Ok part 2! So exciting. I better type all these down as soon as possible as I am slowly forgetting some things. Luckily I have photo albums of this trip, so it kind of remind me of the things that happened.

So we have settled down at Old Camp Growl. I don't remember if we had any topography exercise for this trip. If I remember correctly, the first week was our terrain familiarisation with platoon and company mission exercises. 

I remember the terrain. It was like the desert that meets the tropical rainforest. There were trees. Quite sparse and the ground was either red sand or dried grass. We were there in November so it was summer. It was also the fasting month of Ramadhan. The sun rose at about 5am and set at 7:30pm. The days were slightly longer than the nights. It was very hot and dry in the day but it wasn't humid so it was ok. But we dried up quite quickly and we had to constantly hydrate ourselves. I think it was about 33 degrees. Yes 33 degrees is considered normal now, but in the early 2000s, it was considered hot. (At that time in Singapore, once it hit 32degrees, it would be considered Category 1 weather and all outdoor exercises would cease.) The nights were cool and dry. Maybe about 20 to 24 degrees. 

I remember the whole company was out in the field for the first time. The sun was setting and we were on a non-tactical break on the open. The view was reddish. The soil was reddish. The ground was just earth and sand. What awed me was seeing kangaroos jumping in the distance. It was a very touristy advertisement view.

​LOST

There was one exercise where my platoon was assaulting an objective. Usually when we were at a location near to our objective, a place called the “Form Up Place” (FUP), we would take off our bags and arrange them neatly before assaulting up the hill. So we did. Just like usual. We then assault up the objective. Once we were done, a group of us would go back to the FUP to collect the bags for the rest of the platoon who are at the objective.

So this particular day, myself, another sergeant named Colin and a number of us, went back downhill to collect the bags for our platoon. I think there were about 10 of us. 

The vegetation was sparse. Every turn looked the same. Just trees and open spaces. Somehow, we couldn't find the bags. We spread around the area and yet we couldn't find them. We then tried to trace back our steps to the objective but we couldn't as well. Everywhere looked the same. Even though we followed our compass diligently. There was no GPS then for everyone at that time. It was pure compass and map. We walked and we searched and we couldn't find the bags, we couldn't trace back to the rest of the platoon on the objective. It was about 11am when we walked down to look for the bags. By 1pm, we realised, we were lost. 

It was weird. How could we be lost? The trees were sparse. We followed our compass and the bags were not far away. And then we realised something. I had a compass. Colin had a compass. Our compass were not pointing towards the same direction! The needle kept changing directions. And there were a few times when our compass would just spin around and around. 

Apparently the ground had magnetic waves that caused disturbance to our compass and we were officially lost. Some of the guys begin to dehydrate. I was really hoping they will not hallucinate. We tried to find our directions slowly by just gut feeling. It was hot and dry. Our compass keep spinning. We were dehydrating. We tried to keep our morale up. It was already about 4pm. 5 hours has passed. Once we saw a skeleton on the ground. Maybe a from a kangaroo. We joked that the kangaroo was lost too and soon it would be our skeletons there.

5pm. 6 hours has passed. Colin and I decided to stop walking. We need to rest and prevent ourselves from dehydrating and to ration whatever water we have left. 

Somehow I didn't panic. I was worried but I didn't panic. I just feel that since 6 hours has passed, some people would realise that we were lost and look for us. 

A few minutes later, as we were resting, 4 Light Strike Vehicles roared nearby. Colin and I shouted out to them. They soon came over and took all of us back to our objective. They were sent to look for us. Some of the guys were already flat out tired and dehydrated. I was grateful they found us but still I wasn't panicking. Weird. I was just like, yeay they found us. Another day in Australia has passed. One more day down before we can go home.

​
​EXERCISE DARING FALCON

After a few days of company mission exercises. We went on to the battalion mission exercise called “Exercise Daring Falcon”. The previous exercises was to prepare us for this 5 days mission exercise. 

It started off like another mission exercise that by now we are used to. The only difference was, the training area is huge. We got to ride helicopters everywhere. But the walking was far too. 10 to 15km every mission. 

It was hot. It was tiring. The consolation was the pretty views from on top of the hills. It was really beautiful. But it was physically challenging. One by one, people started falling out from fatigue. The most serious casualty at that time happened to a buddy, Nurizam. A tree branch fell on him, knocked him out, bled from the ear and nose. Sent to a medical centre or a hospital. I didn't see it happen. I only heard about it.

One day, it was my turn. I fell out. Fatigued and dehydrated. They sent me back to Old Camp Growl to rest. Back in camp I saw all the others who fell out. And I saw Nurizam. My first question was, “The nurse pretty or not?” He laughed. “Everyone asked me about the nurses!”

So that was my Exercise Daring Falcon. 2 days in the field and back in camp. Together with those who have fallen out of the exercise.

OLD CAMP GROWL

Well, you might think it was relaxing to be back in camp. I cannot deny. It was. I was glad to be able to lie down back on my safari bed. But.... it was boring. I am not complaining. I'm just stating the fact.

There was nothing in camp. It's just you, the people, the tent, the portable toilet and the canteen. The cookhouse was closed as everyone was out in the field. We had to eat our combat rations still. Everyone knows combat rations are not nice but we ate them anyway. But yes.... we just chatted and looked at each other. We were also always hungry and the rations soon finished.

Nurizam and I made a checkers board from cardboard and we played using pebbles. I had a book with me but I soon finished it. So yes. It was just boring.

​CANTEEN

The canteen was open though. Sometimes Nurizam and I would buy milk or vanilla coke. The milk in Australia was cheap but we didn't drink much as it doesn't quench our thirst in the hot weather. That was also the first time we saw vanilla coke. There was no vanilla coke in Singapore then and we enjoyed it. It was nice. Those were the only things we bought from the canteen.

There were food too but we didn't buy any as they were all meat. We were not sure if they were halal. The other guys, once sick of the combat rations were eating steak and meat sandwiches and chicken. Nurizam and I would just look and continued eating our combat rations, rewarding ourselves with Maggi noodles for dinner. 

One day, we really got sick of the rations. Nurizam and I looked at each other. We asked ourselves, should we just get something from the canteen? But it wasn't halal. Ok then... let's just eat the chicken. Just one. Just.... one. There was this “Chicken Satay” at the canteen. It was huge. It was like a subway 6 inch bread on a stick but just pure chicken. Yes that huge for 1 stick. We thought, maybe we can just get 1 stick and share between the 2 of us. It may not be halal but at least it was chicken and let's just eat one stick. Just one stick. Just one to get our tastebuds away from the combat rations. 

So we did. We bought a stick and shared. It tasted ok. It wasn't the best food we have ever eaten but it was heaven at that time. Just one stick and we savoured. With a can of vanilla coke. It was the best meal in Australia so far. But that's all. Just one stick and then we felt sinful for the rest of the days.


