Chapter 8-- They say that in the army....(Part 1)

"They say that in the army, the food is very nice, but when you ask for curry chicken, they give you chao da rice. They say that in the army, the guns are very fine but when you pull the trigger, the bullet fly behind..."

Above is an extract of one of my favourite all-time army songs. Yes looking back, all these songs surely stirred up some nostalgia feelings within me.(After all, the two years and four months are certainly my most colourful period of my life up till today) Therefore,today, I am going to dedicate this blog entry to my previous army experience.( so expect it to be really looong)

PTP/BMT (13-12-2002--28-03-2003)

Ah... who can possibly forget their BMT period as it is the very first time that we really came into contact with the military life. For me, BMT is certainly a tough yet interesting period as these are the times where I did things that I think I would never ever have a chance to do again in my entire life. But before I head into BMT proper, I think that it is worthwhile that I mention about the PTP period also as it is the time where a weakling like me who cannot run, pull and jump prior to entering the army was slowly transformed into one who can run and pull( but still have difficulty jumping lah). Also, the PTP period was really a blessing in disguise as it help our platoon to bond with each other better before BMT started and also to give us more time to mentally prepare for the even more strenuous BMT by observing the other companies who are undergoing BMT. In addition, our sergents will also briefed us from time to time what BMT entails so that we would not have a culture shock when we finally enter the BMT phase. For those who still do not know the different between BMT and PTP, PTP is simply a phase for us to build up our physical fitness( because we failed to obtain a silver pass during our JC nafra test) so that we would be able to handle the physical demands when BMT started. At such, most of the time in PTP phase involves lots of exercises from running(and lots of it!) to gyming to circuit trainings and interval trainings( both types of which I hate as it is damn bloody tiring). There is little or almost no military training as it would only be introduced to us during BMT. The only types of "miltary training" we had during that time was only marching around in the parade square under the bloody hot sun for our drills and SOC training during the final phase of PTP(and oh yes, 4km route marches too). In conclusion, PTP really helps us to move smoothly during the transition phase when we finally started our BMT proper.
During BMT, the amount of physical trainings started to tone down as most of the time are now spend outfield either in the forms of route marches, bayonet training(and yes! We are the last batch of recruits receiving that), grenade throwing training or SOC. Personally, the actual grenade throwing was especially meaningful to me in the sense that unlike other outfield activities such as route marches and marksmanship test which I still encountered after BMT, grenade throwing was really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me(although I really pity those who have the rare chance to throw blind). It will always remain I think the first and final grenade that I throw... Another memorable experience for me was the bayonet assult course in which we are the last batch of recruits to complete it. Before going through the course, numerous lessons on the various fighting techniques were taught to us though now if you ask me about it, I would have forgotten most of it liao. The bayonet assult course was memorable in the sense that it was the very first time prior to the battle innoculation course whereby I had to do so many back crawls( and the bare wires are really low!) and leopard crawls and getting myself all muddy all over and oh yes! the very first time when I learned how to camoflage my handsome face. I remember vividly also that right after the course, we were due to book out and being the still inexperienced recruit that I was, I did not removed the cream on my face totally and while on the journey home in the train, a army personnel(I think) pointed out to me that the cream behind my ears were not removed! Could you imagine how embass I were during that time?

Next was the battle innoculation course whereby a section of us including our sergents had to manuvore ourselves through a series of obstacles which involve back crawl and leopard crawl again though the bare wire this time round is really nothing compared to the bayonet assult course. Also, thanks to our seniors, the path for our leopard crawl were already "carved out" for us so it is not really that difficult to crawl. The only excitement may be that real bullets were flying above us so we had to constantly keep ourselves crawling to avoid being hit by the bullets.

Finally, the epitome of most people impression of BMT must be the field camp and sit test. Well for me, the 7 days field camp was really nothing really tedious except for the fact that we have to constantly powder bath ourselves and to keep a vigilant lookout for our sergents who were obsessed with stealing our rifles or magazines during that time especially at night. During the field camp, we learned how to camoflage ourselves from head to bottom and of course the fire movements whereby we learned the various hand signals so that we can communicate with each other when moving from place to place without talking. It was also the first time when we had to totally rely on our combat rations to survive so in a nut shell, it was still a pretty amazing experience for me. Furthermore, our company recruits were lucky for the fact that we do not spend all our nights during the field camp outfield as two of our nights were spend under shelter houses due to heavy rain and our kind company 2IC( talk about being in a warrant officer company!) decided that the ground were not suitable for us to sleep on at night.
For the sit test, the only things worth mentioning must be all the stupid long walking from one point to the next when the next destination was just well, next to us. The so-called reason given was to assess who still possess the leadership qualities despite being tired so that he can be selected into either OCS or SISPEC. Needless to say, I was cursing and swearing while walking from point to point( or was I too tired to even do so?). Anyway, what is more interesting is the various missions given to us to complete it whereby each of us will get a chance to become the IC or 2IC for that particular mission. It really train us and forced us to come up with solutions among our group members although all of us come from different platoons. This is to test how well we can work with strangers or people that we do not know well. The end of our sit test was marked by a buffet dinner in conjuction with our OC night.
Rounding up the whole BMT experience is the unforgettable 24km route march that took about 7 hours to complete from evening till midnight about 4am. Unforgettable in the sense that it involved not just individuals company but all the companies in the whole school that is due to POP the next day. It must be the grandest affair of the whole BMT training for all of us are in such high spirits and frankly speaking, I was a bit sad when it finally ended for it also marked the end of the last training with all my platoon mates for these 4 months. Also. although it was supposed to be the longest and therefore most tedious of all route marches, the 24km route march was not that tiring at all possibly because we marched in the cool night and our field bags were not really standard full pack(haha at least for my company lah).


3GSMC(05-04-2003--15-06-2003)

After my BMT, I was attached to 3GSMC while waiting for my mechanic course at OETI to start. Here, I basically help them to do some admin stuffs since I was still not train to help them repair vehicles. It was also the first time whereby I get to taste the life of stay-out personnels since the company had no bunks for us to stay in. I was also lucky to be able to make some friends(like Yong yuan and Chong Han) there who are up till now still in contact with me. More importantly, it give me an idea of what 46 SAR is like as it is just next door and is a unit which I was posted to after my training at OETI.


"They say that in the army,the girls are very nice,u ask for cindy crawford,they give u frankenstein, They say that in the army, the pay is very nice,they give you 3 hundred 50, they take back 3 4 9,
I... dont wanna lead an ar...my... life! PC i want to go, OC don't let me, gomama.... I want to go hoooooo..ooooo.ooome"

To be continued....


Some army abbreviations: BMT: Basic military training
PTP: Physical training phase
OETI: Ordanace Engineering training Institute
3GSMC: General service maintanence company
OCS: Officer cadet school
SISPEC: School of infantry specialist
SOC: Standard obstacle course
46 SAR: 46 Singapore Armour Regiment