Another fun and interesting week of BSLC..

Had a 2 day 1 night urban operations training somewhere up in lim chu kang along jalan murai.. real fun.. though the SAW is a real hassle to manuever with, in the tight corners and spaces.

And of course.. we learnt new things..

the most important thing that we all have come to neglect but i have never put down it's importance is the SAF Insect Repellant.. LOL.. Here's why.. in the night.. i traditionally would smear blobs of the gel along the cuffs of my sleeve and my collar.. not putting any on my skin for fear of the notorious burn that the insect repellant would cause if excessively applied to the skin.. key word here is excessive.. i don't know how much the amount "excessive" is.. and i don't want to try to know that.. until..

until my buddy (Fad) who was sleeping on my leftside woke up another buddy (Ivan) of ours who was sleeping on my right to shine light on his face and check out something.. so in the commotion i woke up and also took a look at my buddy's face and..

And goddamn his upper lip was swollen like a grape..!!! He got bitten by some bug..

instantly i turned around and took out my tube of insect repellant, squeezed out a blob on my palm and rubbed it even on my hands and smeared it all over my face.. LOL..!! Ivan did the same thing.. LOL.. and Fad was like cursing us for his misfortune and we were laughing at him like mad..
it took like half a day for the swelling to subside and throughout the time we all made fun of Fad..

the following day, on thursday we had our final SOC test which I passed as well..

then the highlight of the week.. Section Live Firing..!!!

i'm assigned as the section commander of my detail which comprised of most of my sectionmates.. as per any live firing exercise.. we were to conduct a dry run/practice using blanks first.. the daytime dry run was done with little mistakes.. and i was confident that the live firing run would run smoothly..

And then it was time for the live run.. i was nervous but surprisingly i was calm throughout.. my heart was not pounding as hard as i expected it to be.. maybe coz i was the leader of my detail and i cannot show them that i'm afraid.. fear is contagious..

And so it began.. as per every fire and movement drill.. the section commander would advance forward first while the rest provide cover.. so you could imagine the environment i was in.. i had to run forward amidst my section firing live rounds around me.. real scary by theory but kinda not in actual movement.. after the run was completed.. i felt a great satisfaction.. it was fun.. and it was done good.. no mistakes were made.. we did it real good..

the night run was the same just that it's rather dark but the moon was on full that friday night and the moonlight provided nice eerie glow all around..

all in all.. this week was great..

highlight of the coming week..


Exercise GrandSlam back in the 'homeland' of Pulau Tekong..

Been a really tough, mentally challenging and physically draining week..

I had SOC which i passed with a timing of 9.32.

I had my ippt where i finally obtained gold.. finally.. after all that hard work.. freaking standing broad jump.. lol.. after i completed all the static stations and knew i was on gold i ran the 2.4km like i never ran before.. ran till i could puke phlegm from my lungs..

basically this week was all about navigation..

damn tiring.. compass course was conducted at the 'backyar' of pasir laba camp.. some knolls and steep slopes just behind the camp.. day and night compass movement.. it was kinda fun doing the navigation.. but just a bitch to go up and down like a 60degree inclined slope all the time..

terrain reading march was also another physically draining event.. we had to navigate our way along the outside of PLC.. again.. i never thought that jurong would be so damn hilly.. went up and down and up and down and up again then down again.. really freaking tiring.. was a big surprise when my detail turned out to be the first to finish the entire thing.. the night march was kinda easy.. coz it was simply backtracking to a previous point then returning back to coy line..

then the main highlight of the entire navigation course was Exercise Gypsy which is basically a navigation exercise through the forested area of lower mandai.. the night before we were tasked to set the navigation data sheet and whatnot in preparation for the exercise.. my detail consisted of ppl from section 1 and my section.. my self-assigned detail IC was damn enthusiastic on planning out the route of navigation and all that stuff.. i questioned his ways but for whatever nonsense that he said to convince me the words that i hated the most that came out of his mouth was "trust me.."..

