Batman Begins

Friday, December 16, 2005 -

I Survived.

Yup....My buddy did'nt manage to kill me during my 7 day field camp, not for lack of trying of course..haha...I'm back more then a month after my last post......and what a month it has been...the toughest but most memorable month of my life..... the live grenade throwing ,the 7 day field camp, BAC,3 day SIT test in the jungle, the 16 km route march, the final 24 km route march,The endless parade rehearsals,the numerous IPPT tests and retests and of course my Passing out parade........I'm just glad that I made it through and everything is now over and done with......

3 mths down.....1 year and 9 mths left to go....hahaha.....out of the frying pan and into the fire...

The live grenade throwing I went to was Great!!.........we had the chance to use real grenades and boy to they produce a huge ass Bang.......it was fun......there were four throwing grenade bays in the sound proof grenade throwing range and we would throw one after the other in sequence.......shiok man.....loudest bang I ever hear.....but the explosion was even louder if you're grenade did'nt explode...Grenade that don't explode occur due to the wrong throwing technique that results in damage to the grenade mechanism...and we had to wait 30 mins everytime a thrown grenade does not explode before we sent in the Professionals(demolition team) to manually detonate the bomb by using c4 explosives....the resultant explosion would be twice as loud as normal........I would love to throw another grenade..haha...

Anyways the 7 days field camp was probably one of the highlights of my three months BMT.......we stayed in 3 different locations scattered throughout the island....firstly the plantation,then the oil palm plantation and lastly the reclaimed land area....the route march to the different campsites were absolute killers during the field camp because our field pack was extra heavy due to having to carry 48 hrs of combat rations with us....our normal field pack weighed about 15kg but the field pack weighed slightly more then 20 kg during the field camp........the scary things to me is although the field pack is heavy and your back aches like hell....that's not the worst part...what is scary is that the strap on my shoulder is so tight due to the 20 kg load that my left arm completely dies out on me during the route marches because my blood circulation is cut off due to the strap......I can't freaking move my arm...its like limp and liefless and I have problems coordinating the movement of my fingers........scared me silly man......so most of the time during route marches,I'm hunched infront and using my right hand to tug on the strap so that my circulation can be as per normal....I stop tugging the strap when my arm feels better and I can coordinate my fingers......and when it goes numb again...then I tug the strap again .....and the process repeats itself as many times as need be...until we reach the end of the route march......hahaha....ahh...sweet painful memories...

The first site was the tree plantation where we set up our Basha tents on a gradual uphill slope and my tent was all the way at the top of the slope.....the very last tent....so anyways during our field camp...we have to hit the ground running..which means to say the moment we reached our destination after the 6km route march, we have to built our tents immediately without delay or rest....and two fellows are supposed to work together to built each tent.....Enter my dear buddy....or as I like to call him.."The man who can't built a tent for nuts!"

Imagine being shagged out after a 6km route march and having to build an entire tent by yourself after that.....haiz...that monkey just stood there and watched me built the tent.....and when I gave that fella a ticking off...he pretended to look busy...busy doing nothing!!haha....I finally gave up and told him to perform the easiest task....to kick the tent pins into the ground and secure the tent......and guess wat he could'nt do it!!.....haiz I positioned the tentpins in the right position and just told him to kick it in.....n that numbnuts either kicked the pin out of their position or kicked it until the tip was bent...haiz...ended up having to kick all 6 tentpins into the ground myself...

Sometimes I dunno whether to kill him or pity him.....his reflexes are really superhuman....superhumanly slow!! Plus all sorts bad shit just seem to happen to him.....on the first day of camp...he lost a single sock, his gutters for holding up the bottom of his pants , a pair of slippers and he lost the circular washer of his M-16...which would have resulted in him getting sent to the detention barracks for 3 years.....but thank god he found it...

Sad man.....he put that tiny washer into his helmet when he was cleaning his m-16...den he forgot about it and wore his helmet...flininging that washer into that ground.....after that he was absolutely frantic,tearing praying and mumbling, shouting "Guan Yin Pu sa...chio chio ni!!"(Roughly translate to Goddes of Mercy pls help me!)..hahha...and he keep on hitting his head and telling himself how he hated himself for being so stupid.......it was a sad sight lar....that was during lunch time...so I put my combat rations aside and helped him look for the washer around perimeter of the tent area......luckily we managed to find the washer.....now I gotta say I don't like this nutso cos he's lazy and do lots of dumb stuff.....but I don't derive any pleasure seeing him F*ck up and get himself into trouble.....the punishment for losing parts of your m-16 is severe and seeing him like that was quite pitiful lar.......

