The Blue Beret

Hello people... the year is coming to an end again... I wish everyone a very happy new year ahead. Booked out on thursday night, having a long weekend till tuesday.

We got our blue berets... after 4 weeks of basic engineer training. The beret was presented by CO of ETI. The beret felt good... it wasn't like my blue beret when I was in my secondary school days as an active sea scout. It was softer, and I figured it would be much easier to season and wear. I think having the beret looked much better than the jockey cap... I think jockey caps are for recruits haha... It will make me look more soldier like i think.

The presentation was quite a simple ceremony actually, the CO donned the blue beret for us individually. After the presentation, we were read our postings. I was in total suspense again... because I really wanted to go to EOD. But it turned out I didn't get in... there were the 9 lucky ones. I wasn't one of them. Fuck!

I was posted to CBRD (chemical, biological & radiological defence) along with 23 others... I was glad at least I knew alot of people from my platoon that were going there. Well... since I got the job I will train hard over there... at least I will have an extra 200 bucks (risk allowance) in my pay haha... I will be able to do much more shopping with the extra cash, looking forward to it... So I will be in seletar camp soon enough... it's actually further than nee soon camp from my house.

After everything, we had our cohesion night event in camp... because our OC wanted to invite the CO. How dumb... we could have had it at marina south, having the seafood steamboat! So we had a bbq and some food catered to us. It was ok... everyone was having a good time as the officer cadets from CTW were looking on with envy haha...

Hmm.... long weekend... I feel like going clubbing somewhere... you know, get to know some girls. I really need to learn more about it, I'm not a clubber person. And learn how to dance haha...

That's all for now, have a nice weekend everybody.

End of Line

Long Week

Hello people... just had a freaking long week. Oh yeah, Merry Christmas to all my friends out there by the way. And to Ivan and Guowei, Merry New Year hahaha... To Anthony, hope you are having a great time in Australia with your family.

Why a freaking long week? Well, so many field practices... Actually I wouldn't mind having lots of practicals. It is actually the stores that will kill us. Engineers have the fucking most stores in SAF... some are very freaking heavy... whether heavy or light, its way too goddamn much... Just thinking about doing stores simply turns me off. On top of that, I spent my Christmas eve in camp, in green. Doing guard duty. SAF loves me. Luckily I was clever enough to choose a good guard shift. I was basically slacking the whole time hahaha... didn't have the opportunity to draw ammo because I didn't have to do sentry or prowling... or else I will shoot everyone and book out lol.

My sidewinder steering wheel is not workable anymore... dunno want to get a new and better steering wheel anot... I won't play driving games without a steering wheel... it won't be shiok. Now I have a dilemma... dunno want to invest in my PC or PS2... if I invest in my PC, then I will get a Logitech Momo Force Feedback. If I invest in the PS2, then I will get the GT4 steering wheel, the one designed for the game one. Then again... I'm also saving for my Oakley Dartboard... I will see again. Surely an answer will come when I get my inspiration.

That's all for now... tell you more when I return with a blue beret, after my passing out from the basic course.

End of Line

Running the ring

Hello... hai so sian. My stamina really sucks. I mean for my 2.4km run. I simply can't run for long distances. So sad.

Already 2 IPPT I have taken in Nee Soon camp... and for both I clocked around 11:15... so pathetic. The worst part of it, as long as you can't achieve 9:44 (Gold standard) then you will have to take all the other IPPTs through the course, which is another 2 for me. How the hell am I going to survive that... every 2.4km is like hell for me. As long as I can't get gold, I won't get my 100 bucks for the silver standard, because I still have another 1/2 a year to go... When I get posted to my unit, they will want me to keep trying for gold. WTF... "We will give you the opportunity to try again."

What cock... And my friends that have got gold will get their extra 200 bucks for the first year with their next pay I think... They even have nights off next week when we take our next IPPT arrrgghhhhhhhhh!!!! Can I change a pair of lungs? Or maybe I should drink 98 Octane...

I found out that running on the running tracks is not really suitable for me... I simply can't find the energy when running on track. In SISPEC, we run the 2.4km along a stretch of road, it's like a rally track on tarmac... I clocked 10:27 then for the final test. And I could really feel the difference, I felt more energetic on the road. Well it sounds like a lame excuse right? If you can run means you can run... cannot run means cannot run.