EXERCISE CUT

After the set of days, the exercise ended and the rest of the battalion returned back to camp. We welcomed them back. They were envious as we had a lot of rest days. We told them it was boring and the days were very long. But still, we were not complaining. 

We were happy that they are back because it means the cookhouse will be open again and we could have proper food at last. 

That evening, on the day that they came back to camp, we had a “Happy Hour”. The army always have happy hour to celebrate the end of some exercises or events. There would be a talk by the commanders and followed by free flow meals and beer. I was just looking forward for the meals. I badly need a proper meal, away from the rations. 

So there was a short talk by the commanders congratulating us for completing the exercise. After that, we were all led to the eating area where we could eat our hearts out. There was the halal food buffet and the non halal food buffet. 

We went to the halal side. Nurizam and I let the soldiers who completed the exercise to have their meals first and we would take our part later. Guess what we saw? Chicken Sate. Stacks of them. Free flow and never ending stacks of chicken sate. Of course with other food types. Nurizam and I looked at each other... So they were halal all these while after all????

NEXT WEEK : EXERCISE WALLABY 2001 (PART 3)

Categories : The Army Series

At 40 years old, I found out that I might have been having a neurological condition, though I cannot (yet) afford an official assessment and diagnosis. In the meantime I shall call this condition “AS”. I spent time reading about “AS” and it made me realise that the signs and symptoms were prevalent throughout my life. It is like these writers know exactly how I have been living my life though we have never met before. I start this “Weirdly Wired” series to document about my life experiences with the symptoms which all these while I thought were “normal”.

I actually skipped a week from blogging a post in this series. Simply because I don’t know how to say. I know what is in my head but I don’t know how to put them in words. This year I have stopped masking and I feel so much more at ease. Life has been more peaceful. I am still upset by people who create, spread and believe in slanders but I let God handle them because I don’t have the means to settle with them. I have also been talking less. The past weeks I was placed in spots where I have to speak. Speaking without masking, preparing thoughts and scripts are difficult. I know what it is in my head but it is very hard to relay them verbally. So will the contents in this post. I hope it will be easy to understand. 

Today’s topics is about “Routines”.

People with “AS” generally like things to be in specific order, routines and habits. I thought it was just normal. I cannot stand messy people. But I also understand the mess in my head with information overload. And also I cannot articulate them so, let it just be then. 

I also realise, that a logical reason behind these routines and order is because of anxiety when things do not go to plan or when any random thing crops up. Again, I thought I was just being ready and prepared and the obsession to be prepared for anything, but apparently it is more prevalent with people diagnosed with “AS”.

Common signs and symptoms of ASD in adults can include: Reliance on daily routines and difficulty dealing with change.

A Tendency Toward Following an Established Routine

Individuals with "AS" typically prefer structure, and they tend to follow the same routines day in and day out. When schedules are altered or disturbed in any way, it can often lead to much greater discomfort than it would for someone who does not live with "AS". When interacting with adults with "AS", it is important to remember that structure equals comfort for them. Helping them keep their schedules intact will go a long way in earning their trust, as well as being reliable and consistent. 

Adults with "AS" may have a structured sleep/wake routine, household chores, and daily living routine, and a structured routine when out in the community. For example, when driving to run errands, they may only drive on certain roads, go to only specific stores, and once in the store, have a very planned route they take to gather their items. If something was to deter them from doing something as planned, it tends to be difficult, especially for those on the spectrum. 

Being able to successfully deviate from schedules and effectively handle transitions is something that can be improved upon with therapy and practice. Adults with "AS" benefit from visuals, reminders, and backup plans regarding managing daily schedules. 


So in my whole life, I have been having routines without me realising. I do realise I get upset when I cannot plan for anything or I don’t know what I am expecting. I thought it is normal for everyone. I would look at timetables and calendars over and over again just to keep my anxiety low by mentally preparing myself for the activities ahead. Any random happenings, I will get extremely upset. 

Some things like, a cancellation of plans or missing items or malfunctioning item or people not adhering to schedules and timings, etc. I particularly hate the randomness of the army. Seriously I only survived the army because I was living for the “book outs” and finishing the service in one piece. I was always very upset in the army. I have no respect for my higher ranked superiors if they behave with overbearing sense of regimental authority because of their ranks. If I didn’t think of my book outs, I would definitely beat them up. Especially when they keep giving random orders just because it is “the army” and we have to always “expect the unexpected”.

Ok so basically I live by routines. Planned routines. People say, how can I be a routined person if I am a freelancer? 

To be honest, I am very bad with people (Supposedly just like many others with "AS" due to our difference in social thinking and perceptions) and I do not like to take orders. I actually enjoyed working in the library almost 20 years ago. I enjoyed the routine. But I cannot understand the people. I don’t understand why simple things are always made difficult and no one would listen to me. If I am tasked in a place or department where I can work alone and not mix with people, I would have enjoyed myself there and I can do the same thing over and over again forever.

So I became a freelancer. Yes it is not routined like an office job routine, but I make sure that I stick to the same plans, same jobs, same people all the time. I would plan my calendars and stick to it religiously. Any new addition to a filled calendar will be rejected. My calendar is not fluid. You cannot change the appointments and the times allocated for anything in there, and this includes my rest and recreation time.

And also, I am very loyal worker. If I like the place that I am working at, I will stay there and continue working and would not even feel that the years has passed. I will enjoy the routine even though I am a freelancer. I will be there for years. I am only not there now because one company closed down. I was very upset about it and still enjoy the memories of that place. As of other places, I am only not there anymore simply because I cannot work with the people. I love the jobs, I cannot with the people. 

The current place that I am working at is also an enjoyable job. The people have been unpleasant the past 3 years but I have been enduring their shit because I love the job. Once the contract ends, I don’t know if I would stay there, unless something is done about the people there because I can really do this job until I die. It is always the people who is the problem. 

Unfortunately for me, I am not adaptable to changes, so if I do stop working there, I wouldn’t know where and what else to do.

This is  also mentioned in a post I read about “AS”:

A study on services and outcomes in autistic adults showed that 27% of “AS” participants were unemployed. “AS” adults may also have more limited options for support services than “AS” children. In the same study, 25% of “AS” participants reported not getting enough support services.

I think they are having the same problem as me. We cannot live with people. People do not understand us. We cannot adapt to changes. We hate the change in routines. We don’t know what kind of jobs can we do.

With that, it makes sense that my things are always in some order. Some things may look messy to others but I know exactly how I arrange them. I know where they are. I know where to look for them. These things in my drawer, my table, my cupboard, my bags, my shoes, my clothes, etc. 

