In short, I got enlisted, gone thru PES C1 BMT, finished BTP (basic trainfire package), finished fieldcamp, finished 8km route march, POC-ed, got a 7 day block leave, got posted to unit, got a 3 month + 'holiday', had my course opening, got my SCT rank, started my lessons proper and not too long ago passed the 6 month mark in my NS life...
Will talk about it in detail further down the page...
BMT
First 2 weeks in BMT is quite slack as usual, mostly doing admin stuff and setting up items needed like the LBV, learning to fold the No. 4 uniform, getting to learn basic drills, learn rifle cleaning, and finish the BTP at Tekong's 100m range... After that week we had a rifle check... And my rifle was found to be rusty... That got me confined for a weekend... The stupid thing was that I didn't even know where the rust was... Never mind... It's over... Fortunately I wasn't confined alone.. The next bed was also confined for rusty rifle... So what we did over the weekend was play pool in the annex room with other Mohawk confinees... Didn't have really much to do other that that... Haha... The week immediately after that was my field camp... The field camp is a 4 days 3 nights one... And guess what? It rained and rained... Fortunately I missed the 6km route march that marked the start of the field camp due to the signal interview... By the time I went back to the camp site they have already finished building the basha and finished digging the basha drainage... So I went for all the other training that was organized for us... The conducting officer was also like 'Cat 1 but under canopy so can continue training' so we got drenched... Fortunately on the 2nd and 3rd day it did not rain as much and the mud started to harden... The 3rd day was the day that they needed to dig the shell script... Luckily I am excused upper limb so I became the 'water boy'... When they were about 99% done with the shell script, it started to pour... After about 10min, the shell script was like a swimming pool... Then, orders were given to prone inside it... So you could see their legs floating inside... Those who did not have to dig the holes were made to practice the arty drill... So we had to 'dive' into the mud with our rifles under us and cover our necks with our hands... That evening, we packed up and went to CCP2 (Casualty collection point 2) to sleep... But after packing up, we fell in and waited for one of the sergeants to fetch up to the CCP... However we waited and waited... We flashed our torches at the admin tent so as to attract someone's attention... But we got scolded for that... So we continued to wait... After a while another sergeant came... Then he asked 'Are you all doing guard duty?' Then we answered 'No... We are platoon 3...' Then we heard him say 'Shit... We've left a platoon behind...' So after that we made our way to the CCP2, which was already very crowded as the other platoons had used up all the space... We had to ask them to move so that we could have space to sleep... In the end, we had space for 2 ground sheets to fit 17 people... I was one of the last few to settle down so in the end we left 1 slot for someone to sleep and had to fit 3 people there... So we could only sit and try to sleep... Suddenly just after 12am, the OC and the conducting officer came to the place where we were sitting trying to sleep... We saw him and had to greet him... So he asked why we were not asleep... After a while, he left and we finally found a way to lie down to sleep... The next day we went back to the field camp site and covered up all the holes and basha drainage system... And we went back to coy line... After a few more weeks, we had our POC (Passing out ceremony) on the 9th of March 09... Our block leave was from the 11th to the 22nd March... I was posted as a 'Sig (S) Svc' to Nee Soon camp...
NEW UNIT...
As a signaller, we learnt all the standard stuff like radio sets and voice procedure and more... But there was more to learn (which I am not going to say)... After our first 2 months + all our sergeants ORD-ed... So only left warrent officers to 'take care' of us... Our official course opening was on the 10th of June 09 which meant we had a 3 month pre-course stay-in 'holiday' because other than a little studying, most of the afternoons were spent learning/playing volleyball (AND quite a lot of manual labour as the school was/is/will still be undergoing renovation... After the renovation is complete I think we can become the 'Dolphin Professional Movers'- We move anything from tables to metal cupboards to [name it here]!)... Haha... Anyway... Due to the recent H1N1 outbreak, we were under a rather high alert, as we are quite important [but not really visible] to the SAF... So we had to keep a record of where we went, what time we were at a place and the purpose of it... And also had to take our temperature 2x daily... There was a spot check on the 17th July but there were a few people who did not fill in the movement log... So our Wing Head cancelled our nights out the following Wednesday 22/07... However, the following week, something interesting happened... Mak (one of us) got a fever on Sat 18/07... So he got MC for the whole week... Then on Tues, Wed and Thurs a few more fell ill with a high fever... On Friday, our instructor also fell ill... So, the CO of the school gave us a stay-home 'block leave' for a week... After that, when we came back, we had some more moving to do as our wing's office would be moved to a new location... So it was manual work again...
8am to 10am- move things
10am- tea break (usually one of the warrants would treat)
10.30am- continue moving
12pm- lunch
1pm- move again...
3.30pm- volleyball game :-)
So for now we are still moving things... Would keep you updated as time goes by... Hopefully it won't take another 6 months for me to post something... Haha...
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