I don't have any problems with my static stations, I can easily get full points for those... except that my right ankle is beginning to feel the stress, particularly in the standing broad jump and shuttle run. I had twisted it 2 times during SISPEC, once in the EOD physical trial... I dunno whether want to report sick for the next once anot... but I'm afraid that the MO might see my injury as quite serious... I don't want it to affect my chances for getting into EOD. How???

Haha it has been a long week in Nee Soon camp... 6-day week with 2 days of live firing... and me being aimed to be trainee Platoon Sergeant for my platoon... So much sai gang to do. But I'm glad I didn't get into any trouble. Although sometimes the platoon can be a little uncooperative, but I managed to control them most of the time, with the help of the 4 section commanders under me. Haha time to pass on the 1st Sergeant rank to the next unlucky guy. He will be more jialat than me, because next week we have lots of practicals, so alot of stores to take care of.

Dunno whether got time to blog next week anot... I'm serving guard duty for Christmas eve!!! So damn bloody unlucky... and I was random picked. Counting down to christmas in green, carrying a rifle. So depressing... I think I might shoot Santa if I see him in camp LOL.

End of Line

Trying to unleash the beast

So miserable... there is something very wrong with my mom's car...

It used to be much more powerful... it used to kick back my head against the headrest when i floor it... The sweet whistle of the turbo is now gone... I just don't understand...

I looked back into the rear view mirror, and saw a yellow gold BMW M3. I thought, maybe I can lure the beast to show me something, and perhaps let me hear the roar of the engine.

The light turned green. I switched to tiptronic mode and floored the pedal. The familiar strong hum of my mom's passat came to life, but something is amiss... It sounds strong, but why am I crawling? The car just feels so weak... It came to me: the turbo is not working. No whistle, no kick...

I was flooring it, and it felt like forever to get up to speed. Then the M3 noticed my intentions and switched to my left and then I heard the powerful roar of its powerplant as it passes me with ease. I think I saw a smirk on the idiot's face... he dosen't know that my beast is sick. So intimidating was the M3, but what a disappointment on my part. I could have put up a good fight with the turbo still working, although I will definitely get trashed after a few seconds into the fight...

Then later on the PIE, I tried to follow a rushing Honda Accord Euro R through its lane cutting advances, but the car is just struggling through its paces. Its like having a whole in its heart... so sad.

I concluded that my mom's car is not safe to drive... there may be some fluids leaking from the turbo. Luckily I still have my dad's Saab 95 2.0 Turbo haha...

End of Line

The Exorcism of Me

The following is a shot of me being possessed by demons.












This is how I looked like after I listened to Ozzy.














I realised my mistake and quickly turned off the nightshot on my camera and the demons ran away... or was it the classical music I switched to?

Yes, I'm bored.

It's a right-hander's world

Hello people... today I want to talk about how biased the world is. No, it's not about why foreigners are taking away our jobs or why that fuck face has a babe beside him.

What I am talking about is that the world only cares for right-handers, just simply they are the majority. Why do I say so? Just take a look around you. Appliances all around you are designed for right-handers. What is your right hand holding onto now? A mouse. Have you wondered why is it not on your left? Your nice speaker system on your desktop, where are the controls? On the right speaker. The power switch on your monitor? Right. Ok, maybe you say that I am too sensitive to all this minor things...

A big problem for me actually is that guns are designed for right-handers. By now, you should have guessed that I am a left-hander. I have to adapt myself to shoot with my right-hand. Because empty cartridges fly out from the right side of the weapon. If I shoot with my left hand, the burning hot cartridges will fly into my handsome face and imbue nice & exquisite burn marks. Although it sounds like I'm whining about me not being able to shoot with my left hand, all this has actually made me ambidextrous. After some training and self-persuasion I managed to get myself to be able to shoot with my right hand. Now I can shoot with both hands.

The morale of the story? It may not be a bad thing if you are a left-hander, but rather look on the bright side of things. Things may just turn out good for you. At first I was a little angry at why everything is so right-hander oriented. But then after awhile, I began to think of it as a window for self-improvement. Self-improvement as in I can learn how to put my right hand into good use like shooting, rather than only clicking away on a mouse or some miscellaneous activities...