I get upset when they are moved without me knowing. Especially when my mother “cleans up” my room and rearrange my things. Many times even until today I would feel like screaming and crying when I cannot find my things that were rearranged. I am so determined to get my own house because of this. Even though that thing is nearby, or placed in another drawer or placed at the side of the table or anywhere in my not so big room. I would really really get very upset. It is more upsetting knowing that I have to suppress it and not show any signs of it. So I will just perspire and breathe hard and controlling my breathe and anger while looking for the things. They would still be in my room somewhere but I will still feel very very upset. A few minutes of my time has been wasted searching for these things that I usually know where they are. These few minutes wasted would affect my routine and my timings.


NEXT WEEK : CONNECTION WITH SPECIFIC OBJECTS

Categories : Weirdly Wired 
​

​Exercise Wallaby
Shoal Water Bay 
Queensland, Australia
4th November to 24th November 2001

So by now we have all settled in Bedok Camp. We had routines everyday. We still could not clear our leave and off. So was it getting boring? So what was the best way to knock the routine off the track for awhile? Oooh... what else? Let's go travelling! And where is a better place than the huge playground called Shoal Water Bay Australia! Where the desert meets the forest. Where grass meets dust. Where you can see the horizon and open spaces as far as the eye can see. Where you see wild koalas, kangaroos and wallabies. Australia. Here I come to see. Oh how excited I can be.

​Nah, I was lying. You'll know by now, I hate travelling and I was dreading as the day comes near for us to head to Australia.

But, it was my first time going to a “Negeri Orang Putih” (Caucasian country). So that was the only draw I had for this trip. I wanted to see how the place looks like, the houses, the people, etc.

So after a 6 hours overnight flight, we arrived at Rockhampton. 

It was cool to alight from the plane and go down to the tarmac and then walk towards the airport. It felt like an old school movie. (As I type this, I am reminded of landing in Thailand in another army trip. That was much cooler but will share it in a future post.)

My first impression of Rockhampton airport was..... It looked like the old Tampines Stadium. Just a one story brick building and a huge brick wall to separate the airport from the public area. It looked really very much like the old Tampines Stadium then. The stadium is now gone, so... maybe the airport looks different now too. 

We took a bus and headed to the city. Though it was called a city, it was pretty quiet. The radio on the bus was playing songs from a local radio station and every now and then there would be a jingle that says “We love this city!” following the tune of Starship's “We Built This City”.

It looked very much like a peaceful countryside. The houses were made of wood and planks like clean and well arranged kampung houses. I was expecting concrete bungalows but they actually did look like kampung houses only that the residents were Caucasians. I love the tranquility though. They also have wide green spaces behind the houses and I saw men riding horses like cowboys. 

It was so sparse, so quiet, so peaceful, so bright and so pretty. 

At a population of only 58000 people then, the whole city of Rockhampton could fit into the old Kallang Stadium.

As I typed this, I paid a visit to Rockhampton via Google Earth. It still look pretty much the same. Still bright and pretty.

We then reached a local school and had a meal at the canteen. Bread, sausages and scrambled eggs. Normal breakfast. And after that we board the bus again to head towards the place that we were going to stay for the next 18 days. (Or so we thought.) About 4 hours drive away to Shoal Water Bay training area.

​We reached a place called Samuel Hill Camp. Ok. It looked decent. It has concrete buildings that looked like a proper administrative building. With a cook house, proper toilets and shower. We couldn't see the bunks though. 

There was a hill overlooking the camp area. I assume that was Samuel Hill. It looked like Pengkang Hill overlooking Pasir Laba but with less vegetation. Looked more like Currahee Mountain overlooking Camp Toccoa in Georgia USA if you watch the “Band of Brothers” series.

We had a look around but we still couldn't see the bunks that we were supposed to sleep in. We then had lunch. After that our duffel bags arrived. We were then told to collect our duffel bags and get back in line. 

Apparently Samuel Hill camp was just a stopover to get our duffel bags, had lunch and receive whatever equipment that was flight there. We then had to travel to our permanent camp about an hour away.
​

During that travel, I looked at the terrain and the vegetation. The trees are quite sparse. It was really like a desert meeting a tropical forest which is expected as Shoal Water Bay was near the Tropic of Capricorn.

And then in the middle of nowhere, we stopped and told to alight. 

We were here. Old Camp Growl. It is not even a “new” Camp Growl. Apparently there was a newer Camp Growl somewhere which was being developed to replace this “Old” Camp Growl. So we were actually left in an abandoned place.

There was really nothing there. It wasn't a camp. It was a camp “site”. An empty plot of land with tracks and some granite trails. As we alight, we saw our camp being “set up”. They were putting up tents for our sleeping arrangements. They were setting up the HQ tent, and the canteen. They were literally tents. We also saw them setting up portable toilets and showers. Damn I hate those portable plastic toilets. Am I the only person who think that they are disgusting? We also saw them setting up a huge water tank in the middle of the site. Apparently that tank will have water for us to use for anything for the next 18 days.

​I'm not a spoilt city brat. Other than the portable toilets, I really didn't mind the arrangements. It was an army camp. It felt like going camping. The weather was nice. Bright and sunny but not humid. So it wasn't uncomfortable. There was also a consistent dry cool wind blowing. 

They gave us a sleeping bag and a safari bed to each of us. We settled in our tents. 

I can live with this. Now I am dreading the mission exercises which would follow after this.

NEXT WEEK : EXERCISE WALLABY 2001 (PART 2)

Categories : The Army Series

​Continuing from where I left off. Another experience and the last one I had with foreign soldiers. 
This time it was for Exercise Carat. I cannot remember which year it was and also I cannot remember much. This was definitely when life was already into auto-pilot. But I do remember a few things and I am going to document them here.

According to what we were told, the Guards unit has similar operational tasks with the US Marines. We are both air and seaborne land elite infantry formations. So every year, there will be this “exchange exercises” between the Marines and the Guards unit. Just like Exercise Semangat Bersatu, we were supposed to take turns among batches. One batch would go over to the Hawaii, to experience this joint exercise. The next batch would stay in Singapore and the Marines would come over. Again, I consider myself lucky that my batch was the batch where the Marines came to Bedok Camp. Some guys lamented that they would love to be going to Hawaii. Not me. Enough travelling already within these two and a half years.

Like I said, I cannot remember much. So it shall be a short post. 

A company sized Marines soldiers came over to Bedok Camp for this joint exercise. Just like Exercise Semangat Bersatu, there was a mini “expo” and then a joint mission exercise. 

The Marines displayed their weapons, vehicles and ration during the mini expo. So did we. We had fun looking at their vehicles. Mostly their rovers and jeeps. Most of us were excited to see their combat rations. Their food was normal. Biscuits, breads, baked beans, energy bars. Pretty much the same stuff. What we found cool was, they all have a packet of Marlboro cigarettes included in their rations.

The Marines soldiers were generally much bigger in size than most of us. They were not much taller but just bigger. Most of us were skinny or lean. 

Another thing that we found interesting during that expo was how small their weapons were. Big men carrying small weapons. They looked at my GPMG set and wondered how these skinny fellas were able to carry them while we looked in envy at how small their machine guns were. Theirs were similar to our SAW guns. 

