, when we came back all refreshed and clean, guess what? it rained again! And because our drainage was not fully prepared, most of our tents were flooded (mine too). When muddy water started pouring into my tent, i put on my raincoat, grabbed my Entrenching Tool (ET) and tried to make a deeper and better drainage so that water will flow away from my tent. However, the water was too much and the rain increased its fury, so, in frustration and surprising myself, i dropped my ET and grabbed a handful of mud nearby and hastily built a mud dam at the entrance of my tent to stop the water from going in. I did this until no water entered, but the water level rose and as i was continuing to build the wall, one of my commanders yelled at me from far away to get back in the tent because of possible lightning. But that was when one section of my wall caved in and water began to pour into my tent again. Quickly, i grabbed more mud and repaired the wall, but suddenly i was told to knock it down (go down to push-up position) by the commander that ordered me to go back into my tent. He told me "don't disobey orders! get back into your tent!". Well, i don't blame him, he was too far away to see my wall being repaired. Anyways, what a day! After the rain subsided, like battle-worned soldiers, we stumbled out and surveyed the damaged. About 90% of everyone were drenched to the bone and their tents flooded and muddy. But we picked up our ETs and improved on our drainage system in case of another storm. But all in all, i went to sleep on wet ground and cold feet. (i changed out of my wet clothes)

On the fifth day, we had to go in groups of threes to a designated destination, where we would be "challenged" by our sergeants with attacks. The whole idea is to show that we know what to do in case there was a sniper attack, artillery strike, or engaged by the enemy. However, when my group was just about to head off, it began to drizzle and, you guessed it, it rained heavily again. So basically i had to "fight" the enemy in the rain and mud again, which was quite fun in a way. More fun when i charged towards the enemy and fell knee-deep into a pool of muddy water (so much for my dry boots). Isn't army fun?

Our next camp site was in a reclaimed land, which was practically waterlogged because of the downpour. And because the soil was so wet and loose, my tent pins could not hold my tent securely. When i went in to sleep, the whole thing collapsed when my head touched the roof. So yeah, on the fifth night, i slept under the stars (alfrasco) for the first time.

On the sixth day, we were told to dig our cell script (sleeping trench) for ourselves, which was about 30 cm deep, where we would sleep in that night. It was a very tiring workout and even after we finished, we had to dig a firing trench (where we would defend against enemy attacks), which was about chest level deep! Fortunately, we were given better tools and more manpower (one firing trench per section, usually would be only two people!) so we got the job done fast. One praise point to note, when we were digging our trench, the sky became dark and it began to drizzle. Oh no! I thought in despair. I only have one dry uniform left, and i was wearing it! Desperately, i prayed that God will hold the rain and keep me dry. And that's right, the rain suddenly subsided and the dark clouds rolled away! Thank God! Moving on, that night, i slept in my cell script and watched as the day went to the 7th day.... my last day in field camp... i woke up at 5:41am, which was strange seeing that i normally set my alarm on my watch for 5am... anways, as i decided to prepare my things, suddenly a gunshot rang in the air! An attack! But not from the front! No! It was from behind! Apparently two of my commanders snuck into our camp and managed to steal two rifles from two of my friends while they were sleeping. Using blanks and thunderflash grenades, they did a mock attack on us and we responded with putting on our battle attire and shouting "bang! bang! bang!" at them since we had nothing to shoot them with. They just wanted to know if we were ready to respond to an enemy attack if it were to happen at night. Pretty fun if you ask me. Although it was my last day, i still had one more thing to complete before i can say it's over. Battle Inoculation Course (BIC) is what i have to go through. To cut a long story short, we had to crawl 80m under barbed wire on the ground with a machine gun firing live rounds above our heads. Although it was tiring, it was pretty boring and i wasn't the least bit scared of the gunfire above me.

So as our transport came and took us away, and the jungle became smaller and smaller, i told myself:

 

I have survived!

 

One other praise point to state, when my section embarked on our field camp, we had a total strength of 11 men. When we came back after 7 days, our current strength throughout the whole training was 11. Praise God for keeping us safe. None of us were injured like some people (twisted ankle for one) or fell sick (a lot of people got fever)

Top of the Mornin' to ya, lads!

