Friday, 25 May 2007
Bookout!
Yay. Today i booked out once again and finally i am free to do wad i want once again. That was after one whole day of hell from my commanders. Thats normal. Its bookout day.
Tired from the days activities. I had run in the morning and Basic Assault Test in the afternoon. For BAC i had to crawl through mud and and also wack the dummies on the way. After that still kenna a lot of rubbish from my commanders. Quite fun la. But also very tiring. When going through it, its very fustrating. After that, thinking back, its quite fun. All for bookout.
Tired. Going slp liao. Update tml. Bye.
Cal
found sought peace at 21:55.
Sunday, 20 May 2007
Times up!
Time really passes very quickly. Soon, its time to book-in once again. Today, at 2030 i would have to report back in camp liao. So, my time is up. See you when i come out next weekend liao.
This week should have live grenade throw. So, it should be quite fun, at least for one day. Haha. But since i have already passed almost everything, it should be quite slack liao hopefully. Not really though, still have the Situational Test and road march coming up. So training will not skacken off. Haiz.
Anyway, there is no escape for me. Time to go for dinner and go back in liao. Remember, you can always sms me. I will reply when i have free time, but not too late though. After 2230 usually its lights out liao. so i won't reply liao. Bye. See you when i come out next weekend. Hopefully i dun kenna confinement.
Cal
found sought peace at 19:04.
Saturday, 19 May 2007
Bloody Field Camp
Field camp is seriously kinda sucky as after field camp, everything is so muddy and dirty. Muddy and dirty means need a long time to wash. Muddy also mean cannot just throw into the washing machine as there is sand and mud on the uniform. Will spoil the washing machine if just throw in like that. So, i spent the whole morning scrubbing and washing the mud and sand off the uniform and stuff before i can throw it into the washing machine to wash.
Now i just finished scrubbing the mud off and threw everything into the washing machine. But still too much to wash. I had to split everything into 2 portions and wash them separately. Now time to get some rest liao. Tired from all the scrubbing and washing.
Its time for lunch too. Going eat lunch liao. Bye.
Cal
found sought peace at 13:08.
Friday, 18 May 2007
Finally A Bookout Day
Bookout Song
Today is my bookout day,
Bookout bookout,
Today is my bookout day,
Bookout bookout day ah!
Bookout bookout day,
Bookout bookout day,
Today is my bookout day,
Bookout bookout day, ah!
The last 2 weeks was a very heavily packed and tiring week for me and i am now very relieved to be able to bookout this weekend. Phew.
During the last 2 weeks, i had live range shooting of the M16 assault rifle and the 6 day field camp, which includes a 8km road march. So by now, i had theoretically passed BMT as i have already pass the 3 requirements for passing BMT. 1st requirement is to pass IPPT, no problem as i have already gotten silver. 2nd is to pass live shooting, i have already passed it last last week. 3rd is to complete field camp, which i completed last week. So with 3 weeks to POP (Passing-out-parade), i am left with the few crazy road marches and the Situational Test to be held sometime soon.
The first thing i did after booking-in 2 weeks ago is the live shooting. At the live shooting range, everybody will wait for his turn to collect live rounds and to proceed into the range to shoot at the target boards. There are two tests to be done, the day and the night. The day test will include shooting at snap targets, targets which stay up for 4 seconds and then go down for 6 seconds, with different shooting positions. Thats the worst part of live range as we only have a short time to shoot as shooting after the target has gone down is considered a misfire, and that is a serious offense. The night test will include shooting at deliberate target, targets whch do not move at all to aim at, however the night shooting include shooting at illuminated targets, silhouette targets and flashing targets. My first time shooting the test was quite screwed up. First time shooting a weapon will surely be like this. The recoil and loud bang was quite unanticipated. I was too nervous and did not hold the rifle properly and in the end, i failed by quite a bit. then the flashing target at night was worse. The flash is almost invisible and i had nothing to aim at. So, i only passed it on my re-test and i switched to a better lane. But, who cares, a pass is a pass. "In army, very difficult to fail one. It takes effort to fail." Wise words from my OC (commanding officer) LTA Andrew Lee. Haha. Very difficult to fail indeed.