Haha... thank you for reading my bullcrap. Have a nice day.

End of Line

3 Days Leave!!!

Hello... haha you must be wondering what the hell am I doing outside of camp... I just got 3 days leave!

After we reported, we were told that were a week early to the start of course, and there is a previous batch of people that still occupies our bunks so we couldn't stay in... so they OC decided to give us a 3 day leave clearance. Haha I was so fucking happy when I heard that, a 3 day break is like something too good to be true, and it happened immediately on the first day at ETI. Looks like the engineers really takes care of its men. LOL.

We used the day to settle our admin stuff, left our huge and heavy duffel bags in a lecture room so that we didn't need to carry it back home. The place where our block is, is just simply fantastic. Right at the first storey is an e-mart. This is the first time an e-mart is so close to our living quarters... and we can visit it anytime when time permits. Another very good thing is that we, as future specialists are allowed to visit the specialists' mess, FOC!!! I hope there is a pool table in there, haha...

After everything is settled, we booked out after dinner. I almost forgot to mention the food, the food in mainland is much nicer than in Tekong. It has to be because of the caterer, Singapore Food Industries (Mainland) compared to Food Fare Industries (Damned Island). Hmm... looks like I'm really going to enjoy unit life...

End of Line

Chevron Slap

Hello... just came out of the island. For the last time. Yes, I think I will never step onto Tekong again.

Last night, the whole BSLC batch marched 28km, which was the graduation march and a very special event of the course. We started marching at 2200, after the CO talked a little cock about what we have accomplished so far, what lies ahead blah blah blah...

The march was actually quite gruelling, but the load of the FBO only bothered me for the front part of the march. After awhile, my shoulders seemed to become numb to the weight load. The more jialat parts were actually the balls of my feet, and the fear of falling asleep. Yes, you can fall asleep while walking. There was one part where I was like a zombie, just walking with my eyes almost fully closed. I was lucky to be able to wake myself up when I notice the distance of my front man getting further.

When all of us neared the end point of the 28km, we were in super high spirits. Everyone was singing their lungs out, clapping their hands in sync. Our roars were like what you would hear in an EPL match... We reached back to camp at around 0600.

The next thing that followed was the graduation parade. In FBO. I think it was quite a stupid idea, to be making us stand in parade for so fucking long, in FBO. And somemore, it was after our 28km march. The pain in my shoulders were almost unbearable. I was always fidgeting around, trying to get the crushing pain away. My shoulders almost cramped at one point. People around me were fidgeting around too, I can totally understand why we still dare to move while in parade. There were a few people that looked as if they were about to fall flat on the ground, their face were pale... And my friend beside me fell asleep... what the fuck...

Finally my PC came up to me and slapped on the chevron rank (Corporal) onto my arms, there was a handshake and then he still had another 30 or more people to my left to go... During this period, my mind was so disturbed by the pain I was feeling in my shoulders that I felt as if my brain forced me to fall out from the parade. I keep thinking of bending down so that the field pack would rest flat on my back, not on my shoulders. But I kept telling myself all this will soon be over, just endure a little bit more... Then after what seems like forever, we started marching back to company line.

Back at coy line, we washed up and did our final packing, cleaned our rifle for the last time. After I finished cleaning my rifle, I laid down on my bed and dozed off...
Suddenly I was awoken by my friend, who told me we are to receive our posting orders. The moment of truth has come.

I quickly put on a shirt and went downstairs together with the whole company. Our OC then read to us our postings. The very first batch was the people that has to stay back at charlie company for ASLC. The suspense for this part was like nothing before, because I die die also don't want to go back to charlie for ASLC. I'm sick of the SISPEC life, because to me it just sucks. So name by name was read, and the majority were malays... it seems that it was a trend. After my name was skipped, I breathed a sigh a relief. I quietly told myself: YES!!!

After a while, my name was called out, and I am posted to ETI, which is the combat engineers training institute. I heard that unit life as a combat engineer is quite good, so I'm very glad. I managed to escape ASLC, and armored infantry (because its madness trying to run behind a tank, and 5 months of training to get 3SG rank). I got the same posting as my buddy and a few of my platoon mates, so I will be seeing them in ETI. Its good to have some people you know in a new place. I wonder how true is it that life as a combat engineer will be good, its for me to find out now, I guess.