(Our Cool Weapons)

And the mortars.... they were shocked to see the size of our 84mm recoilless rifle while their mortar can be placed at the side of their field packs. 

A few days later, the mission exercise started. Yup, our skinny soldiers had heavier load compared to the Marines. All of us hunching our backs and walking in the forest while the big sized soldiers had comfortable backpacks looking like they were on a hike. But honestly I was surprised. We walked at night as per usual. We just walked. Like how we walked in all other mission exercises. During one of the halts and as I walked along the line to receive instructions, I saw the Marines soldiers lying down on their backs and panting. Clothes unbuttoned and fanning themselves. Well I guess it was a good exercise and experience for them to feel our humidity and heat even though it was at night. 

The last thing about this exercise that I could remember was, the assault on Pulau Sudong. After we were done there, we were supposed to be airlifted from the island back to mainland. The Marines would get to fly on our Super Pumas while were got to ride their helicopter. So my platoon was platoon 9. The last platoon of the company and battalion. When it was our turn, their helicopter had a technical problem. We waited till it was almost dark. And that was all I can remember. I cannot remember how we got out from there. 

(Our Vehicles)

So yes, that was a short post. Just for the sake of documenting. I still have a lot more experiences to share in my upcoming posts. But if you do have anything that you would like to read or want to know about, do leave a comment. Maybe I can have more ideas on what to write about. 

NEXT WEEK : EXERCISE WALLABY 2001

Categories : The Army Series

At 40 years old, I found out that I might have been having a neurological condition, though I cannot (yet) afford an official assessment and diagnosis. In the meantime I shall call this condition “AS”. I spent time reading about “AS” and it made me realise that the signs and symptoms were prevalent throughout my life. It is like these writers know exactly how I have been living my life though we have never met before. I start this “Weirdly Wired” series to document about my life experiences with the symptoms which all these while I thought were “normal”.

Finally I'm going to write and post something that is not depressing. Something that can flow like water from a broken tap but yet very tiring to filter and keep them in some coherent order. ​

Today's post is about how my brain goes all over the place whenever I need to talk.

​Here is a video of me answering 2 questions regarding my play early this year. I had to keep my answers within 1 minute. You have no idea how many takes it took me to record that video in 1 minute. I had so much to talk about and I have to trim it down to the most accurate answer. And while I was saying the answers, my brain gets disrupted by possible new answers or information that I think would be worthy to share and I had to consider whether it is worthy and how to say it while exactly at the same time when my mouth is saying the answers that I have already planned to answer.

Oh and also, do notice the wayward eye contact and movements. 

It is said that people with with “AS” have terrible eye contact. This I agree. But I guess, the cause of the lack of eye contact is because our brain is processing information from everywhere. I notice that the people with “AS” who share their youtube videos will also have their eyes darting everywhere and have a lot of cuts in their videos. I'm sure it is because they edit it to make the information shared, coherent.

If you read my previous posts in this series, you would have known by now that my brain processes information from everything I see, hear, smell, taste, imagine and remember. They will all fight for my attention like someone photobombing a photograph. 

Even when I write, I will jot down points first before I write them in some coherent order. If I let my brain run on its own, my posts would be all over the place. Even now, I think all my posts are pretty much in some disorderly fashion and a professional writer would consider my writings as trash.

And this is me writing. Imagine me talking. I have no time to jot the notes down to filter, arrange, process and disseminate them without getting overwhelmed by incoming information.

Thus, I actually dislike live interviews or talkback sessions.

I actually love to talk. I love having conversations. I love sharing my thoughts. I love having someone to talk to. I really do. But I avoid all these because it is very difficult;

trying to not get out of point.
trying not to be incoherent and arrange them so that people can understand.
trying to make sure that they understand.
trying to filter off all other information that are zooming in my head.
trying to make people see from my point of view.

It is hard and sometimes stressful to arrange these thoughts and information while doing it live. I can feel my brow, forehead and eyes cramping, definitely energy sapping

My command of language is actually quite good, but usually at these times, i will blabber and stammer and mumble as my mouth tries to keep up with my brain.

Ok let me try this activity for this post. It is a freestyle writing activity. 

I will choose something random. Set a timer for 2 minute and talk (type) about it until the timer ends. It is important to write whatever that comes to mind during this 1 minute without stopping.

I always do this activity during my play writing classes and the students would be cracking their brains, thinking what to write when in actuality, you don't have to think. Just write whatever that comes to mind. But then again, people are always taught to think before they speak so I guess this activity is unusual for them.

But the point of me sharing this is for you to see how my brain works. I'm not going to hide or edit or filter or whatever. 

1 random object
2 minutes to write anything that comes to mind, without stopping. 

Ok let me set my timer. 

Ok now a random thing on my table.

I choose : Mask (hahhahaha how apt. “AS” and mask.)

Ok 2 minutes start now.

I have blue mask, black mask. Black mask sounds like black mass a johnny depp movie. Black masks are nicer. Cloth masks are ugly. I use to want toys thats called mask in the 80s but they are expensive. I wanted the green bike one called condor. Now i have a green bike because of that toy. It needs to go for servicing. I service the bike at a shop in Woodlands. The guy there is nice but he got a job in another placce already and will be leaving in 2 weeks. My bike is green. Hulk is green. Avengers is no fun already. Whatever is shang chi? I want x men back. But wolverine is dead. Dc movies sucks. I like movies.

Ok so there you go. 2 minutes. Imagine asking me to talk about a mask on my table. Imagine what I would talk about if I do not filter and arrange my thoughts. It will go all over the place. Worse, if I let the other things such as information from sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste get into my brain. The 2 minute typing above was just from my head and not from my 5 senses.

So how?
Cool or not?

NEXT WEEK : ORDER, ROUTINES AND HABITS

Categories : Weirdly Wired

​​I went to the course with Martin. Well actually his name is Paul. Martin is his surname. But we all call him Martin. He was assigned as the GPMG team commander for platoon 8.

​​There were about 20 trainees in the course. I cannot remember the exact numbers. Let's just say 20. 10 trainees from the SAF and there were 10 trainees from the Brunei army. It's cool to meet soldiers from another country, as mentioned in the previous post. 

To be honest, the most memorable experiences I have from this course, is the interaction with the Bruneians. They were cool.  They were regular soldiers who signed up to be in the military. They were in their early to late 30s. Older than us. They were from a reconnaissance squad. “Pasukan Pemantau” they called it. The highest ranking personnel was a corporal. The rest were lance corporals and privates. Just like the Malaysian army, they were surprised to see sergeants who are so young. 

What was it about them that were cool? 

They were quiet and very disciplined. They didn't talk much. They were nice but they didn't talk much. Unlike these noisy Singapore boys in the bunk next door, the 10 of them had this “air of military” about them. They walk, talk and move quietly. Their faces were rugged and fierce. They had focused eyes. They were lean. They looked like real disciplined soldiers. And they were all also quite small. Lean, fit and strong but very small built. I think the tallest among them was 1.7metres tall.