So anyway every day of the field camp, we were given lectures by the various seargents and had to be assessed through a series of tests like Cover and concealment,artillery drills,the different methods of crawling,casualty evacuation, how to blend in with the darkness, group movement,gauging enemy distance and the various hand signals,etc.....it was cool.....

We stayed at our first campsite for two nights before setting off to our second campsite at the oil palm plantation.....we did our 8km route march to the oil palm planation for the first time and.......I have to say that particular 8km route march was the single most tiring thing I have done i n my life....now that I completed my 24 km...I gotta say I wasn't as exhausted for my 24 km as I was with that 8 km route march........it was a really bad experience.....I had just carried a guy and ran for 250 m for our casualty evacuation drill and once we reached the campsite, we were told to disassemble our tents,pack our stuff and get ready to march to the next site...so I was already shagged as hell before the 8km march....

That 8km march I will remember for life.....I started off the march completely tired as hell..den right on schedule my left arm went dead after 15 mins of marching with the field pack....and it started to get dark so I was like virtually blind while marching.......I was really feeling like I was gonna cave in any minute...but I did'nt wanna fall out...I know I'll feel pretty goddamn shitty if I fell out and found out that our destination was only a few more hundred metres ahead...so I continued and for the last 1.5 km of the march...my head never straightened even once,my eyes were glued to the floor........I was like some corpse...just walking,not knowing when will we reach or where we were going..........it was during our short rest for the 8km route march that My buddy left his rifle on the ground and allowed a seargent to steal it, so the seargent made him do pumping and crunches on the shop with his helmet and everything on and told him that he was gonna be confined when we went back after 7 days....and then my buddy started crying...all the way to the freaking 2nd camp site.....when we finally reached...I could'nt even talk or have the strength to reach for my water bottle on my SBO......and then the seargents shouted:" I give you 15 mins to build your basha NOW!".....

Turns out that we had to built our basha immediately without rest and we had to built it in pretty much complete darkness.....it was 8pm when we reached the campsite and it was dark as hell.........it was scary man we had to wear our helmets and SBO and sling our rifle while building our tent in the darkness....we could'nt see for nuts and we were completely exhausted......for me.....I was just sitting in the dark...completely motionless and was like hyperventilating or something........for 15 straight mins I felt like I was about to faint.....so my buddy said:" Buddy....You look damn shagged man....Dun worry I will built the tent first!"..............15 mins later...that that monkey had just started unfolding his basha sheet and laying it on the ground.....I felt like Hell and seeing him so things so slowly really made me see red......people everywhere were screaming at each other, tripping over each others comscord strings,stepping on each others field pack and building the tent too close to each other cos we were almost blind in that kind of darkness.......it was like everyone forgot any basic civilties...two guys who were best of friends in our platoon even got into a huge shouting match .......the stress level was way up..it was a horrible night...

Luckily for me, the entire platoon knew my buddy was a real coc-up case and offered to help me build the tent in the dark cos they saw me like hyperventilating on the grasspatch and my buddy just moving at a snail's pace...so my platoon mates Tommy and Samuel together with me,helped set up the tent......and for that I'm eternally grateful to them....I would have never had the strength to build that tent alone without their help man....

The next day we woke up...and found that all the tents were horribly fixed due to the lack of visibility....some were overlapping each other,others were not aligned......it was a bloody mess......but that day was our technical break...it was like a rest day where we did'nt have the wear camo cream on our faces for like 17 hrs a day and we could just relax and unwind for the day.....we even got to eat live rations instead of combat rations......live rations was food that was microwaved......the rice were in clumps and everything tasted bad.....but it was still better then eating packets of combat rations ....

That night...it rained like hell...all the tents were flooded with water.....especially those that were further in because we were not on flat ground and the ground was sloping upwards at the front....so rain water acumulated like hell at the back of the campsite...I was the 4th tent from the last and so my tent was flooded.........my buddy wanted to bundle up our field pack and stuff with the sheet we layed on the ground and I said that we had to do it fast cos it was raining like hell...he replied"I dun have confidence I can do it fast"...........diao....the guy in the tent next to mine heard him,rolled his eyes and offered to help me bundle the stuff......took us 2 mins flat and that fella had no confidence?!..........the worse thing about the rain was it flooded our pissing area and so the urine was washed down by the rain and began flowing into the campsite area....the worst hit was the tents at the back where the shitting and peeing areas were.......so the whole campsite smelled like piss that day.........you could smell the stench all the way from the first tent.......tat was how smelly it was....

The next morning we set off for our third and lat camp site....the reclaimed land....I gotta say, my platoon's morale was the hughest in Hawk company for that particular march to the final campsite.....we sang as loud as we could and kept our spirits high.........our commanders were damn happy with our performance that day......