there's this saying that "before one leads, one should learn to follow".. so follow i did.. my section mates were damn uneasy about the planning done.. i told them not to worry for whatever happens.. should we get lost.. we know who to blame.. don't say that we didn't bring it up.. we did.. our detail IC is just too fucked up and stubborn to listen to us.. fuck him.. i fucked him up back in bmt.. i can do it again here..

and so we did get lost.. we got fucking lost.. really fucking lost.. fuck him fuck him.. we got lost coz of him.. "Trust me" my ass.. trust u to get us lost and walk around in circles in a place where we don't even know where the fuck we were..

so me and my section mates and a guy from his section set off to find where the fuck we were to at least get ourselves to at least another checkpoint and get our bearings from there.. so we got our coordinates thanks to the PIE then we made our way from there.. from there we finally manage to navigate thru to another checkpoint.. but the exercise was cut and we had to head back to command..

night navigation was fun but one hell of a hard time to navigate thru the thick undergrowth.. we didn't manage to find our night checkpoint again.. but at least this time that asshole didn't lead us.. exercise cut and we headed back to coy line.. reached back at around 1130pm.. so couldn't book out on friday.. booked out just now.. freaking tired but glad that it's all over..

before exercise gypsy however..
My OC did gave the coy a talk on how things are going.. the weeks are gonna get much tougher.. and the way he treated us for the whole of the past week was just a brief insight on how things are going to be.. damn.. if things are going to continue in that way.. it sure will be damn tough..
how come the other company's don't get it like mine does..? Ryan's coy is like so damn welfare.. jealous.. to a certain extent ya.. but in the end i know that it's through these tough times that i know it would make a better person out of me, a much tougher, more resilient, a much harder me.. desensitized and paralyzed to all things weak.. so that in future can lead my men much better.. to become a better commander.. a better leader..

i can already feel a change in me.. it's not something that i decided to change.. it's like the events around me changed me.. they say change is constant.. but this change is very significant.. i even talk differently now.. i see things differently now as well.. SISPEC really moulds leaders and commanders..

Speaking of leading men.. word around the block is that for my batch, most of us would end up in Guards unit.. Maybe that's why our OC (who is also a Guardsman) is training us hard.. maybe it's to get ourselves prepped up for it.. and our OC also did tell us that the Guards are one level higher than normal infantrymen and that the physical demands are also much higher.. In that level with them are the Commandos, Naval Diving Unit.. for example.. it's 30seconds lesser to attain an Ippt Gold for units in that level..

ahh.. that can come later.. now it's just to complete BSLC.. in 3 more weeks.. this will end and my professional term will start.. so before that comes.. i shall focus on what's left to come in the next few weeks..

it's gonna be physically draining and mentally challenging in the weeks ahead.. i don't even have enough time for myself.. if it goes on like this.. how to meet my wives..?!?!?! AARRGGGHHH..!!!

and a funny maths equation was brought up.. lol.. ask me if u want to know it..

It's been a hectic past week..

field camp week.
BSLC field camp is something really different than the field camp of BMT..
The big difference is of course the location and terrain..
The former's on the homeland and the latter's in Tekong.
The field camp was located in a heavily forested area somewhere along the side of KJE in between bukit batok and bukit gombak area.. The rather weird and funny thing about this field camp is that here we are training amongst lalang as tall as myself, i can just stand in a field of it and not get noticed, hitting the deck belly first on rocky tracks, getting impaled by mimosa trees (yes.. mimosa trees.. not plants.. so u can just imagine how tall the mimosa were), sleeping cowboy-style under the trees on top of ant nests and there.. there over the distance, peeking out from above the treeline.. are HDB flats.. yes.. HDB flats..

It's really kinda werid and comical to see civilized housing and yet here we are training under the scorching sun and cold wind-blown rain..

The training conducted was all about section training and section fire & movement.. so most of the time.. it was listening, or rather fighting sleep and nodding off to lessons then watching a practical demonstration by the instructors then breaking up to our sections to practice it out..