On the final week of our course, we had a one night in the forest for an exercise. Yup. That was the only night that we were out in the field throughout the course. That night, I saw the coolest things that I have ever saw in the army and I still remember the images till today.

We went out to the forest in Pasir Laba. The idea of the exercise was for us to dig a GPMG trench in the hills and pretend that we have to defend the area. 

One of the topics in the course was learning about creating a GPMG trench (or foxhole) and that night, we would be having a practical lesson and had to dig a real trench.

A GPMG foxhole is bigger than a normal 2 men trench (last I dug a trench was during “Exercise Nutcracker”. A Guards unit do not dig foxholes as we are always on the move. We only dig a much shallower ditch called a “shellscrape”.) If the 2 men foxhole was called a 3 room flat, the GPMG trench was called a “5 room flat”.

So in the afternoon, we broke into 2 teams. The SAF boys in one team and the Bruneians in one team. We were supposed to dig a trench each. A GPMG team comprises of 3 men but we had 10 guys to dig one trench. Should be easy right? Nope. Digging a foxhole with just that mini “cangkul” was not easy. It took hours for us to dig them. The bigger and normal cangkul was too big for us city boys to control and the smaller cangkuls are too small to dig more earth quickly. 
​

​I was tasked to chop down 4 trees. So I chopped a tree with a parang. I don't remember how many times I swung the parang and hit a tree. It was a very very slow process with that semi blunt parang. The other trainees had problems cutting down their part too. 

Then one Brunei soldier came over to me. It was the last week so we were already talking and chatting and got to know each other since 3 weeks ago. Though I have forgotten their names.

One of them, I remember how he looked like, he was the smallest guy there. He came and asked in Malay if we needed help as they were already done with their trenches and it was getting dark. I said, my parang was blunt and I have been swinging till my arms ache and yet not one tree has fallen. He said, the parang was purposely made blunt for our training but there is always a way. You need to strike the tree stem at the right angle. 

He took my parang and stood in front of the tree I was hacking. Two big swoops to the right of the tree, two swoops to the left of it and the tree has already a V shape cut. That was 4 swings and he pushed the tree down. My mouth and eyes opened wide. 

“Berapa lagi?” (How many more?)”

“Three more....” I said in Malay. 

He chose 3 trees in front of us and asked if they were ok? I said that they were. And again, 4 swoops and 1 tree fell. He did it again to the other 2 more trees and in less than 5 minutes, I had 4 trees down compared to like maybe 1 hour hacking at the same tree. 

He then moved on to hack down all the other 8 trees that were being “scratched” by the other SAF boys. 

Unbelievable. 4 swings, 1 tree, with a blunt parang. 12 trees in total for us. And he was the smallest of the Bruneian army there. Really unbelievable.

Another cool experience. 

After our trench was done, we were supposed to stay there for the night. So basically it was just like camping in our 5 room flat. There were 10 of us, so we just slept around the area.

I couldn't sleep. We kept getting bitten by mosquitoes. Somehow, Pasir Laba mosquitoes have sharper and deeper bites compared to Tekong mosquitoes. We all had to use a generous amount of insect repellant but still they would bite through our clothes.

I couldn't sleep. I walked over to the Bruneian side to chat and smoke hoping the smokes would shoo the mosquitoes away. Most of them were sleeping heavily. I went to the corporal who was drinking coffee. It was in the night, it was dark but not so dark that we could not see. We could still see everyone but we couldn't see the mosquitoes. 

So I sat with him and talked. He asked why I wasn't asleep yet. I said I couldn't because of the mosquitoes. I saw most of them sleeping and I asked if maybe there weren't much mosquitoes in their area. He said, it's the same. They just sleep even with mosquitoes. 

To me that was cool enough. They could sleep with mosquitoes buzzing around. But I didn't smell any insect repellant. I asked, if they got used to be bitten by mosquitoes. He said, the mosquitoes don't bite. I didn't understand. Even as I was talking to him in the dark, I was constantly getting bitten. 

Then he said and showed me this cool thing. 

He said in Malay, “This is their place. We are humans entering their place. We have to respect their place. Mosquitoes are God's creation, just like us. We are not here to kill them. We are here to do our work. So, talk to them nicely... mosquitoes, please do not bite me. I am here to work and when I'm done, I will leave. Remember, we are in their place. Ask them nicely. Mosquitoes, please do not bite me. And then they won't.”

And then he turned on his torchlight and shone in front of him, between me and him. There were mosquitoes all over my limbs and body but none of them were on him. There were so many mosquitoes I could see so clearly in the light but they were all flying in front of him and none on him at all.

He said, “See.... say nicely...”

It was so cool. After our chat and smokes, I went back to my trench. I tried. I talked to the mosquitoes nicely and then tried to sleep. I didn't get bitten the whole night and slept soundly till morning. Maybe I was tired and didn't realise anymore. But here is a secret I'm sharing with you, from that night onwards, I continued doing what he told me to. Say nicely.... and I never used any insect repellant throughout my army days from that night all the way till I completed my reservist cycle 13 years later.

I remember these 2 experiences very clearly. Even more than the rest of the times I had in the course. 

1 blunt parang, 1 man, 12 trees.

1 man. Say nicely, and no insect repellant until I'm done with army.

Super cool. 

Some things are never taught in textbooks or courses. We may have a high education standard but there are many more things that our education will never understand or attempt to cover.

NEXT WEEK : WE'RE THE MARINES!

Categories : The Army Series
​

I've been putting this off because I don't know what to write about. I guess it is going to be a short post. 

Today's topic is about “Silent Shutdown”. It is just an opposite of an angry outburst or meltdown and I think almost everyone will experience these in some form of another. I do see people who doesn't seem to be angry. They get upset but don't seem to be angry. Or maybe they get angry when I don't see them or the way they cope with anger is different.

One thing for sure is, I am always angry. I didn't know why I am always angry but now I do. It is the combination of all stress factors such as depression, anxiety, sensory overload, script and character plannings and masking. These are all mentioned in the previous posts but like I said, I thought they are all normal and everyone goes through them somehow or rather.

I have students who say that I am always angry and scary and they don't know what will trip my wire at anytime. I had relationships with people who say the same things too. I thought I was just an angry person. Like The Hulk. 

So when people have meltdowns, they will have an outburst of emotions. There were many times that I got angry and I have my own way of releasing them. 

But what about “Shutdowns”?

What is a shutdown?

Both shutdowns and meltdowns are the response to intense stress. It is the body’s attempt to try and protect itself from situations that have become too overwhelming. Like a computer might shut down if there isn’t enough power, in autistic shutdowns the body tries to prioritise the basic functions and stop all other processes. The ability to process information drastically reduces.