The reclaimed land is basically one giant water-logged area that was a huge breeding ground for mosquitoes....never in my life have I seen that many mosquitoes.....when we walked there would be like 6-7 mosquitoes buzzing all over you at all times......I have a feeling that if the reclaimed land was ever fumigated......the swarms of mosquitoes that would fly out would virtually blot out the sun....

So at the reclaimed land...we did'nt have to built tents....we merely spread our basha sheets on the soil and slept there.....the area was waterlogged though and full of mud.....thank god that day the area me and my buddy assigned too was to badly waterlogged so my platoon seargent picked me (bed 12 of section 2 ) and two other guys(bed 10 and 9 of section 2) and told us to relocate to a dryer area...leaving behind my buddy (bed 11) all alone in the muddy area.........so I did'nt have to sleep in the same area or be bugged by him for two whole nights!...

At the reclaimed land....we took our last series of tests,finished up all our combat rations and we had to dig a trench that we could fit into as part of our program..........so everybody had to dig a hole/trench in the ground with the helmet,sbo and rifle with them.....the hole had to be according your length and and deep enough for you to fit completely into.......so we spent a few hrs digging and at the end of the day we had to sleep in the holes in the round that we dug......there were tons of holes in the ground...all neatly aligned like plots in a cemetery.......talk about digging your own grave....hahaha....I even slept with my arms folded like dracula......the scariest thing though was how comfortable and quickly I slept in that shallow grave I dug for myself.....hahaha....ah we...it was a nice experience...all in good fun...

On the last day of filed camp...we got up at 5.00 am....filled up the holes we dug with soil and did a 2km route march to SISPEC HQ where we did our BIC(Battle Inoculation course)...........where we had a chance to experience what a real combat situation felt like.......we had to leopard or baby crawl under babwire fences while a giant gun was being fired overhead and thunder flashes(to simulate grenades) were going off on your left and right...and at the end of ur crawl u had to charge your enemey and break out some cool-ass rifle fighting techniques we learnt...under the orders of our OC(the leader and head of hawk company)...everyone had to gothrough BIC ...even all the seargents and 2nd lieutenants....hell MY oc himself crawled together with us......probably cos there was a two star general observing us doing the BIC that day....

After BIC, we had to do a 4 km route march back to our company block......and we were all damn happy cos our OC told us we could do the route march with our helmet,sbo and rifle only....we could load all our field packs up on the tunnel trucks........it started to rain for our 4 km march back home...but none of us mind.....it was hot as hell that day and the rain was pure relief.......some faint smoke came out from uniform when it rained...cos our uniform were all heated up by the sun before the rain and when the rain hit...faint smoke could be seen.....the 4km march back was awesome,cool as hell and our morale was super high because we could atke our first bath in 7 days.......

For the past 7 days....we had to do powder bathing where we had to gather as a platoon ,strip to our undies,powder ourselves until our entire body is covered from head to toe in powder in complete darkness and the seargents would check each and everyone of us to make sure we put enbough powder on ourselves....one way to check was to strech our underwear and release...and if a puff of powder came out when ur undies snapped back...u would pass the inspection........hahah...it was a funny sight... 250 albinos,in our undies,in the middle of the night and jungle...powdering ourselves...ahhahha

When we finished the 4km route march and reached our company line.....it was one happy as hell moment, there were even some guys crying......feeling so damn happy that the 7 days is over.....the highlight for me and one of the most beautiful sights ever was when our OC told us to gather at the field in front of our block after we reached.....and when all of us were a the field...our seargent Major shouted and asked us to look up.....and there was an actual hawk soaring above us in the sky...all 250 of us burst out cheering....it was a great moment....like some victory omen or something....

7 days field camp was one hack of an experience...I had to constantly lie to myslef to keep myself going...our first day of field camp fell on a saturday and during the first day I would lie to myself telling myself that the weekend would pass fast and then there would be only 5 days left then on the monday I would try to make myself feel better by saying that its the beginning of the 5 remaining days and time would be passing even faster....on wednesday I would tell myself that I already finished half of the field camp and the next half would be easy.....and so on so forth......Hey kids,remember....lying is bad...but lying to yourself can help keep you going!...

The combat rations were atrocious too......it actually made us appreciate normal,lousy ass cookhouse food......Cabbage rice was the worst meal of the lot and 4/5 of my combat rations all kanna cabbage rice!D'OH!!.......even a wild boar would'nt be bothered to take a shit on a packet of combat ration Cabbage rice...