Actually last week I forgot to tell you that I was actually called up to go for a selection board by the 36 SCE, which is the EOD (Explosives Ordnance Disposal). I thought that it was a good vocation to be in, it comes with pride and extra 200 dollars pay for the risk factor. I tried my best in the IQ tests, and the physical test.

The physical was very interesting: we had to don the 27kg bomb suit and run up to 4th storey and crawl under a table, do a ring and wire thingy (remember Mr. Bean at the fun fair?) and a wooden puzzle, things like that. I was totally shagged out just from running up to 4th storey with the suit. It felt as if I had just finished SOC!!! But I remained calm and tried my best to complete a small wooden puzzle which I did not complete... I was bombarded with questions like what was my name, which poly I came from and things like that. You had to do the puzzle and answer them at the same time. There was a 10 min time limit for the whole physical. I almost sprained my ankle from running down the stairs... luckily I didn't.

I do not know whether I will still be selected for EOD, because of my posting to ETI. But there is only 10 that will make it into EOD from SISPEC (quite alot of people were chosen to do the selection), so most likely I will be strike off the list. Well, it has been a good experience for me with the bomb suit and all.

Ok I talked a bit too much haha, tell you more next time about my first week in ETI. Adios.

Mosquito Food

Hello everyone, I have just survived 2 gruelling weeks in Tekong. Many many things happened during these 2 weeks, I shall try to break it up into parts and share the juicy ones.

1] Ex. Nutcracker

This exercise is really the most shiong one of all the exercises in BSLC. It is actually to setup a defense site, to defend an objective so that the enemy cannot capture it. So what are we to do over at the defense site? First, we will have to dig a shellscrape, a personal one. Its like a grave, except its not so deep. Just enough for you to prone and engage the enemy, while still under ground level. Only your helmet and rifle barrel is supposed to be seen.

The second and most challenging one would be the fire trench. Its to be dug by your buddy and you, overnight. When you stand in the trench, the ground has to be at your chest level. I actually fell sick after digging my shellscrape, and had to take a rest... my head felt like exploding! But after the rest I felt much better, and continued digging the trench with my buddy. Everyone is so fucking shagged out... you can see people just sitting beside the trench stoning, you can see people holding their torches while illuminating the trench so that their buddy can continue digging in the dark, and still falling asleep. The best ones can be digging and half asleep. They look as if they are doing some ritual, like praying to something...

This is the most mentally and challenging thing I have gone through ever since I have enlisted.

2] Ex. Grandslam

So what is this? Its actually a platoon harbouring overnight, and then fighting or ambush patrols will be sent out in the day.

Sounds easy, but people will have to take turns to do sentry duty and things like that... some are 2 hours long. So we don't really get much sleep in the night, just enough only. When we get to the sleeping part, we need to make sure our weapon dosen't get stolen by our instructors. And those doing sentry duty better not be caught sleeping. Many people were caught, and they were in the weekend guard duty list. My friend got his rifle stolen while sleeping, and he got 2 days of weekend duty. Luckily he managed to get away with it before book out...

The patrols were nothing hard, we have been fighting too many times, its routine to us. This exercise is nothing compared to nutcracker, only the night part is hard.



So after all this, we were told that most of us has passed BSLC, and promoted to the rank of Corporal. So much shit we have been through, and finally we received our corporal rank. Of course the official donning of the rank will be next week, after the 28km route march. I'm so glad everything is over, I made lots of good buddies along the way too. Buddies that suffered together with me, laugh and enjoy when time permits.

So next week... would be a good week I guess. Tell you more after I pass out.

Back into the Jungle

Hello... it felt almost so unreal... just after 2 days in Tekong and we can book out again. I think if someone asks me what my favourite hobby is, I will say its booking out.

Anyway this quick peek out of Tekong will be verrryyy precious once again (although all book outs are), because the next 2 weeks will be spent in Tekong in one shot again. I'm wondering why the other companies don't have to be confined 2 times during the course, and yet they are finishing their syllabus faster than us. Is is the higher command's planning at fault? Or is it that Charlie company just simply shiong?

