Just As I Am

For this few weeks, the US marines are here to join us at Bedok camp to train and share info with us. I’m not exaggerating but the American soldiers beat us hands down in terms of their size and standard and they were bigger than me 3-4 times. The tallest was a medic and’s like 2.2m?

I get to represent my Battalion in a game of soccer against them, and we drew. I had a lot of  chances and was guilty not scoring, hitting the post twice. Oh, and they were so strong most of us had bruises on our body the next day thanks to their rough play. I hurt my back and had a bruised eye after being caught with an elbow. Got an injection to reduce the swelling on my eyes. But all in all, they are friendly and nice, just maybe a little to strong for us la.

Just to see the US soldiers in action is an honour, but to get a chance to train and play soccer with them is priceless. Not ashamed to say this, but for the first time, I felt Guards are nothing as compared to the Marines. They are the real stuffs, after going for real war and ops in Afghan and Iraq.

And there’s good news and bad news . Good news is, I’ll be getting my beret with the parade on the night of 19th February, that’s like less than a month. And the bad news is that on the wee morning of 19th Feb, there will be lots of tekan and torture before the parade and all. But I think, that’s nothing after going through all the shit for the past 6 months or so!! Oh, not to forget, the coastal swim was hell!! Seeing how far I had to swam in the sea, and feeling helpless with thousands of jellyfish stinging me, I felt like giving up, but thanks to one of the guy, he pulled and encouraged me to the finish line. I won’t be swimming any sooner.

A video I found on Youtube of the past batch of 1st Guards, doing exactly the shit I’ve been doing for the past months to earn the beret and tab.

After months and months of endless training, I have finally cleared 2 out of the 3 vetos to be a Guardsman and an awesome signaller as well. Like finally, I’m almost there to earn the elite guards tab and the khaki beret, never felt this great before. 

The requirements of the 3 vetos to be a Guardsman are, to be heli-borne, 12km fast march in 2hrs and lastly 2km coastal swim, and not to forget lots of tekan session(which I seems to enjoy) and achieve a Silver or Gold for IPPT. Officially turned heli-borne on 16Dec09 which was the past Wednesday and thankfully everything went smoothly. Have to admit, looking down before jumping down from the helicopter was indeed scary la, but once I felt my feet touched the ground, I knew I was still alive and well, and wanted to do once more. The adrenaline rush is priceless la. As for the 12km fast march, yes, it was torturing, but manageable la, just that you don’t feel your legs the next day.

Now, left with only the coastal swim and the beret’s mine. I’m sick of the jockey cap la!! As always gonna end this with…

We rule the day, we rule the night,

Always ready,READY TO STRIKE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

=)

Just like that, Ramadhan’s over and before I knew it, raya’s already here. Like always, first day is spent on visiting my one and only grandfather left, a former cyclist during the 70’s ASEAN Games

I look so “datuk” here

Lets recapped on how I spent my one week of leave after completing BMT.

Last Sunday, went Johor after applying for exit permit. Mum did some Raya shopping there.

Monday, met my fellow Guardsman, Farhan to settle some stuffs.

Thursday,got a chance to break fast at Masjid Sultan with Zahir, Ahmad and Syakir.

Saturday, brought the whole family to the new Army museum since it’s free for NSmen. But its super far since its near the Discovery Centre. Oh, mum got full score at the SAR21 simulator shooting gallery, so don’t mess with her, she’s born to strike !!

Finally, the day that all recruits look forward to, POP has arrived for us. Its the day when we, recruits get promoted to private. So, in order to POP, we had to the last route march 24km but this time, they purposely change the route from East Coast to Changi Coastal Rd where the road is all straight, so its mentally challenging !!!! Anyways, on the night of 4th of September, after all of us had “buka“, we set off around 8.30p.m. By 1.am, around the 8km mark, I was starting to lose control of myself with tiredness and sleepiness bothering me. So, to keep myself awake, I had glucose water and biscuits, sweets, without all those, my body would probably be 7 feet under right now.

After 6hrs of walking, we thankfully reached back to Bedok Camp at 3.am. Most of the guys did pull through though a few, fainted sadly. After washing up and all, took our “sahur”meal before going back to bunk for a much needed sleep. Woke up at 7.am and packed all our stuffs in our locker before the parade. By 10a.m, our parents had already arrived and we marched with pride to the Ring of Fire. Parade lasted around an hour and a half, which after that, we’re all allowed to go home after meeting our parents !!! And I’m proud to say, my company, Charlie, has won the Best Company for BMT !!!!

To summarised what BMT’s all about, its all about teamwork, helping each other out when they’re down and almost out. The toughest moment which I felt at that point of time which I felt like dying and giving up was the route march to the field camp site at Tekong with 30kg load on my back. It was pure torture la !! I lost a lot of weight and became thinner after that (but only for a while, I stuff myself with food when I’m home) !!

Pics courtesy of my sis,

OC Sir, representing us, Charlie, to claiming the best company award.

So we all had the week off, though the guys in Tekong got 2 weeks off, but who cares, we, Guards, are elites la !!!!!!

We rule the day, we rule the night,

Always ready…….

READY TO STRIKE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (how many times must I say this eh ?)

Just like that, I’m into my final week of BMT. This coming Saturday would already be my Passing Out Parade(POP) where rank would be a Private and no longer a “chao” recruit. After POP, some of the guys will be transffered out since they choose only the best to continue to be a Guardsman. To be honest, its quite sad since my platoon have managed to develop a closed and strong bond plus we have gone through thick and thin together.