Training was carried out by practicing the drills numerous times till we get it right and do it as if it was second nature.. Not only did we have to learn and practice each individual's role in the section.. we also had to learn the role and positioning of every other person as often our positions were rotated around and we also had to learn to coverup a gap should any person be a casualty.. And the most important part about this aspect is that we are being trained to be section commanders so we must know where each individual is and what role they play..

During the course of this field camp.. i was one of the 'fortunate' few who was tasked with holding one of the 3 organic weapons.. mainly the Ultimax 100 otherwise better known as the SAW.. and during the course of this field camp.. my uncertainty of using the SAW has been transformed into confident, fast-moving weapon handling with my SAW.. though it weighs more than a normal SAR21.. a SAR21 is 3.82kg whereas a SAW weighs approx just over 5kg.. i kinda like my SAW.. and my staff sergeant even taught me several new things about my SAW which has increased my confidence handling it.. And proning has been made much easier due to the bipod that's attached to the SAW.. i kinda miss using the SAR21.. i have found an easier way to hold the weapon in standing shoulder position due to it's compact, ergonomic design.. the SAW is kinda hard to hold up standing shoulder due to it's length and weight.. But all in all.. this field camp has thought me how to master another weapon..

Before i end this off.. there is one thing that's rather indirect but it's something that i like about field camp.. it's the after effects of it.. the amount of physical exertion that we went thru during any outfield activity is bound to be rewarded with enhanced strength and stamina.. this is good news for me as i aim to achieve IPPT Gold in 2 weeks time.. i missed out 4cm on my standing broad jump and 14 seconds of my 2.4km run to attain gold.. partly it was due to the rain.. but no excuses now..

till then.. so far.. 2010 has been going on fine..

Starting to miss my wives.. LOL..

Think i'm going abit crazy..

i volunteered for COS duty on a weekend..!!
GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAA..!!
(even my laughter is going crazy.. XD )

And i got no phoneline.. isn't that great..!?!?!

Reporting for duty in a few moments time..

New year new year..
goodbye 2009..
hello 2010..

looking back.. 2009 has been a really eventful year.. now's the time where i load up the blog archives of past months of 2009 in multiple tabs and read them to refresh my mind of the things that i went through, how i felt and how my life was run the past year..

let's have a look back..
let's see..

there's SPINNOVEX,
then there's me being attracted to this particular girl, and finding out that she's attached.. bleargh.. =P

then there's me preparing for my first marathon Adidas Sundown.
my graduation from 3 years of study at SP.
then there's me working a short stint at haagen dazs.. a good experience.. learnt some ice cream creation recipes along the way as i worked the kitchen crew.

then there's the actual sundown marathon.. so much for preparation.. i didn't run well in it much less even run it.. i got injured halfway and walked the rest of it..

then it's my second parttime job which was at Red Dynasty Paintball park.. a great place.. and i developed a new interest in paintball.. a competitive interest.. soon i'll be back after quite a long hiatus from skirmishes.. gonna get gear anytime soon..

then i left the job coz it was fasting month and i wanted to settle down before i enlist..

then it was the boredom of fasting month.. lol.

then it's my rediscovery of my love for cards and started a collection of it.. started to learn card tricks and card flourishes..

OH YA..!!
THEN.. i was introduced to Kara by my muffin peiwen and nowi'm just simple obssessed with KARA..
Especially with Nicole.. OMG.. sexiness and cuteness redefined.. lol

then it's my enlistment.. ( for further details on my enlistment, please refer to Dec 10 2009 entry )

and then it's POP and block leave..

then it's SISPEC for BSLC..

and then..

and then i realise that i used alot of "then"s.. lol.. i bet some of u readers actually smile or some even laugh at this..

Spent new year's eve and new year's day at home just resting..
and yesterday, spent it with the gang for desmond's bday at marina mandarin..

so now.. i'm heading into the 3rd week in BSLC..

for the year 2010..
i have no definite resolutions..
Just to do the best i can in whatever i get, and whatever that comes my way..
wait.. i think that's my resolution for this year.. ahahahha..

here's to end this off..
wishing all you readers out there a good 2010..