There are other responses like this that everyone experiences. For example, the ‘fight or flight’ response. To explain it in basic terms, the body feels as though there is a threat and prepares to respond in one of these two ways – to face the threat head-on or to flee from it. When a shutdown occurs, the body will freeze instead of adopting a fight or flight response.

Situations that may contribute to a shutdown include:

• High demand situations – whether the demand is emotional, physical or social
• Stress
• Situations that require a lot of thinking
• Lack of sleep
• Sensory overwhelm

There may be one event that triggers a shutdown. On the other hand, things could build up over time, with one event tipping the balance and causing things to become too overwhelming.

​What are the signs of a shutdown?

Everyone’s experience of shutdowns is different. But if someone is having a shutdown you may notice they:

• Become withdrawn
• Make less eye contact or none at all
• Speak less or not at all
• Leave the area or room
• Move to a quiet or dark place, or one that feels safe
• Move away from people
• Have a blank expression
• Appear to be staring into space
• Cover parts of their face or body
• May not be able to move

The person may not be able to communicate in the moment or explain what is happening. They may appear to go through the motions while appearing more detached and withdrawn, or they may withdraw completely.

​What I can share in this post is that I experience this shutdowns mostly with close friends who disappoint me and in my relationships.

I remember I just kept quiet. 

I always thought that I kept quiet because I'm tired. Well actually I am tired, now that I read its descriptions. Other than tired, I feel that I don't know what to say anymore or what to react or what to do. I just feel tired and I cannot say anything. It just feels that whatever I am going to say will be wrong. 

Just that. 

Shutdown. Quiet. Sleep.

Most of the time, people just think that I am irresponsible and don't want to talk it out. At other times, they think I am being selfish for not sharing my thoughts. Another time, they think I'm sulking. I hate it. I hate when they say that I sulk (merajuk). I don't. I just don't know what to say, nothing I say will matter, too many things in my head, instead of a meltdown, instead of going full hulk mode, I just shutdown. 

As I grow older, I keep quiet when I am angry because people won't like me when I am angry. It gets frustrating when people make me angry and when I do show my anger, it will be my fault. It will be me in the wrong. So I avoid people. Or when I'm angry I will keep quiet. And when i suppress these anger, a shutdown will happen. 

Just like I mentioned in previous posts, I avoid people now and one reason is because I know, they don't understand these shutdowns.

NEXT WEEK : INCOHERENT TALKS

Categories : Weirdly Wired

I cannot remember the year. Definitely in 2001 or 2002. Our unit was part of Exercise Semangat Bersatu. A joint mission with the Royal Malaysian Armed Forces. I think it lasted maybe about 2 weeks. Soldiers from Malaysia came to our camp for an exchange programme. It is an on going cooperation between SAF and RMAF. It's either they come here or soldiers from SAF will go there. So lucky for us, they came to Bedok Camp when it was our turn. We had enough overseas trips already so I really did not mind not going to another country.

Exercise Semangat Bersatu. Funnily always pronounced as “Segamat Bersatu” by some people. 

About a company plus size number of soldiers came. The soldiers that came to our place were from the Johor base. At that time, there was a film called “Leftenan Adnan” (now playing on Netflix) and they used the soldiers from that base in the film. So they looked familiar. We asked them if it was true and they proudly said yes. It was a good movie to me. 

So it was a simple exchange programme. They came here, settled down to stay at Bedok Camp for around 2 weeks. We started off with orientation, getting to know each other, getting to know each other's doctrine, had a mission exercise together, ended it with some cohesion where we had friendly games together and that was it. It was quite fun to be honest. At least, for the 2 weeks, we had some sort of out of the norm activities.

When they came here, we had some Malay guys selected to be liaison officers. You know, people to be attached to them, talk to them, help them settle down, share things. That kind of stuff. I wasn't selected to be one and it was ok. It would be nice but I honestly didn't want to either. One of the sergeants in my platoon, Fardlie was selected and he shared this with us during the settle down process. It was funny.

So he liaised with the soldiers to be settled down in one of the bunks. He told them about the orientation of the place, where the toilets are, where the showers are, where the smoking areas are. He told them specifically that smoking in the bunks are not allowed. 

When he passed by the bunk again later, he saw them smoking. He told them not to and they obliged. 

A second time he passed by the bunk, he saw them smoking again. They were soldiers of lower rank than Fardlie and he said, “I told you that you cannot smoke here.”

They apologised and said “Sorry sergeant”. But they didn't extinguish the burning cigarettes and just hid them behind their backs.

Fardlie was annoyed and then he pointed to them to the thing on the ceiling. He said, “You see that? That is a smoke detector. If it detects smoke, it will be activated, sound an alarm and it will sprinkle water all over the room.”

Immediately they extinguished their cigarettes and told each other, “Eh stop stop! The place will get wet all over.”

Fardlie left and shared this with us laughingly. There were no sprinklers in the room. There wasn't even a smoke detector. It was a circular emergency light on the ceiling which would turn on in times of a blackout. Though there were already smoke detector and sprinkler technology then, it was not installed in Bedok Camp at that time.

​EXCHANGE

We then had this exchange activity where they displayed their uniforms, food rations and weapons. We displayed ours also. It was like an old school expo. We walked around to view their booths and so did they to ours. I was stationed at the GPMG booth. It was fun. It was an expo atmosphere. Like a school funfair. We could ask questions pertaining the items displayed. We could also handle and play with some of them. Now that I type this, it reminds me of the Army Open House. When this COVID is over, maybe there will be another open house in the future.

The finale of the exchange programme was an assault demonstration. My platoon was selected to do the demonstration. We had our equipment ready and used blank rounds and did a simulated assault at the camp's stadium. The guests watched from the stands. 

After we finished the demonstration, the guests could come down to the field and ask us questions about our doctrine and SOP. There was nothing much to ask as the procedures were pretty much similar. They were more interested with our new SAR21 rifle. But most of the questions raised at us were, “how old are we?” The difference here was, they are regular soldiers who signed up to be soldiers while we were conscript soldiers. Some of us were 18 year olds. Most of us were in our early twenties. I was only 21 or 22. They were much older than us. 

They were also bewildered by our rank structure. It would take them years to be promoted from a private to a lance corporal. Their sergeants were already in their late 30s, while the sergeants here were only 21. They asked us, how long did we take to become a sergeant? We said, our SISPEC course was 5 months. They were really bewildered. “5 months to become a sergeant? Would you be experienced enough to lead men within 5 months and at this age? Doesn't experience play a part in rank promotion? Are you mature enough to be leading your troops?” They would ask these questions and gave us scenarios in a battlefield. What would we do, what would we consider and what are our SOPs in various scenarios. I can proudly say, we all could answer the questions confidently. They were still bewildered but were convinced with our answers.

​MISSION EXERCISE

Well here is the time for them to see our combat effectiveness. Unfortunately but understandably, the soldiers were not mixed. We would still complete the missions within our own companies. I mean, we walked in the forest together towards our objectives but once the assault happens, they have their own objective to capture while we had ours. 