The next important event after the 7 days field camp was our BAC...Basic Assault course....basically we had to leopard crawl,baby crawl and back crawl from one end to the other,through trenches filled with mud and at the end of everything there's a target and we're supposed to practice all our rifle fighting skills on that target........the point of the whole thing? Beats the hell outta me.......the commanders poured ten huge jerry cans full of water into each trench to MAKE sure that the trench was flowing with mud....so when you back crawl....ur entire body would be covered in thick,smell mud......and also at certain sections of this exercise like the part where webaby crawled through a short zinc passage the seargents would laugh at us,mock us and insult us to make us feel angrier so that when we reached the final target......we would be aggressive and practice our rifle fighting skills as aggressively as we could......oh and we had to roar all the way while running to the final target and hiting it...............It was probably the most filthy and dirty exercise we went through, this exercise made us dirtier and smellier then the 7 days field camp combined.....hahaha...everyone smelled like wild boar shit and was covered all over with thick mud after the exercise...took me ages to wash the mud outta my uniform and up to this day some mud can still be found in the corners of my SBO.....wah lau.....dug out chunks and chunks of mud from my SBO......hahhaha....

After the delightful BAC....we immediately went for our 3 days SIt test in the jungle....to test whether we had the necessary leadership skills....and throughout this 3 days we would be assessed by Lieutenants or 2nd lieutenants who were on reservice.......we did a 12 kim route march to the test site,and in this sit test, we had to move from station to station through this massive field of chest-high sword grass and at each station we had to complete a mission within a specified time....we were faced with stuff like how to ferry boxes of ammunitions across if the river infront of you is toxic...so we had to build lots of structures with rope and poles...or we had to imagine we needed to rescue a victim trapped in a guard house with a electrified perimeter...there was even this life size bridge that we had to scale in order to successfully complete our mission which was to plant fake charges and explosives at each end of the bridge.....it was interesting,but the whether was hot as hell,luckily there were jerry cans for us to refill our bottles at every station....water is the most precious commodity outfield..........anyways we did our SIT test back at the reclaimed land area we had previously visited during our field camp and it was filled with mosquitoes and bloody centipedes.....one guy got bitten while in his tent and my seargent woke up with a centipede biting his lip....his lip looked like freaking angelina Jolie's for an entire day!...hahahha......the SIT test was shorter and alittle bit more interesting then the field camp....we would be intermixed from platoon to platoon, which means there were possibly 2 or 3 people from each platoon that formed a group of 14 people....so I had to work with alot of new faces during the test......and everybody in the group was given the chance to lead a mission each....luckily ..my group passed the mission I was assigned as leader for.....hahaha.....

The most tiring part of the SIT test?....the 4km FAST march around the entire crop field that we performed our missions in...damn the fast march was like virtually jogging with a 20 kg field pack for 4 km.......we just went around that big ass field twice....super shag.......4km of fast march is much worse then a slow 8 km route march.......hahhaa....people were falling out like flies during the route march......

After the sit test....we had to do our 16 route march, do countless IPPT tests, complete our Standard obstacles cost and of course...finish our 24 km route march.......

The 16 km route march as expected was tiring.....I wore a pair of socks only....bad mistake cos after the 16km,I had multiple blisters on each foot and even kanna groin abrasions on both sides..but It was important I did the 16 km route march because if I had missed it, I would'nt have been allowed to go for my final 24 km route march because thoe who missed it had to go for a Re-16 km route march,the reason being the 24 km route march was tough as hell and they have to make you go through this 16 km to help prepare you for it, if you missed the 16 km..it means the maximum distance you had completed is only 12 km and having you jump straight to 24 km,double the distance would be too much for most people to tahan...

The days where we did'nt have any major events like route marches,SOC training sessions or parade rehearsals....we had to go for our IPPT tests.....over and over again....if you don't pass your ippt...you had to retake it over and over again......cos if you don't pass IPPT...it would be staed in your record that you"attended" BMT and not "completed" BMT like those who passed.........I had injured a major vein in my arm after my commander made me scale the low wall part of the obstacle course more then 15 times during one of the SOC training sessions.....so I felt sharp pain on both arms whenever I had to use them to support my entire weight like when doing pull-ups......the pain was pretty bad....I went from doing 8 pull-ups to only doing 2 before I had to literally jump off the pull-up bar in pain........the injury is much better currently after a month since I injured them.......but somehow or the other despite my injury, I somehow managed to pass my pull-ups by doing 6 of them.....it was painful as hell but I'm glad I passed my pull-up.......anyway to cut a long story short, I managed to pass my IPPT during one of the tests......so I'm a happy dude...