 

How are you all doing? Heard a lot of interesting things have been going on over there, especially in uni were a lot of you guys have adjusted to your new life... and I guess i can say the same about me too. Good thing or bad thing? meh~

 

On monday, we had our first ever 6-click route march. For those of you who've just joined us, i had to march in my FBO, or Full Battle Order (aka everything a soldier must bring to war!!!) for 6km with my whole company. every 2 clicks, we stopped to have a water parade and about 5 minutes breaktime before we had to continue again. At the end of the march, we found ourselves in the jungle very near our camp and were told that we were about to have our IFC lesson today (Individual Field Craft). What is IFC? Well, we were told to take out our camoflague paint and cover our whole face in green first, then we were to use the black paint and make 3 diagonal lines across our face so as to hide our facial features and "blend in" with the jungle. However, i had a slight problem. Since we were sitting under the hot sun putting our makeup on, we were sweating like crazy. So when i had finished my 3 lines and looked at the mirror, i was shocked to see that most of my paint was dripping off due to my sweat! Well, that was one story to tell. The other story was the camoflague on our body. We were told to use the flora nearby to cover our body/helmet/boots/pants so that we couldn't be seen. We were given a time limit of 10 minutes, but it wasn't enough and we were noobs in this seeing that this was our first time. When we were told to hide, i thought i saw a nice bush for me to hide in, but when i crawled into it, i felt a sharp pain in my fingers and, to my horror, realised that i was in a thorn bush!!!

Well, when the sergeants asked us all to come out, i used my rifle as a shield to get out. The sergeants lined us all up and looked at our "natural" camoflague. Out of 48 of us, 2 had practically no leaves on them! So platoon sergeant told us: "I give you all 5 minutes, *points at the 2 guys* after 5 minutes, i don't want to see two guys, i want to see scarecrows"

So we all ripped nearby leaves and covered the 2 guys with it as best as we can, and we were all satisfied.

After 5 minutes, PS asked us all to stand back and ordered the 2 guys to do 20 jumping jacks. Slowly but surely, most of the leaves that we'd put on them fell off. After the 20 jumping jacks, only a few leaves were left on them.

If we do not secure our camoflague properly, the leaves will drop off like these, and because in battle the soldier is constantly moving, the leaves can leave a trail for the enemy to find you.

 

Well, something to report, this week, i'll be firing live rounds at targets. That's right folks, real bullets and read targets. Not those lame computer simulation crap. Oh! and i won't be able to book out next weekend because starting this friday, i'll be living in the jungle for 7 days. I heard that it's going to be a tortureous 7 days, so please keep me in your prayers guys. All in all, take care!

Well, one whole week has gone by, but there are only two fun/interesting things to report about.

 

Like going to the arcade, we practiced shooting a target at a computer screen. The only difference is that we had to be in foxhole (shooting from inside a hole) and proning (lying on the ground) positions. The target from where i was was about 0.5cm squared, which was really really small. But having been briefed on how to aim correctly and remembering playing Chaos Theory with Uncle Wesley. I took aim, held my breath, and pulled the trigger.

 

Although we had about 2 tries, one with each position, with 4 rounds, my best was my proning position with a group size of 1.6 cm. Don't know what group size is? Well, imaging me 50m away from your computer screen with my rifle. Now, imagine a circle about 1.6cm in diameter in the middle of your screen. That's right, i would have landed 4 rounds into your screen within that circle.

 

Yup, i got guard duty because i did something i wasn't supposed to do: my signature exceeded the box that i was supposed to sign within.

Anyways, yesterday (friday) was when i was supposed to start. I was assigned to the prowling Alpha detail, meaning i had to patrol the border of my camp with my buddy. My shift was from 10pm-12am and 4am-6am. My first shift was fun, but since i haven't properly learnt how to handle the M16 yet, my weapons were a fibreglass shield and a baton (old wooden stick if you ask me =_=). So by the time i finished my first shift, my left arm was stiff because of having to carry the shield the whole time. But it was pretty interesting seeing what goes on after lights out because i've never been up later than 10:30pm because of our curfew. Sergeants were out by the beach catching fish or crabs. Some of them were playing basketball, while others were playing Dota!!! No fair! Being a recruit sucks....

Anyways, having only about 3 hours of sleep, i was to resume my next shift with my buddy, but we were so groggy and tired that we were practically patrolling like zombies. Dragging our feets and yawning the whole way.

Well, it was an interesting experience, but i do not look forward to doing it again....

hello again! What Bozo wrote about me being sick was true, but the "test" that he mentioned (known as the IPPT test) will not start until the end of April or sometime like that.

