Saturday, December 19, 2009

army days(tekong)

i still remember the day of enlistment. 080109. green esprit t-shirt, topman jeans, billabong bag, ugly black rubber watch as i left the civilian world and entered the military. i remember the anticipation, i remember the pledge we made which i now know was the SAF pledge,i remember the first person i met- ashley ng ding wen. i remember the ridiculously heavy duffel bag which i had to bring up 4 levels sweating like a dog in the process, i remember how the dinner we got seemed so different from the quality of lunch when our parents were there.

that was my first day of the army. vividly at the back of my head. coming into the army was not very tough to take for me. regimentation was something i had experienced before back in SJIMB. it was not very comforting though to know that i was lost in platoon 4 gryphon company. I realised i had no good friends in there. things changed however that night when i moved to platoon 2 where ben ben happened to be along with calvin and joel the latter 2 being in the same section as me even. And from then, life was much better. It felt good to have someone to bitch with right from day 1 and to know that someone will have your back no matter what. We went into full swing PT training for the first few weeks. Then fieldcamp came. Powderbaths and lying half naked on groundsheets with your buddy was god dam gay but it was fun to talk about the different issues of an NSF like girls they liked and the upcoming A level results. I remember me and joel literally lying there for a good 2 hours just reminiscing about anything under the sun. Fieldcamp is best remembered by the turn out at 4 55 am in the mornining with the usual bombardment of 'arti' shells. The shouting and yelling was the usual but the tekan for the next 1 1/2 hours was not. I cant remmeber a time when i held push up position for so long and i recall eating our breakfast when all the drama was over as the sky started to light up. Tough trainining is good trainining is what they always say. I had to cope with the disappointment of being let down by the administration at BMTC during fieldcamp for my PSC interview but as i always say, thats life. Another thing i remember fondly in BMT was being part of the drill squad. Pride honour displine, that was everything drill squad meant for me. Most of my friends have probably heard me say it before but despite not being the most proficient in drills, it is something i loved and i have always dreamed of being parade commander for NDP someday. Training hard at night as the company watches on with their abundance of admin time might have seemed a bad deal for us but when we attained a rather respectable 4th place, it was worth it. Drills has and will always be my passion.

Gryhpon company is perhaps second to only kestrel in school 1 in terms of tougness of training. Running in SBO for 1km might not seem so tough a feat now but back then it was really different. My 2.4km timing improved by almost 20 seconds from my JC timing but unfortunately it was not enough for that gold. The instructors there were in my opinion fairly professional, sure there were those who cant talk for nuts but amongst the sergeants there are a few i really respect and perhaps that inspired me to want to be a sergeant. Getting to interact closely with 6 men as opposed of trying to understand 27 seems to be a better choice as i felt that the time spent with fewer men meant i could influence their lives better. However i learned in OCS that all this is dependent on the commander himself. A battalion CO can know all 500 of his men well if he truely wanted to. Stupid it might seem to just wanting to be a specialist but eventually pride got the better of me and i still indicated wanting to be an officer.

In the final weeks building up to 24 km, it was really when i got to love my section so much. The constant bitchings with shariff and jonathan khoo was as memorable as chun hiang infamous figure 15. They all grew accustomed to my sexion 2 alarm and i could sense the brotherhood amongst most of us. As we embarked on the 24 km and as my PC MrJack Alvin Hu sang that song which i love so much, it dawned on me that our 9 weeks together was ending. It seemed so fast perhaps even cruel as to why BMT needed to end so quickly.

To my ex buddy Joel Foo, thanks for being such a great buddy. It was really awesome to have you go through the shit with me and thanks for all the many htht we shared during fieldcamp, i really got to know you much better. To a very important friend, ben ben, though i have never openly said it, i was raelly really dam elated when i found that you were in the same platoon as me. Despite your sarcasm at times =p, you have really helped me pull through with your encrouragement. I cant imagine a BMT without having you to bitch with and to run with and to do push-ups with. You are one reason my BMT experience was awesome.

So the conclusion of BMT meant an awsome block leave. OCS beckons and the next journey in the army awaits..

Twistin' at 8:04 AM