As for The SOC test....wow......basically anything that required me to pull my own body weight...I could'nt do due to my arms...like scaling the wall and pulling myself up the low rope......hahaha.....horrible man....maybe could have done better if I was in tip top shape but.....I don't have to ponder about that cos I need not have to do SOC ever again!!...hahha

The 24 km route march pretty much capped off our 3 mths training.........and it was really tiring but a really memorable experience, we gathered at the kick-off point at the parade square at 1pm and we finished walking the entire 24 km by 12 am......this time I came prepared: I put foam in my boots and wore two pair of socks........we marched 4 rounds around the entire BMTC school 1 and then marched passed SISPEC to the palm plantation and back to the parade square.....we had a 15 mins break after every 4km and we had a dinner break during the march.............4 companies marched tother,with different companies taking turns to lead....a total of more then 800 men marched the 24 km......

It was exhausting as can be expected.......its amazing tat Although I have done 3km,4km,6km,8km,12km,16km route mrches before I did my 24 km route march...never once am I not tired after walking each 4 km of the route march....every 4km we walk is as tiring as it was during the first time......hahaha.....and 24km was 6 times 4 km.....hahaha....the field pack seemed to get heavier with each succeeding 4 km.......but My platoon perservered, we sang army songs, we encouraged each other and we even pushed each other up this uphill slope on the last 4km segment of the march where we headed back home......when we finished our 24 km and reached the parade square....we were al screaming in pure joy....some people even broke down and cried cos the 24 km was pure hell for them and it was finally over....wow.....you could really feel the level of happiness and joy everyone had when we finally finished the march.......at the end of everything, not a single person who marched fell out during the route march....although there was a guy who fainted the moment he reached our company block after walking back from the parade square......

Me? I walked like penguin all the way from the parade square back to my company block after the end of the march cos I had abbrasions on both inner thighs, groin abrasion and multiple blisters again despite wearing 2 socks.......I was soaked from head to toe in sweat...my pants was even wet ......I was tired but damn happy i completed it...

Route marches are really killers...the toughest part of BMT training....practically during every route march, I am tearing up......cos we have to wear a damn helmet and sweat keep flowing down our foreheads and when it drips into your eyes...holy hell issit painful.....everytime sweat drips in my eyes I would be like marching with one eye opned,looking like a pirtae or having this perpetual constipated look all the way until we reached our 4km rest point...the part where your arm completely dies on you is also scary...other then that...the blisters,back aches and tiredness are still manageable......but truly that 8km route march in the night during my 7 day camp remains the scariest and worst experiences ever........it was the only time I was ready to keel over and collapse in a heap...ahahha

One of the prodest things for me personally that I have done is....I have never missed a single route march session........they are the toughest part of training and one of the few things That I truly dread and am unconfident about.....but I'm happythat I have done each and everyone of them....never once falling out or getting MC to avoid the marches.......there was once where I had to do guard duty and was really exhausted the next day,when we happened to have our 6km route march....But I decided to go for it even though My seargent said I could sit that route march out due to lack of sleep from guard duty......they're really gruelling and in some ways I see each route march as a challenge.....I make it a point to do them and finish them..falling out would be admitting defeat....hahahha....tough guyslike me don't ever fall out...we just bitch about thr route marches on our blogs after doing them...hahha

So in the midst of all these activities, I even had the time to celebrate my 21st birthday with my poly gang......luckily for me, My birthday fell on a saturday so I need not spend my 21st birthday in camp.....haha..like practically all my section mates........anyways Wenjun was in charge of planning the birthday but they could'nt book any bbq pits in east coast and west coast park...so I suggested that we hold the bbq at my uncle's condo in Bukit panjang and let my parent organize the thing instead...cos having my poly friends organize the thing is sweet and all but having my parents organize means that I would have enough snacks,food and mushrooms in particular leftover from the bbq to last me another month.....haha...cos My parents always buy enough groceries to feed a small continent everytime they have a bbq...hhahaha....

So we had the bbq at my uncle's condo at maysprings.....wenjun was the first to arrive to help out before the bbq, followed by candy and sebastian and michelle and her boyfriend, then huiling came after work at starhub and Ben came from orchard road.......Felix came aftrer the bbq had ended cos of his Live range but we kept enough chow for him.....Gerald and Liang Jie could not make it cos she had to wrok and Liang Jie had to write a biography on himself...LOL...maybe SAF was gonna inscribe his biography on A plaque outside Eagle company.....for future recruits to look up to..hahaha

Anyway the bbq winded down at about 11pm and me,huiling,wenjun,ben went back to my house for some additional talk time....haha...and felix joined us shortly too......we watched the first die hard on HBO,Devil's advocate, cut my cake and took some photos....oh yes.....and I got to open pandora's box.....hahaha...My presents I mean....