Anyway, I'm beginning to feel numb to being in and out of the jungle all the time. To me, when I'm in the outfield, time seems to fly. The next 2 weeks will be THE 2 weeks of the course. I will be tested both physically and mentally. We will be like soldiers in war time, rotting in the jungles, sleeping with wild boars. Actually I look forward to it all, and hope that time flies like it usually do, for me in the jungle.

And, I will be serving an extra guard duty after the 2 gruelling weeks, which is dated on the 19th. It was probably because of the time I was caught with dirty boots during first parade... By the way, this will be my first time doing guard duty since I enlisted haha... Actually if I was not caught with the dirty boots I will have managed to evade doing guard duty for the whole of BMT and SISPEC throughout, as I am an armskote assistant in SISPEC. Over here, armskote men do not have to serve regimental guard duty. Oh well too bad...

Catch me again on the 20th, if I come out of Tekong in one piece... there will be lots of exciting stuff happening.

Civillisation feels so damn good

Woohoo... just a few days off of the island and I just feel so much refreshed. No instructors to shout at you, no M-16s to clean, no reville at 0515hrs... Damn, I just love the non-military life. The best part of it is that I get to see pretty babes in Orchard road.

This afternoon I went to watch "The Great Raid" with Anthony, Kok Wee and Barry. The movie was quite nice, watching how the rangers came up with a plan and it was executed to almost perfection. Nowadays when I watch war movies, I kindof understand better how things work, after I had enlisted. There were some moving scenes with the POWs to go along with the action, it was a good movie all in all. I give a 3.5 out of 5.

Gunpowder & Mud

Hello... I'm finally back to civillisation, after 2 gruelling weeks in Tekong. Time really flies, although I'm not really enjoying myself that much. Another month and I will pass out from BSLC.

I was taught lots of things, as we started to really hit the jungle with lots of blanks. Things like how to lead a section through various types of fire movement.

Highlight of the 2 weeks has got to be Ex. Wanderer. In this final test of our navigation skills, we were broken into teams of 4 to 5. I really enjoyed it, finding checkpoint after checkpoints in the jungle. It was all about knowing how to read the map and trusting your compass.

I was caught one morning with my boots not polished... I had my name taken down, together with a few others. Then the seargent told us that we will be slotted into guard duties if there were a shortage... I was already preparing myself mentally to be called up for guard duty. Anyway, I will be having a long break till Thursday. I was praying very hard, full of suspense as our Company Routine Orders were read to the whole company before we booked out to freedom. It was very intense, because there were 4 days of guard duties to be filled. For every name read out that isn't my name, I prayed even harder.

I never heard my name. Hahaha... I was super relieved. Because we were all rushing to the ferry leaving for mainland, we were running to the tonners that brought us to the ferry terminal. Morale was super high. I was smiling all the way home, thinking of all the things I will be doing during my long break.

I should be posting more often these few days, so stay tuned. Peace.

The Wet Prophecy

The rain just keeps falling,
Will it ever stop?
The freezing cabin rolls on,
My mind recollecting what went on.

A couple of soft toys I bought for her,
A few sweet comments about her beauty,
Priceless was her glowing smile,
So I held her hand, smelt her hair.

It feels so good just to hold her,
Just like before the storm.
Now she is no longer mine,
But somehow I just want her back.

Will she be worth it?
Will she love truly?
Will I be hurt again?
Only time will tell, when the sun rises.

Welcome to the Jungle

Hello... this post will be a little short, because I don't have much time this book out. So here goes...

The past week has been pretty slack, mostly lectures and simple stuff, nothing strenous. The highlight of the week would have to be the Chemical Defence package. We were trained how to put on gas masks and special suits. Its pretty hot, its almost like wearing winter clothing. Imagine yourself wearing winter clothing in 33 degress celcius environment... don't mention fighting the enemy, we can't even march properly...

After we were taught how to wear these cool masks and suits, we were brought to the smoke trainer facility at Pasir Laba camp. We did some exercises like jumping jacks and stuff while being in a tear gassed room. And before we are allowed to leave the room, we were instructed to take off our masks, open our eyes wide and say out loud our respective names and IC numbers. It wasn't too bad for me, I recovered quite fast from the exposure, but some other people were looked as if their dog had died. It was pretty cool training.