Anyway we walked together. Just for your info, even though Singapore is small and almost everywhere is accessible by vehicles, our training include this thing called “Movement to Contact”. It means we have a starting to point to walk from until we reach the place that we are supposed to “attack”. In the army, even though some places are accessible to vehicles, the enemy would be able to detect moving vehicles from a distance, especially the sounds of helicopters or planes and such. So we would be dropped off at a starting point that is “beyond range” and walk towards our enemy. This walk would be kilometres long from at least 5 kilometres to 20kilometres. These walk usually happens in the dark of the night, usually starting at 7pm after last light, walk in the forest and reach the objective just before daybreak. That's about 12 hours of walking. 

Of course there would be short breaks during the walk. When a place is deemed “safe”, we would take a short break to rest our legs and have a drink or snack. It would still be a “tactical break” where we would have friends being on guard while the other take a break and then take turns. These breaks usually last about 10 to 15 minutes. Too short for us to fall asleep. But we would doze off anyway. 

But during this exercise, there were a lot of breaks during the walk. We were pleasantly surprised. The Malaysian army really value their breaks. Their breaks would be on specific times like once every hour, regardless whether the place was “safe” or not. And they did not have “tactical” breaks. They just break away and rested with snacks, food, hot drinks from their thermos. We were still required to maintain our tactical breaks though and we really enjoyed the breaks to have short naps as their breaks were longer than 15 minutes. Some even lasted an hour. Personally I understand where they were coming from. I had no complaints. I slept too.

​The first assault was fun. Ok we were tired but it was fun because it was an assault on a build up area. We were bored of attacking hills and mountains. To once in a while attack a building is fun. We called it “counter strike” based on a popular computer game of the same name at that time. Similar to Call of Duty now. 

After my platoon managed to overrun our building, my GPMG team was tasked to walk further down the road and secure the entry point of that area. Meaning, if the enemy would bring in reinforcement troops via the road entering that area, my team would fire at them. 

As we walked towards the road via the forested area beside it, we bumped into a Malaysian section overseeing another assault in the area. As it was still very early morning and very dark in the forest vegetation, they halted us and asked us who we were. There is a standard procedure on how to “challenge” people who we meet in the dark using passwords and stuff. Once we were considered as “friendly forces” we were allowed to pass. 

As I walked past them, I heard them giving instructions on their signal sets. It was cool to hear instructions in Malay. It was like in a movie. I remember this clearly,

“Bola satu kepada Bola dua. Bola satu kepada Bola 2. Berikan tembakan perlindungan kepada banguna A dan B. Saya ulangi, berikan tembakan pelindungan kepada bangunan A dan B.”

Translated : “Bravo one to Bravo two. Bravo one to Bravo two. Provide covering fire to buildings A and B. I repeat. Provide covering fire to building A and B.”

Super cool...


COHESION

After a few days in the forest, we came back to camp to rest and have our cohesion activities. I think it was fun but I cannot remember what we did. I think we had some kind of sports day type of activities, you know those telematch races or something. I really cannot remember. I remember we had sports games though. I think some went to play basketball or tennis or something. I went to play street soccer.

Typical Singapore boys will shout out “Ours!” when the ball is out of play, regardless what race you are. The Malaysians would say “Bola kami!”. It was odd to hear but my Malay friends wondered why we never speak in Malay even though we play with Malay friends. 

One interesting view that we witnessed was when they fall in at the parade square to go for Friday prayers. They would be clad in complete Baju Melayu with songkok and samping. The mosque is just across the road so it was quite a pretty and colourful sight to see especially Singaporeans do not wear a complete costume set to go for Friday prayers. Heck, most of us don't even go for Friday prayers. 

All in all I think it was a fun exchange exercise. Like I said earlier, luckily for us, we did not have to travel to Malaysia for this exercise as we have enough travelling already. Next week I will share another experience where I had the opportunity to train with a visiting foreign army.

NEXT WEEK : GPMG LEADER COURSE 

Categories : The Army Series

​At 40 years old, I found out that I might have been having a neurological condition, though I cannot (yet) afford an official assessment and diagnosis. In the meantime I shall call this condition “AS”. I spent time reading about “AS” and it made me realise that the signs and symptoms were prevalent throughout my life. It is like these writers know exactly how I have been living my life though we have never met before. I start this “Weirdly Wired” series to document about my life experiences with the symptoms which all these while I thought were “normal”.

​A bit late with this post. Haven't been feeling well the past few days. Since late 2018, I have been falling sick very easily. Really need to be happy again soon. Anyway, thank you if you have been looking forward for new posts in this series.

​

​I found out that one of the symptoms of “AS” is childlike imagination. I don't know how this is defined but maybe I can relate to it somehow. Again, as mentioned in previous posts, I have always thought that many things are normal. Let's see how this one has been prevalent in my life so far.

Maybe for most of my life, I thought that I am immature rather than child-like. I still think that I am immature. There are many things that I find difficult in “adulting”. I see IG posts and stories of how my former students, who are way much younger than me, seem to ease into adulthood easily. Their complicated jobs, their marriage, their parenthood. Whereas for me, I dread going out of the house unless it is a routine. I see humans as evil creatures and are out to make trouble for everyone and I am always ready to jump into a fight.

I also don't understand why many people can get away with many things. I see videos of traffic offences, people fighting and arguing. How can they live like that? I would have burst out in violent rage if I were to be in those situations and I would definitely not be able to get away with that. 

I also don't understand how people can say many things and are deemed acceptable, knowing that if I were to say the exact same things, I would be penalised somehow. 

To me, adulting is too difficult. 

But being a child is easy. Of course, not socially acceptable.

When I was in my 30s, when I had no idea that I have “AS”, I tried so hard to be an adult. I remember clearly that the moment I became “myself” people would tell me to “act my age”. I never understood why I should. I had a lot of relationship problems because I cannot “act my age”. I remember arguing about this. What does acting my age means? How do you define acting your age? What are you suppose to do when you come to a certain age? How do you define age? Do I have to act differently when I am 30 years 2 months old, compared to 30 years 1 month old? Is it defined by years or months or weeks or hours or minute? Why is there no textbooks or guidebooks by age for me to read and know how I am suppose to behave?

I remember I was a very angry person. I hate it that I am always wrong. I hate it that I am always told to act my age. All I wanted was to be happy by playing football and computer games and eat and sleep and run and play in playgrounds or play games. But I am not allowed to because I have to “act my age”. Worse... being a Malay, I am socially expected to be married and have 237 children by the age of 30. 

Anyway, I avoid people for a number of years and still working on it. I am happier without having people around me telling what to do. I can exercise my “child-like imaginations” almost freely.