For this year....a received a chock full of stuff that I will never use in this life time....hahhaha....a "birthday card"...which was actually a pierre cardin bra, weights for my testicles, condom lollipops, a cup with two huge ass boobs sticking outta it, a pen that sends a huge electric jolt up your arm...strong enough to stop you heart or send you into a cardiac arrest...hahha.......goddamit as if the gay spray, and strawberry lotion last year wasn't chiar lat enough...hahha.........the only usable item was the $20 kinokuniya voucher...which will come in handy very soon...hahhaa

The week after my birthday was alittle more relaxed cos most of the major events were done..........we attended the CO eveningwhere the entire BMTC school 1 gathered for a concert by 4 singers from the Superstar show that I could give two shits about......and we had our OC night where each platoon in hawk had to perform a specific item be it a skit,dance or song and then after that we had our miss hawk beauty contest, where 4 guys from each platoon would dress up in drag and start doing all sorts of crazy stuff with the seargents......I have never seen such disgusting looking "females" gathered in one single place...hhahahhaha...but it was fun....everybody were like cheering the contestnats to ride our seargents or tongue-kiss them to death...hahahaha

My platoon won the overall best performance in hawk company and our Miss hawk representative came in second...in case you're wonderings what's the diff between OC and CO....the OC is in charge of hawk company and the CO is in charge of the entire BMTC school 1.....which means in tekong,the C0 is like Mahatma Gandhi,The pope,mother theresa and the freaking President of the united states rolled into one....haha......for you lord of te rings fan...here's the hierachy of power in Elvish terms.....the CO is sauron,the OC is saruman, The 2nd lieutenants are the Nazrul Ring wraiths, The Seargents are the Uruk-khai......and we the recruits are just filthy orcs!!hahahha....

We also got to see Eagle company pass out the wee before us......it was a nice parade, quite touching for the Eagle recruits when their parents wore the caps for their sons......Eagle was the oldest company insite tekong,staying there for like 6 mths....So I was happy for LJ when he finally POPed from tekong on that day.....hahhaa...those guys in Eagle may be fat but their marching was pretty damn good,wow their drill team's performance was damn solid too......

The days that followed basically consisted of us doing endless rehearsals for our final passing out parade.......5 to 7 hrs a day.....and the second last day of BMT, we had our Games day for BMTC school 1.......Cougar,Bronco,Falcon and Hawk all vied for the champion's trophy........there were activities like a dance competition,frisbee match,tug of war,drill competition and tent building contest.........one funny thing was I saw Huiling's best buddy andre dressed up as the mascot for Falcon company....he wore sandals,a skirt with a cut right up to his butt, he had tatoosover half his face,carried a sickle and wore this huge cardboard bat wings......hahhaha.....basically he looked....dumb...hahhaha...anyways at the end of the Games day....I'm proud to say that Hawk Company won the overall championship and received a big ass trophy..........the first time in hawk company's history that we've won Games day.....my favorite contest was the dancing contest where 8 guys from my company danced to the tune of Dragoste Tin Tei, felix's trademark song....hahhaa....and we won!!!

7th December.........my long awaited day where I POP and left tekong for good......no more mosquito clogged plantations, Slow Ferry rides back to tekong,early book in hours and bad cookhouse food....hahahha.....the night before was a wild one man, we were supposed to turn in at 10.30pm....but some seargents came up to have some fun......and throughout the night, there would be large groups of people running to and fro in the hallways,laughing,screaming,pouring an assload on powder on each other......some even mixed powder and water and sprayed itover their seargents or bunk mates.....hahhaha.....so on our POP day, where we had to do one SUPER thorough cleaning of our bunk....we had to work double hard to clear the mess from the previous night.......we did a super-meticulous job...we cleaned our bed frames inside out, under our metal cabinets, inside the cabinets, overturned the shoe cabinet and cleaned it, got rid of all cobwebs, swept the floor and moped it.......after we finished, we could finally bring all our stuff down to the designated point where we would pick them up after our passin out parade....

The Parade was a good one....very little screw ups.......more then 800 people there with 4 companies pass out at the same time, Hawk had the most number of people with a total of 256 Hawk recruits..the entire parade lasted maybe a little more then an hour.....and we had to march in the first time in our rifles,SBO and helmet....stand at attention and watch motionlessly as the awards were presented to each of the company's best recruits...and also stayed for an address by the sepcial VIP guest and our CO....one funny thing about the CO's entry was they played the theme song of the 1978 Superman movi by John williams when the CO came on satge...I was half expecting him to swoop down in a cape and tights man..haha...after that we had to march off in a coordinated manner and prepare for our second re-entry where we had to run into the parade square, run towards the audience, sing "Stand up for singapore" and "The infantry song" and do this very lame "Infantry roar"....which was a pure rip-off of "we will Rock you" by Queen.....and there was this nice touching moment where our parents could come down to the parade square and wear our caps for u while some inspirational Olympics tune played in the background of the parade square......