This book out is quite short, as I normally book in at 2200. But this time its 1945, sian. The next two weeks I will be stuck on Tekong because of live firing scheduled next weekend. But after that I will have almost a week of off days following Deepavali. Next two weeks will be action packed and very tiring too. Stay tuned...

No More SOC!!!

Hello, I have just booked out from Tekong again... I have one more book out before the weekend burns.

I'm really happy, because this week was quite a good week for me, although it has been a very tiring one. I cruised through my Basic Navigation tests with much ease, and I simply loved the practical tests. They took place on the highest hill in Tekong, just next to SISPEC. The weather that day was quite good. I had thought that it was going to be very hot on the hill, but we encountered windy conditions that afternoon, and there were plenty of trees to shelter us from the sun. The tests were about finding your own location on the map, finding other unknown locations using a variety of methods they had taught us. To me, playing around with a compass, map and protractor was child's play.

One very memorable experience for me was the night navigation in closed terrain exercise. We were given checkpoints and were asked to find our way in the dark, without torches. We were only allowed to black tape the red colour filter so that only a 1cm square will emit light from our L-Torch. This is because of tactical reasons, so that enemies will not be able to spot you easily when you use the torch to look at your compass and stuff. Navigation in closed terrain (dense forrest with canopy) at night is really very hard. Not only you can't really see what's in front of you, you don't have much idea which direction you are drifting to when you walk from checkpoint to chekcpoint. This lesson really teaches us to trust our compass and your own instincts. I do have some experience of navigating in a forrest when I was a scout during my secondary school days, but never in the dark. It will simply be too hazardous.

Another event of the week was the final SOC test. It was actually only this morning, and I can still feel abit of aching in my shoulders. Many people actually fear the SOC than IPPT, but to me, its the other way round. I find clearing the obstacles quite fun. After I clear an obstacle, I feel a small sense of satisfaction, I myself don't know why. This sense of satisfaction will keep me pushing through the course with much ease. The only tiring part is the 600m of running to the finish line after I clear all the 11 obstacles. I guess my stamina is really bad, and for that I actually fear the 2.4km run than the SOC. This morning, I pushed myself to my absolute limits, like a car engine pushing the redline. I cleared the SOC at 08:47, which I really think was a good timing for myself. I never thought I could break the 9 minute barrier.

I booked out with a satisfied smile, looking forward to all the good food I'm going to stuff myself with when I get back to mainland. That's all for now, hopefully my next week in SISPEC will be good and don't get into any trouble which will land myself in the sunday guard duty list. Damn! It feels good to be back to civilisation, away from the jungles.

Book Out!!!

Haha I didn't really have time to blog last week after booking out, so here goes a two week special... It's been two weeks since I entered SISPEC and so many things have happened to me since I became a private soldier...

SISPEC is the premier School of Infantry Specialists in the SAF. But in my reality (and many others' too), it also stands for Suffer In Silence Plus Extra and Confinement. Life is so much different than in BMT, you are very much on your own, other than your brothers in arms around you. In BMT, my commanders are very much caring, they really take care of you and make sure you make it through. But in SISPEC, my instructors are mostly regulars, and they don't really care that much, because they have to cover their own ass on the job. Push-ups, running around the compound are really passed off as very simple and easy punishments. What really gives you a kick in the groin are extra duties and the worse of all, confinement.

Its pretty simple, when you sign an extra, you will have to do guard duty on SUNDAY. You will still book out like the rest, on saturday afternoon BUT book back in the SAME NIGHT!!! So its like you book out for a few hours and book back in. Confinements will kill you if extra duties don't. You do not get to book out at all, so you will stay in camp for two weeks in a row. The next week, when you book out, you book out as a caveman. All these punishments will really make a cock-up personnel into a thinking soldier. I mean, nobody wants to be a permanent resident on Tekong right?

