Chapter 18-- ICT

Just came back from a 6 days low key ICT and man must I admit that this has to be the slackest and most boring ICT I can ever get. More than 3/4 of the time is spent simply waiting for things to happen while the remaining time time is spent sleeping. Below is kinda a break down of what the things we do during this ICT...

CAUTION! The below description can be so boring and uneventful that you may be caught falling asleep before you knew it! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!





Day 1: Arrived at Sungei Gedong camp at around 0740 for the in pro process but before that is a long walk to ATC(armour training centre) with our freaklish heavy duffel bags. Finally arrived at the ATC stadium where RSM is stationed there to catch people with either long and/or dye hairs and send them straight to the barber at the stadium. For those who escaped the hair cut, we proceed to our bunks which for me is on level 4 of the HQ block. A bit of confusion over the allocation of bunks and a short rest later, we have to proceed to the parade square for parade whereby we were baking in the hot sun while the bloody CO took his own sweet time for his equally meaningless bloody speeche. But hurray! after the parade, we practically did NOTHING for the whole day except wayang in the vehicle shed taking over 3 BV 206 and 1 M113 recovery vechicles which btw was not done by me also lah haha.








Day 2: Morning began the "highly anticipated" IPPT that I have not taken for the past 3 years. Took it with fellow workshop platoon mates like Han xiang, Noel, Yong jian, Yu hao and some of the youngsters which came in after I ORD. Result of IPPT? Failed. But it is a good experience overall for me to try out the new system of IPPT whereby machines embedded with sensors in them replaced manual work and which was supposed to make cheating more difficult(though even idiots know that there are so many loopholes and flaws in this system).

Day 3: Was on standby the whole day again since today is the day that the combatants(M113) went outfield for some minor exercise. Today is also the day whereby we can book out since thursday is a public holiday(Vesak day) In the late morning at around 11 plus however, we made our way to old 3GSMC( dunno wat the proper name for it now since so much has changed ever since I ORD) for a 2 days refresher course on the maintence and repair of vehicles. We were separated into 2 groups whereby one group revised on the M113 first while the other group revised on the SM1 after which we would switch on the other day.My group is schedule to learn the M113 first which was a small delight to me since I am more familiar with M113 compared to SM1.It was a pretty easy experience since we revise on only the basic and most fundamental stuffs such as ramping down, starting the vehicle and the components of the instrument panel and the engine panel( a bit of the insult to us actually). Pretty much a theory course with some really easy hands-on such as starting engine etc loh( another insult)...

Day 4: PUBLIC HOLIDAY!!! ( Really own time own target!!!!)

Day 5: Was supposed to go outfield with Han xiang and Zhi hao to support the combatants( SM1) but due to some last minutes changes AGAIN( the initial plan was to bring 3 "A" mech and 1 turret mech along but they later change it to just 2 A mech and 1 turret techicians), we stay put in the vehicle shed. Afternoon was spend at the old 3GSMC again but tis time I get to refresh my knowledge on the SM1 tank. Actually, thinking back, it was kind of nostalgia for me to actually feel these tanks again cos it just bring back so much memories of me and my fellow tech squad members slogging it out in the vehicle shed till late at night for special occasions like LRI and NTMs.

Day 6: It was the most highly anticipated day since we were to out-pro on this day. Spend the morning tidying up the bunk a bit since we were to hand over the bunks in the afternoon. After the handing process, we headed to the auditorium for a mobilisation briefing since we have a mobilisation coming up in october. After the briefing, we began our out-pro but not before we survived the scare of missing 3 water hoses before we recovered them. By around 3pm, I had successfully out-pro and this marked the very end of my first ICT!

Summary: In term of work, I think that we have not really achieved much since for the workshop platoon, most of our time is simply spend waiting or on standby. In term of organisation, I have once again witness the poor organisation skills of the SAF( especially the top mangement) although perhaps I have to be more lenient and forgiving this time since the unit only meet for the 1st time and there are still lots of admistrative work to be done. However, the real delight comes from meeting up with my fellow NS mates be they workshop people, HQ personnals or my previous Bronco company combatants and catching up with them. Its cool to know that although the time had changed and the place had changed, the people have not changed. This further reinforce the belief that people and not place or time is the main determinants that shaped our life experiences.