Aand then finally the MC announced:" Ladies and Gentlemen....BMTC school one presents to you....The traaaaaained soldier!!!!!".....and all of us threw our caps high up in the air.....hahhaa....finally promoted from the lowest life form9a recruit) to the second lowest life form(a private"........something tells me its gonna take a long while before we can become anywhere near respectable life forms in the SAF...hhaha

So anyways now I'm a private and this 12 days of block leav have been absolutely amazing......I managed to read and watch all my outstanding comics and DVDS that I did'nt have time to watch.....and I finally got my posting on friday.......From Now on I'm gonna be..........

A REGIMENTAL POLICEMAN!!!

Hahahah.,....its ironic that me and felix, the two most corrupted fellows on this earth would both be selccted as law enforcement agents.....hahhaa....THE IRONY!!

I guess I'm quite lucky I got posted as an RP.....many guys in my section kanna truly shit vocations....7 of them are now riflemen.......and guess where my buddy went? If you read my blog....you would notice a very unlucky pattern of events forming for my buddy....well that pattern is not broken....cos that fella kanna 1st division riflemen......widely considered the worst and lowest job possible in the SAF.....sad case lar.Aat the end of the day...I bear him no malice.........who knows he might come out all the better for it after his riflemen training.....Best of lucky buddy.......TO YER NEXT BUDDY!!!hahahh......ok I'm being mean.....my sincerest condolences to him and hope things look up for him....

Well anyways.......that just about covers most of the events in the last month....next week is Christmas so I will be meeting up with my poly friends for christmas........blown my entire's month pay on buying presents and going out my friends for these 12 days....hahhaha......goddamn shopping for the perfect gift is a goddamn chore sia......and it's hell on your finances...hahhaa.......especially Wenjun's present!!...It was damn difficult to track down and nearly bankrupted myself trying to tikam and get that elusive Bleach character she wanted!!! DAMN YOU KUCHIKI BYAKUYA!!!!........ahhaha.....me and Felix buys the best gifts EVER........

Now then...... I've been tagged to play this dumb game that requires me to post 5 random/weird stuff about myself.....since practically everything I do is weird...here's 5 of them:

No.1

I actually sleep in a vampire position every night. I cover myself with my blanket and underneath that I'm actually folding my arms or positioning my arms in an x position when I sleep....I like this sleeping position its very relaxing..hahhaha...

No.2

I've been told that sometimes I talk in my sleep either if I'm really physically exhausted that day or have alot on my mind.....hahha....My section mates said that the latest time I sleep talked ..I shouted:"Aye guys...remember to compress your lunch boxes before You throw them!".....hahaha...basically whatever I sleep talk is random stuff I heard or remembered about during the day....

N0.3

The one and only time I was admitted to the hospital was actually a fluke.......I had rashes the day after one of my birthdays(when I was primary 3 I believe) so I went to my neighborhood clinic to see the doctor and was referred to the General hospital because the doctor diagnosed me as having contracted Dengue Fever ....so I spent todays there as they drew blood from my knuckles for tests and stuff.......it turned out that I did'nt have dengue afterall but had an allergic reaction to the seafood I ate on my birthday....which is weird considering how that was also the first and last time I had an allergic reaction to seafood...

No.4

I was without two of my front teeth for more then 1 year when I was very young......when I was young,I think i peed on the floor so my mum went to get some stuff to clean up the floor and I ran after her,slipping on my own piss and breaking my two front milk teeth.....my mum sent me to a dentist to extract the other broken remnants of my two front teeth...and when the doctor pulled them he had a tough time cos he found out my milk teeth had roots (like your permanent teeth)....so when he extracted the leftover of my broken teeth......normally for children,it would take a couple of months for their permanent teeth to grow out after their milk teeth dropped but my permanent teeth took a year to grow out after the extraction.......so I was toothless in all my pictures taken when I was between 3-4 years old...I think My parents might still have those two front teeth,roots and all,kept in a small canister of disinfectant liquid.....a gift from the dentist...

N0.5

Despite how hairy my limbs may seem.....I'm actually pretty much free of hair in my inner body...hahhaa.......with the exception of the parts that ARE supposed to have hair....so if you think I look like bloody sean connery on the inside....."You would be sho incredibly missh-taken Shucker, becosh I do not have an Assh-load of Hair on the inshide!!"