 

I started having the flu on thursday when i booked out but kept fighting it until sunday morning, which was when i had a fever. I was so sick i couldn't go to church, so i stayed at home and rested (i slept most of the whole afternoon). When i got up, it was almost time for me to leave the house and report to Pasir Ris interchange where my company was told to report to for our book in into Tekong. After eating a quick dinner, i was dropped off at Tiong Bahru plaza by my uncle so i could take the mrt to Pasir Ris. But just then, i got an sms from one of my section mates reminding me to bring our transcript (which i was told was my year 12 certificate). I had totally forgotten about it! Being sick and all kinda eats away at your memory.... and the worst part is that my cert is in my other grandmother's house, which is in Jurong East! (for those of you who don't know, Jurong East is on the west side of singapore whereas Pasir Ris is on the east) I called my friend and he told me that one of the punishments for not bringing the transcript is confinement, which means i won't be allowed to leave the camp the next weekend. So i was literally standing on crossroads. On my left is the mrt that would take me to PS, but on my right is the mrt to JE. After looking on my left and right comically, i gritted my teeth, said a quick prayer, and hopped onto the mrt on the right to JE...

During the ride to JE, i quickly formed a plan to get my cert and beat the clock at the same time. I was about to do something i've never done before: take a taxi by myself. As i raced home, i called ahead to inform my aunt of my situation and that i'll be stopping by quickly. Keep in mind that i was lugging around a huge duffel bag with my personal belongings weighing about 10kgs or more the whole time. When i reached home, i rang the doorbell rushed inside when my aunt opened the door. I grabbed my cert and hightailed out of there (saying my thanks, of course) and hailed a taxi. With my body full of sweat, i asked the uncle to take me to Commonwealth mrt station, but after a few minutes (and looking at the rapidly increasing fare), i asked the uncle to instead drop me at Clementi mrt station, which was closer. All in all, i managed to meet up with my platoon with only 10 minutes to spare! Praise the Lord! [keep in mind that i'm still sick]

 

Well, i reported sick on Monday afternoon to the MO (medical officer) and was diagnosed with flu and given the status of "Attend B", which meant that i was to be only given light duties, for 3 days. Even though this means that if my platoon mates is punished and they have to "knock it down", which is to do push-ups, i am exempted from it. But i'd wished that i wasn't sick so i could knock it down with them... One scenario was when we had a standby area, which means we had to clean our bunk and make sure that it is practically spotless. When the time for inspection began, we had to stand outside our bunk at attention and the Sergeant would go in with the Bunk IC (one of the recruits who is in charge of the bunk) and inspect it. After a screaming session, we were told that we had accumilated 50 pushups. Each mistake means 5 pushups, which means that the Sergeant had found 10 mistakes. So i stood and watched as my friends do the first 20 pushups (20 pushups at one go is the maximum they can punish us at a time).

On wednesday, they brought the whole company to the firing range where we were shone the power of the M16 rifle. Talk about power! It was louder than i expected, and i was wearing earplugs! Also, we stood in awe as we saw the M16 practically turned a concrete wall into swiss chess!

Since i was given light duty for 3 days, and i found out that we were going to book out on friday morning, this means that for this whole week, i'll have only light duties. Except for one part which happened on the thursday night...

 

At night, after the sun set, only a small light at the front of the whole assembly of 4 companies shone. I couldn't see clearly, but that was part of the ritual of the ceremony. I was about to receive my weapon, my rifle, my wife...

According to tradition, when a boy has come of age, he is given his personal weapon at night after sunset, so as to mask the "tribe's" strength.

"Recruit Ang!" The Platoon Sergeant shouted.

Stamping my feet and coming at attention, as i was trained to do, i mustered my most serious voice: "Sir!"

I ran towards my officer, Second Lieutenant Melvin, who held my rifle. Stopping in front of him, i grabbed my rifle fiercely and pulled sharply, but my officer held onto it tightly.

"Do you want it?" He asked as he resisted another one of my pulls.

"Yes, Sir!" I yelled as i gritted my teeth and pulled again.

"Will you take care of it, Amoz?" He yelled.

"YES SIR!" I yelled back and wrestled it from his grasp.

"Then go!" My officer said and released my rifle, which slammed into my chest.

"Thank you, sir!" I yelled and ran back to my platoon in the darkness.

 

 

Even though i was excited of the fact that i've received my rifle, i was getting tired of it after the first hour. Already upon receiving it, our platoon was drill with new commands which we had to learn and synchronise as a platoon. So much so that we wanted to throw away our rifles. One of my friend joked with me saying "I though my new wife is going to be an easy girl, but after tonight, i've come to the conclusion that she's a bi***". And i agreed with him! I have a feeling that Jean (hehe, i named my rifle Jean the M16 :P) is going to get me into a lot of trouble...