After live range, we went back to company line to pack our field packs and combat rations to get ready for Field Camp. Packing our stuff was quite tiring as we had to carry and distribute all our stuff to everybody. Then we had inspection to make sure that we bring everything "needed", some items are more likely for adding weight. Haha. In the end the field pack weighed about 15kg. Then carrying our heavy field pack on the 1st day, we started our road march with an 8km road march to our field camp site. Road march is carried out in full battle order, Field pack, LBV (load bearing vest) and rifle. The crazy part about about road march is that we had to carry our heavy Full battle order and march at a fast walking pace. After completing the road march, i was already very tired and still had to build our basha tent and dig the drainage system for the basha. On the 2nd day, we had group battle course, where we learn how to fight in the jungle when encountering enemies. We had to learn how to take cover and move tactically in order to overrun th enemy. Not forgetting that throughout field camp we had to put camo on our faces. The one with the face green with 3 black stripes on it. Field camp was meant to simulate a battle in the jungle so we ended up wet and muddy most of the time. So in the end, except for the 4th day when we had a short spray of water, i did not bathe at all, only powder bath and change into a new set of uniform. On the 3rd day, we had a battle course test and then changed to the new campsite, where we slept cowboy for the night, which means no shelter and we just sleep on the floor. On the 4th day, we dug our own shellscrape, a trench that we prone (lie down on our stomach to aim at enemies) in to defend a position. It is shaped like a coffin and in the night we slept in it. I was very lucky that it did not rain in the night as the shellscrape has no shelter. It was our slackest day as we only had to do dig the shellscrape and then rest the whole afternoon, cleaning rifle and stuff. Although digging of the shellscrape was damn damn tiring, seeing the completed result of the shellscrape sure in fulfilling. On the 5th day, we had urban battle training, where we trained at some Malaysia style shop house buildings and we learnt how to clear rooms of enemies and also how to move stealthily and well covered in an urban environment. On the 6th and my last day of field camp we went to do the BIC course ( I dunno wad that stands for) where we had to leopard crawl for 100m through a land of obstacles, meant to simulate under enemy fire. After that, field camp is finally over. To think about it, field camp is quite fun, but i rather choose not to do it again, quite terrible. But i think there is no escaping it anyway, so i would just have to do it again when required.
Today is also the last day my platoon commander, 2LT Muhammad Dzulkiflee would officially be with us, as he is to be posted to another unit 2SIR(2nd Singapore Infantry Regiment) as he is about to ORD soon. He is the commander the whole platoon loves most as he is very nice and command our utmost respect through both his actions and words. He would always be my role model throughout my life in the army. Although he will be back with us for important occasions, such as our live grenade throw and situational test, we will not see him much as he is already posted to the new unit. Thanks to Sir Dzul for all that you have taught us. I will not forget it.
Cal
found sought peace at 22:54.
Sunday, 6 May 2007
Time To Book-In Again
Its time once again. I will have to book-in at 2045 hrs today. Time passes so quickly. Barely 32 hours out and i will have to book-in liao. Sad, but this will be my life for almost 1 year 9 months more. Bye. See you once again when i come out in 2 weeks time after my field camp and my live range. Sure to have lots to share.
Wait for me okay? =)
Bye.
Cal
found sought peace at 19:27.
Saturday, 5 May 2007
Back Once Again
Yes! Back at home once again after a week. Actually less than a week cuz i booked in on Tuesday. But still it feels good to be back at home. This week was quite tiring, but fun at times. During Thursday and Friday, i had my IMT (Individual Marksmanship Training), known simply as rifle shooting, session at the computer simulation shoot to prepare us for the live firing next week. Quite fun, it looks like the shooting game i had many many years ago at Singapore Discovery Centre.
time flies and next week when i book-in, it would be my live firing shoot. Live firing is a very serious matter as it means shooting with real bullets. But nevertheless, i'm looking forward to it as shooting a real gun is what being a soldier is about. After live firing i will be having the much dreaded field camp. Field camp means living in the jungle for a few days and have battlefield simulation and learn from the lessons to be taught. The field camp i will be having next week is a 6 day field camp and 4 days jungle warfare and 2 days urban warfare, where we learn how to fight both in the jungle and in buildings. Sounds fun, but it will be very tiring also. Haha.
Now, i'm going to catch Spiderman 3 with my family liao. Back to update when i come back.
Cal
found sought peace at 14:05.
Tuesday, 1 May 2007
Its Time Once Again
My first book-out is coming to an end, with 3 more hours to book-in. So i won't be blogging for another few days till Saturday at least. Thanks to those who helped make my book-out fun and enjoyable. First to the :c9: ppl who turned up for the gathering and chit chat session on Sunday, secondly to the Team Natural and some former canoeist who came for the Lan session yesterday. Anyway everything that has a beginning has an end. End of my first book-out. Looking forward to my next liao. Haha.
Its about time to get prepared to go back liao. Bye. Update when i come out again.
Cal
found sought peace at 17:20.