Just a couple of days ago, something really scary happened to me. My staff sergeant (we all address staff sergeants as "Staff") had problems looking for one more person to fill the sunday guard duty list. As he looks around, he picks a few guys, but they got excused because they had birthdays close by. Then suddenly as I was doing some packing up of my stuff in my bunk, this guy in my platoon suddenly comes up to me and told me I was chosen for the guard duty this sunday. Time paused for a moment... WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?! I immediately changed back to admin attire so that I could go down stairs to the platoon office, because I need to speak with my staff. After I knocked and asked permission to enter, I found out that there was nobody in there. So I asked one of my instructors, and he told me that he actually went home, as he took two days leave. Some people from my platoon actually told me that he was fed-up with trying to get somebody for the empty slot, and he wants to go home early... That was on thursday night. By the way, my birthday is on saturday, the 1st of October. I soon learned that staff had picked me because he saw that my photo was not on the platoon profile chart (fucking lame excuse). I forgot to bring it in that week. My morale dropped and broke like an egg falling from the top of westin stamford hotel. When you get near the end of the week, your morale becomes high as you look forward to book out day.

For the next day, I managed to get my staff's handphone number, but he just wouldn't pick up or reply to my messages... he really is on leave. I really needed to tell him that my birthday is on saturday so that he could replace me with another sucker. How could something like this happen to me? I was desperate for solutions... brain-storming with all the idle time when waiting for training to commence. In the SAF, we always rush to wait, and wait to rush. Its just plain fucking stupid. What retarded nonsense about the "sense of urgency"? Instructors always fuck us up for taking our own sweet time, but we are always waiting when we get there. The only sense of urgency I know is when shit is already gushing out of my ass and I can't find a toilet.

I was so desperate that I was thinking about paying somebody to replace me on the guard duty list. But then again, I think the full weekend out is just priceless, nobody would sacrifice it for money. Finally only today morning, I know that I can't depend on staff anymore, so I approached one of my platoon instructors for help. He is kind-of a hokkien peng, but he is really a nice guy. I think everybody likes him, we haven't really seen him get pissed off and punish us yet. I explained my situation to him, and he told me that he would settle it for me by book out time. I was so happy and relieved, I thought that he couldn't do anything about it but I was wrong. Under his section, one guy has signed an extra, and so he got him to replace me.

Now I know at least I know who to turn to, when I have troubles. I should have turned to my own section instructor, but he is kind of difficult to approach... Maybe I will get to know him better in the tough times to come. Two weeks gone, eight more to go before I pass out from SISPEC as a corporal. I am sure there will be much more things to write about in the weeks to come, hopefully not bad things...

For now, I live my life one book out at a time. Without a girlfriend, I'm going to make good use of my NSF pay and buy myself some nice things. Bye for now, tell you more next week.

Smelly Helmet

Yep, this is my first time actually blogging. I recently broke up with my girlfriend, and suddenly found a lot of free time on my hands. I guess blogging is a good way to occupy myself, and maybe help me forget unhappy things.

Ok, now for a short intro about myself... Im currently serving NS, only about 3 months have passed since I became a botak. BMT happened very quickly for me, made lots of good friends along the way. It was like in a blink of an eye, and there we were in the parade square tossing our jockey caps. Then came my posting. I was being posted to SISPEC. There was something in the posting that I was worried about: Vocation : Infantry Leader. So what the hell does that mean? Will I be stuck for the rest of my NSF life as an infantry soldier? Gotta find out more about that from somebody...

Only just now, I was packing up my duffel bag and field pack with my SAF issued items (which means all the uniform and rubbish they gave you at the start). I was relieved that I could actually stuff so much shit into my bags and still close them. The only thing that I have not packed in is my helmet. I think the one item that can make you faint with just a sniff would be my beloved helmet. Throughout the field camp, sitest, and the numerous route marches... can you imagine the amount of sweat and smudged camo cream have the helmet eaten? Although I have washed it with my best effort, it still stinks like bullcrap... Before I pack it into my duffel bag, I want to re-tie my camo netting, as its really fucked up with the strings messed up on the inside.

I'm having mixed feelings about going to SISPEC... heard that training there is really tough, so im mentally preping myself for the tough days ahead. My buddy (Barry) is really a great pal, and he too is posted to SISPEC. Hope that we will become buddies in SISPEC again. You know, having a good buddy can really help you to cope with hard times.

Maybe its a bit boring for now, but do stay tuned for what goes on in my first week in SISPEC...