What a great week it has been as we got an extra book out day:D. As usual i took advantage of the whole situation by enjoying it to the fullest. Yesterday met up with Brandon, Max & Jughead at Bugis to shop for some stuff. Bought some accessories and once we were done i had to go to Lot 1 to collect my camera. After that met up with Anna & Ayu for dinner. It's been ages since we meet up. It was fun indeed chatting & joking around haha really enjoyed myself.
As for today, Im going to Geylang Serai with my family later to shop for my Hari Raya clothings and stuff. This time we will be going at night and finally after 2 years, i get to see the lights & decorations as im not a fan of going to Geylang due to the crowd and normally i would go in the afternoon. Im not sure what colors to get this time. I plan to maybe wear a black & red theme or maybe gray & light blue. Hmm will see what's available later. Alright i shall end this short post as im so sleepy now. Gonna crash now and wake up when it's time to break fast haha! Can't wait to eat as my dad is going to buy lots of great food to eat later:P. Yum Yum!
Fasting month is here & it will be different from the other years as i will be fasting in Army. It was challenging on the first day of fasting as we had strength training in the morning and in the afternoon i had Remedial training. The toughest was during Remedial Training as we had to train on the field and we were facing directly on the scorching sun. But thankfully i was able to handle it and not break my fast. I hope i could continue to fast & not break too much but seeing the activities that is line up for us for the upcoming week well let's just see how it goes haha.
2 more weeks to my Passing Out Parade(POP). Look how time flies and soon i will be posted out to some other place. We will be having our last IPPT this Tuesday and hopefully i can pass but i really doubt so as im still having problems with my sbj & chin ups! Before going into Army, i don't mind being a "MAN" but after going through army for 10 weeks now i suddenly felt like i wanna be a commander. I wanna be a Sergeant and help those that are physically weak like me. Oh well will see how it goes i will just let fate decide but hopefully i would get posted to Sispec. Im just gonna do my best & not give up.
I cancelled all my outings yesterday & today as im just so tired. Don't feel like going out at all. Im sorry guys for cancelling but i promise i will make an attempt to meet you guys some other day hopefully on my next book out:). So i end up resting and watching DVD's during my weekend. Finally i got a chance to touch my Photoshop and made a couple of graphics. Alright im gonna end here as i better crash early as i have to book in early tomorrow. First time getting a book in timing at 11.25am! Damn freaking early! Life of a recruit is so.....(-.-")
Last week was our SIT test & im just glad that it's over. The SIT test is a 3 day outfield test conducted during BMT. It is a test that asseses your ability to lead and/or carry out tasks under stress or difficult situations. But before our mission, they would purposely make us shag as they wanna see whether we are still able to think even though we are tired. We will be working with other platoon mates to carry out a total of 12 missions. Each and everyone of us has a role to play. Throughout the SIT test there will be a instructor who is a reservist 1st LT officer from ABSD that will follow us to ensure order, safety and access us. There is also an interview with the accessor at the end of the first day of our mission. On the end of the second day there is a peer evaluation that allow us to grade our detail mates.
Again we had to go outfield and sleep in the jungle for 2 nights. The first day of the event, we had to march a total of 12km and it was different from our other road marches as this was the furthest & we had to wear our uniform. It was definetly tiring and challenging especially the weather as it was scorching hot that day but i was glad that i was able to pull it off. All of us were soaking wet with our sweats. Once we reach the camp site, we started pitching our basha tents. It was hard getting the alignment right as some were align too right and some too left. After we were done, we had dinner and off to dreamland. I couldn't really fall asleep as there was so much noise all thanks to the aeroplanes. I don't know why there was so many freaking planes flying at our camp site in the middle of the night! There was also a hilarious part that happen in the middle of the night. There was this friend of mine who was sleeping next to my basha tent. He was snoring like a wild boar and it scare the hell out of me as i thought that there was a wild boar walking beside my tent haha.
The next morning, we had to do the 4km fast march. Damn this is one hell of a march. We had to march freaking fast and all i can say is that every platoon did really bad. It wasn't easy as majority have not recovered from yesterday's fatigue and our platoon sergeant was moving so fast. For our platoon, only 3 including me were left following our platoon sergeant while the rest were all at the back. Once the never ending fast march was over, we had to endure a harsh punishment due to our bad performance during the fast march. We had to knock it down as usual. After all of the punishment was over, we had breakfast and waited for the instructors to arrive. All the missions aren't really real they are all just simulations.
Once they were here we were brief, group to our details & off to begin our mission. Our first mission was to cross everyone to a quick sand as the enemy is coming in a few minutes times. Second was crossing of a toxic waste land. Third was quite hard as we had to create a ladder to climb on top of a building and also transport a casualty. I was the leader for the fourth missions and we had to clear a mine field & half way through one of the members got "shot" so we had to carry him in a stretcher but unlucky us we had a bit of a problem with the stretcher as it kept opening up and the poor casualty had to drop down twice haha. The fifth was to cross a bridge using a wooden plane and we made a few mistakes resulting in having 2 casualties haha. The last mission of the day was to destroy a bridge and handling of the enemies. Im not able to blog every single details about the mission and all the solutions that we came up with as there's just too many to write out haha.