OK that'll be it fer me.......I'm off....I gotta report to my new camp at Paya Lebar airbase for my new vocation.......wish me luck..hahaha....for a pictorial account at this past month's milestones...scroll down for photos of my field camp,Oc night,24km march,my 21st birthday and my POP parade........highlight the area below each picture for extra director's commentary on each pic....the bloody blogspot picture posting is bad and screwed up some of my captions....so you might not see them and have to highlight the spaces under the photos.........

Till Next time.....

3:16 AM

Thursday, December 15, 2005 -

The First Campsite after a 6km route march....

Group shot of my section...notice how I'm keeping an eye on my buddy...with a look of utter fear in my face....

The soil-stained interior of a basha tent...

A shot of the water logged oil plantation(our second camp site)...

Another group shot of our platoon in the middle of literally nowhere....

Posing with our m-16s that are fully equiped with ammo pouches...

Cover and Concealment: A shot of us stuffed with an assload of vegetation....and blending into the foliage

My section ready to put a bullet in our platoon seargent's ass for making us stuff ourselves with the aforementioned assload of vegetation ....

Another shot with my buddy acting like Chewbacca the wookie with his rifle raised up high...

Casualty evacuation drill.....

The Notorious "Fireman carry" method of evacuation......that's not me in the pic...but I did carried a man like that and ran for 250 km....at the end of it...my sould left my body a couple of times during that run...

Another pic of us hauling ass...

Eating the "sumptious" combat rations for lunch...

Artillery drills.....

Proning behind grass patches and taking aim....

Moving in a coordinated manner.....and flanking our invisible enemy...

The two men running towards the section leader in the middle...

Our punishment for leaning against a tree....getting the entire section of 12 to push against the tree and shout "HELP!HELP!THE TREE IS FALLING!"....

10 mins later and we're still pushing the tree....

Grenade drill.....with the casualty happily looking on...

our second camp site...the palm tree plantation...

Eating of live rations on our technical break...a rare day where we could do without applying camouflage cream on our faces...

Group shot with our platoon seargent...the calm before the storm..hahha

My platoon seargent being given a powder bath by my platoon...notice me at the background pointing,laughing and my eyes blazing green...haha

Awwww....he ate some of the powder.....my heart goes out to him...NOT!!

The living embodiment of Casper the friendly ghost...

And...Here comes a new challenger!!hahah......My PC...2nd lieutenant Glenn...

He entered a young man...and exited a greying old fart...hahha

A picture of the less deadly insects in tekong...

A picture of the insects tearing each other apart....

My commaders leaving their mark on a blackboard in an abandoned malay school in the jungles of tekong....

Our route March to the final campsite...

You can see that some people are already fluctuating between life and death..hahaha

Finally reach our final camp site...The reclaimed land: The land of the mosquitoes...

A shot of the platoon together after our BIC(Btatle inoculation course) on the last day of field camp....

Was the 7 day field camp fun Platoon2?...."UP YOURS!!"....hahha...the last pic of the platoon as we can finally head back home.....

8:58 AM

Tuesday, December 13, 2005 -

The BBQ commences at Maysprings....home to both my uncle and my arch nemesis....YS!!

My mum commadeering the grill while the rest of us shoot the breeze..

The girls and their male counterparts.....

Me, Candy and Sebastian...

Michelle's bf( err...his name escapes me..), Me and Michelle....

Huiling,me,Ben and Wenjun talking crap and eating stuff...

My Mum grilling.......and my aunty Jenny in the background

Opening Pandora's Box....err....I mean My birthday gift..

"What ever in the world could be wrapped in this chunk of wrapping paper?"

"Why....Its...its.....a Bra...."

"Well...at least it feels nice and soft.."

"What other wonderful surprises await me in this box of pure evil..?"

" A condom Lollipop!!"...what sane human could do without such a tasty morsel?

"Plus an additional Bonus.....A condom hanger!!!"....Just See the look of pure joy and excitement on my face...

"Whoa......I can already feel my nuts shrinking after looking at these delightful items!!!"

"Edible Underwear.........A culinary delight and scrumptious treat for Asylum inmates of all ages!!"

A nice pen that sends an electrical jolt up anybody who presses the pen.....perfect for jump-starting the hearts of Heart-attack victims or giving your friends a cardiac arrest!!

Dumbells for your testicles.....gain stunning triceps in your groin area in just 3 weeks!!

Nothing like a Cup'O tits in the morning to start your day off!!

"Right now let's just place all these items back in the box..."

"....Try to surpress any memory of these items and think of a way to hide the Pierre Cardin Bra from my folks...."

"Slide the box under my bed and pretend nothing ever happened." (Ps.Note to self: Remember to delete all these photos from the memory card of my dad's digital cam.)