Anyways, so for the past two weeks, had been mostly field camp at Tekong, which was quite fun but its mentally , physically troubling and challenging. On the second day while sleeping in the tent, it rained heavily in the middle of the night and soon I found myself sleeping in a flood, but I was too tired to bother. Woke up with mud all over me and worse couldn’t bath. Right after surviving field camp, it was Urban Ops the next few days.

Now I’m only left with the 24km route march to look forward to. This week’s the last bookout as a recruit, so managed to check out the Geylang bazaar and went grocery shopping for glucose to help myself during the 24km march the next day at Eastpoint.

Next week, POP OH !!!!!!!!

This week has been quite relaxing for us recruits since the Guards unit’s busy organizing for the AHM 2009. Other than the rifle live range and a 4km run, there wasn’t any other physical activities. The range shooting was fun but it got tiring at night since we have to stay for both day and night shoot, so it was around 14hrs without sleep. Next few days, spent most of the time cleaning my rifle through and through.

So as for AHM, we were activated to safeguard the safety of the civilians and also to marshall them as well. Came on Saturday 8 in the morning to set up, prepare the stuffs and stayed till today’s lunch, without having proper sleep, though there were a few breaks in between. Oh, got the chance to sleep and stargaze on the floating platform with Singapore’s skyline and the flyer right in the background, its like  a once in a lifetime opportunity. By the time the run had started, I was already about to sleep even while standing.

Next week, 5 days field camp at Tekong and 16km route march and also, fasting month’s coming. Hopefully can ” tahan” .

Two more weeks to POP lo !!!

Finally had a chance for a long weekend all thanks to National Day. The past week has been quite tough, with 12km fast march along East Coast Park, SOC with 1.5km run with SBO and lots of running. Also did IMT which I shot down 24 out of 32 targets. Two guys in my platoon didn’t miss anything, which was incredible. Hopefully I can do better for this week’s live range firing.

Anyways, so on the first day of bookout went to checked out ION and Orchard Central which was recently opened. Both are HUGE malls though finding halal food was hard, other than fast food, which is always the case in Singapore.

As for Sunday which was National Day, went Bukit Panjang for cousin’s wedding. Met Yan too suprisingly, he was abt to head to town for fireworks with his girl. After the wedding explored Bukit Panjang Plaza and shopped for biscuits and stuffs to bring back to camp. Never have I enjoyed grocery shopping this much. Oh also it was pay/allowance day !! I still have not touched last month’s allowance except for 20 bucks, so bought a small Sony LCD tv for my room. Wee !!

But I shall not be so happy, I have to book in later at 1900hrs.

Finally, I’ve officially booked out, though a bit late. Reason I didn’t got to book out last week properly was due to my 1 week MC. Was down with a 40 degree fever with cough and flu, felt like dying at that point of time. I was the first one to be treated in the Medical Centre since mine was a serious case and not trying to “keng“. Still somehow managed to walk to the bus stop to get home after that, wanted to save money by taking a bus rather than a cab. The medicine was super strong, I got knocked out once taking it. Thankfully my temperature went down on the second day, and had fully recovered by the 6th day of MC. The bad thing about taking MC is that you have to pay back the lesson’s you’ve missed with your weekends, so you’ve to learn fast to catch up with the rest.

Anyway’s I’m coping quite well in Army. Training is tough of course, especially when you’re being trained by a Guardsman but still it’s tolerable. Have already done route marches in Full Battle Order (FBO) which is super heavy with the rifle, field pack and battle vest which already is about half of my body weight. Did 4km,6km,8km already. The trick to doing route marches is to sing along to Army songs so your mind is distracted while you’re walking, so I’ve shouted till I’ve lost my voice. Also it’s fun doing route marches at East Coast since my camp’s right beside it where the public will just stare and look at us. Oh and I’m proud my name is on the notice board for the IPPT’s Hall Of Fame for standing board jump cause I jumped ard 260cm. Don’t ask me how I managed to jump that far cause I myself couldn’t believe it either. I can see the effects of training everyday with my IPPT results all improving greatly.

Also have done the live Hand Grenade throwing at Tekong which wass SUPER, DUPER fun. The feeling of the explosion impact just gets into you. You can feel the adrenaline rushing through your heart. Wished I could throw another one. Next week would be live firing with my rifle. Can’t wait also for that.

There’s lots of funny moment  also during BMT but that’s all for now, don’t feel like typing all out cause there’s just too many. Oh Army’s has made me become more discipline too. Now I know how to make use of my time well, be more punctual and can change in 5 mins., just ask Amit. I reached home at 5.30pm yesterday right after the route march, bathed and changed quickly and was ready by 5.45pm for soccer, and Amit was still in the toilet, making me wait. Met Zahir and the rest after soccer before calling it a day ard 1a.m. Felt super shagged !!

Alway’s ready…. ready to strike !!!!

I’ll be surrendering my pink IC and would be taking an oath to sell my soul to the nation. Hopefully I’ll come home in one piece safe and sound. Honestly, with so many sudden deaths hitting soldiers, it’s been bothering me, but I try not to be bothered. I’ll go in with a positive mind !!

This is my last ever post as a civilian in 2 years. See you people on 25th July… hopefully.

Btw happy birthday Dayah !! Soon we might be riding our Proton.

My bag’s all packed, my mind’s all psyched up….

Ready To Strike !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!