The Second day of the mission which was our last day of SIT test, in the morning we had our usual 5bx but it turn out to be another horrbile 5bx=/. After that we had another 2km fast march and thankfully it wasn't as bad as the day before. Once done we had breakfast and waited for the instructors again. As usual we had to complete the last 6 missions. The first mission was crossing amo boxes to the river. Second mission was to rescue a hostage from a building while the floor so call has an electric field and there were enemies at the other side. Third was to go down a cliff to rescue a casualty and lift him up with a stretcher and cross him to the other side of the wall. Fourth mission was to build a support so as to support a 3kg amo box. Fifth mission was to go up a building and trasfer down 2 casualties. For the last mission of the day we had to guard the area where the enemy is approaching and we had to carry a casualty using the ground sheet and damn it was really tiring.
Finally it's over. We pack up and back to our company. Once we got back i got appointed to be the next Platoon IC by our Platoon Sergeant! Damn more extra burden on my shoulders=/. I kept making mistakes with the ber-henti command and i need to work on my sedia haha. It's not easy being a IC as it can be hard sometimes getting the strength when some had to go to the medical centre and etc. Getting volunteers and aeroing people is also hard and it's hard to pleased everyone but oh well since i was appointed im gonna do my best and hopefully i won't screw up for the upcoming days.
Overall my SIT test experience is tiring but i really had fun during the missions as i was glad that i got into a good team as we had teamwork, communication and everyone had something to contribute. It was really a fun and good experience and it really thought us some leadership values which i believe that it will be useful in the future.
On the 25th July 2009 was the start of my field camp. On the first day, we had to march to the camp site. It was an 8km march & even though we had marched before, I felt that this was a tiring one as our field pack felt much heavier. Nevertheless, it was fun as we were singing as a platoon and everyone was excited for field camp.
Once we got there, we started pitching our basha tent. I and my buddy had quite a hard time as the tent pins kept coming off because our ground area was muddy. Thankfully, after a couple of tries and with the help of our section mates, we were able to pitch our tent on time. Once done, we were told to candy wrap our field packs in case if there were any wild boars that tries to come and steal our food. After we were done, we were off to our first activity of the day which was our Urban Orbs Training. First, we learn about the movements. We also had to learn about handling certain situations like walking across danger areas, clearing rooms, walking pass a window, walking through corners & clearing room using a grenade. The training was fun but it was really tiring. Everyone felt so shag and weak due to the scorching hot sun and the exhaustion. Some of my platoon mates couldn’t take it anymore and many were suffering from dizziness & some were vomiting. It was really a challenge and I was glad that I was able to survive the hard day of training.
Night time was a challenge as well as we had to learn to adapt to the noise & lights discipline. It was hard walking around and finding our stuff in the dark. I also had to do guard duty even though I was really exhausted from the day training. So I carried out the patrolling duty. It was pretty scary walking around in the jungle area in the dark. But it was a fun experience indeed. Sleeping on the first night was tough as it was uncomfortable and painful as the ground was uneven and hard but after a while we got use to it.
The next day, we had the Urban Orbs test. It was quite challenging and fun at the same time. We had to do it in groups and it was hilarious seeing each other making silly mistakes. But it was really exciting as it feels like we were playing counter strike or like in a SWAT team during rescue missions and shooting the enemies.
The following day we had to wake up really early and pack our stuff as we were moving to the next camp site. As usual we will be marching there but this time it was better as we won’t be carrying our field pack because there will be tunnel to transport our stuff to the next camp site. Once we reached the next camp site, it was different than the previous one as we had a sea view and we will be camping at the top of the hills. This time we won’t be sleeping in a basha tent anymore but instead we will be digging a Shell Scribe. So once we had settled down, we began digging and it was really not easy as it seems as everyone was already tired. It took all of us the whole day but still many were unable to complete it on time including me. Night time we were told that we were the LP, OP post so that explains why we were separated from the rest. So we had to do the 1/3 look out and challenge those who tries to enter the area. Sleeping on the first night was pretty hard as it was uncomfortable as I didn’t really dig it to my height so I had to squeeze in the hole and the smell of the muddy ground was really a challenge as well. In the evening, we had a surprise from our PC. We had letters written by our families. Everyone was surprised and I was shocked that my family wrote one for me as well. Some were in tears including me as we had a hard and tiring day and seeing our family writing inspirational words made us all feel so touched and it was really a great feeling.
The next day we had our battle course training. It was fun and interesting for me as we had to do in groups and they taught us on how to handle the enemy. It was really fun taking down the enemy and planning out our moves. We had to learn how to cross the Y road as well. The following day was the actual thing and all I can say is that it was really exciting and even though we made a couple of mistakes, it was still really fun and enjoyable. It was really a once in a lifetime experience ever and it feels like we were really in a war and doing a mission trying to take down the enemy. After the battle course I had to rush to the MO as my eye had got swollen and turn really red due to the chemo cream. Sadly, I miss the night cooking as I was told that they got to cook Maggi. I also had to miss the Friday activity which was the BIC but I heard that I might need to do it with some other companies.
Well it doesn’t matter but overall the field camp experience was really something one won’t be able to forget. It was really a challenge and I am glad that I was able to survive it despite wanting to give up and I believe that it made me a better and stronger person. It’s something I will remember and keep with me.
Name: Faris Age:25+ D.O.B: 29th Nov 1987 Horoscope: Sagittarius Email/Msn: Froze_87@hotmail.com Schools Attended:
Changkat Primary
Woodlands Ring Primary
Woodlands Ring Secondary
ITE Ang Mo Kio
Nanyang Polytechnic
Everything you see here were made by me using Photoshop CS2 unless
otherwise stated.
Credits to i-stock.
This blog is meant for me to express my thoughts, frustration etc.
Thank you for visiting.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