What is imagination? In a previous post, I mentioned that I have this ability to see vivid images without even trying to imagine them. So I guess, imagination is me consciously activating my brain to see and imagine things. So, combine these 2 things together, my imagination is extremely fast. So fast that I sometimes I cannot catch up with them. So fast that I sometimes cannot believe that I can actually imagine them. 

I give you an example. 

Since I have been avoiding people, I have been making friends with animals such as cats, dogs, lizards, flies, ants, birds, etc. I enjoy talking to them though I know they won't talk back to me. I realise that my conversation with them are very fast and also very child-like.

I also have stuffed toys. Some I don't like. Some I like. I have this favourite set of toys. I call them my “flens”. I enjoy talking to them when I get home. I guess you can say that this behaviour is “child-like”.

​But, combine this behaviour with how fast my brain works, it can be very entertaining and it makes me happy. 

I remember this conversation. Just one of the many I had with my flens. I got home and talked to “Bear”. I said to him (in Malay)

Me: Why are you all not asleep yet?
Bear: Because you're not home yet.
Me: Waah... is it because you want me to sleep together?
Bear: No. Because we need someone to turn the lights off.

I burst out laughing. Really. It was so funny. I didn't expect him to say that. Even though it was all my imagination and me playing, talking to a stuffed toy (a very cute one), all the words were actually me talking... but because it was too fast, I actually didn't even expect “him” to say that. It was so fast that I actually really laughed. And that was just one example. I have countless hours of talking to my “flens” and they come out with funny retorts that really make me laugh and make me happy. 

So is that considered “child-like imagination”? Maybe it also includes the moments when I imagine people I see around me, when I'm travelling or walking, to do funny things. I imagine people tripping on themselves or being chased by dogs or an elephant appears from their car boot and many other things.

Maybe. Just maybe. 

Anyway, since I am avoiding people unless it is about work, it reminds me of something as I type this. 

Without masking, I actually dislike talking about adult things with people. Please do not strike chats with me about adult things. Don't talk to me about the world, the government, the people, the cost of living in Singapore, the price of cars and houses, how arts should be displayed, what kind of theatre performances are good and what are not, etc. I actually get annoyed inside when I know you don't know what you're talking about and you will get annoyed if I correct you and it is extra annoying that I have to hold it in from correcting you. 

Talk to me about chickens wearing army uniforms to attack KFC or dolphins eating stingray at Newton or sliding down rainbows or riding a bus that can fly or accompanying a millipede to buy shoes at Mustafa. Things like that and I can talk to you until the cows come home. 

NEXT WEEK : SILENT SHUTDOWNS

Categories : Weirdly Wired

​Hello and welcome back!

As mentioned in the previous post, most of my takeaway from the army is “experience”. Experiences that I can never encounter as a civilian. To be honest, though the experience of going through it was depressing, but the experience of having the chance to do it is memorable and quite fun. Today I am going to share my experiences with the vehicles that I got to ride on while I was in the army.

​FASTCRAFT

Almost every Tekong boy first ride. Being enlisted in the year 2000, I was the lucky first few batches to be able to ride a proper ferry to Pulau Tekong. Just a few years before me, one would have to ride an RPL to travel to Pulau Tekong. You can google, Tekong RPL. Lucky me, the fastcraft is exactly like one you would ride to Batam. It is even managed by the same companies. 

​I still remember that depressing view and feeling on my first ride to Pulau Tekong. When I was in SISPEC, my platoon sergeant told us that we have to leave camp earlier to book out as we had to travel to the ferry terminal. He told us to not be late as he would want to book out also. The ferries depart once every hour, so he said that if we miss it, “1 minute late is 1 hour late.”

THE TRUCKS

Our first truck was a 3 tonner. It somehow can fit 30 soldiers squeezed to the brim. If you get to sit on the seats, it was comfortable enough. Sit on the floor and be ready to have your spine bent from the bumps on the mud tracks. But a soldier can always sleep in it no matter how bumpy the ride is.

The 3 tonner was then phased out to make way for a bigger 5 tonner truck. Lucky 3rd generation army. There's aircon in the driver compartment and there are sponges on the seats together with seatbelts. You can google the images of these trucks. Anyway they are a common sight on our roads.

When I was in Taiwan, I also got the chance to ride a slightly smaller 2.5 tonner.

​HELICOPTERS

I was “lucky” to be posted to a Guards unit. When I got posted there and was briefed about Guads operations, I was told that a Guards unit can be a seaborne unit or a heliborne unit. (The Guards Creed mentions, “Land warriors from air and sea.”) The unit that I was posted to was a heliborne unit. The next batch would be a seaborne unit. I was happy. Personally I would rather be flying than riding boats because I think riding helicopters would be a rarer experience.

​SUPER PUMA

I first rode a super puma in SISPEC. It was just once. When I was in Guards, I rode it numerous times that I cannot remember how many. Though it was fun, it was squeezy. I didn't like the sound of the rotors as they sound mechanical like a “wheeeeeeeee wheeeeeeee” sound. 

The flights in Singapore would at most take 5 minutes per flight. There was once when I was in Australia and we boarded a super puma for a mission, the flight took 1 hour and 10 minutes. We thought it would be about 5 minutes just like in Singapore. Remember it was squeezy. We slept, woke up, slept, woke up and we were still flying. Ok it was fun. It would be more fun if it's in the day and we can see the surroundings but most flights were at night. Anyway, imagine 1 hour 10 minutes on a helicopter. How long would it take to drive back? Yup. We took a tonner back to base and it was a 4 hours journey.

CHINOOK
​
​The chinook was fun. Not squeezy and we faced each other like riding an MRT train. Very noisy though.

​Now this is the helicopter that I have always wanted to ride. I managed to ride it just once in my life. It was for a heli rapelling training. The pilot lifted off and went on a short 5 minutes flight before we rapelled down. 

Why I like this one? It sounds like a helicopter. It has the chopper sound like those you see from vietnam war movies. It is also less bulky so you can feel the thrill of it turning, banking and being blown in the wind. 

I really love riding these helicopters. I really wish I can do it again.

​LAND WARRIORS FROM AIR AND SEA

Though my unit was a heliborne unit, we still got the chance to try an amphibious assault, ie. a seaborne mission. We did this just once but it was really a fun experience.

The whole lot of us boarded this huge navy ship. I cannot remember its name. It is either the RSS Endurance or RSS Endeavour. You can try googling them. We sailed from Changi Naval Base to Pulau Sudong. 

We were in the belly of the ship all the time so we could not see the view outside the ship during the journey. We mostly slept or chatted. The ride took a few hours, I cannot remember exactly. Maybe about 6 hours. 

Inside this ship, there were smaller fast crafts. It was cool. When we were told that the time has come for our assault, we boarded these small fast crafts that were in the ship. The rear part of the bigger ship then opened up and sea water gushes in. It was really really cool. Once the door was fully opened and there was enough seawater to float the fast crafts, the crafts then zoomed out from the rear of the ship bringing us to Pulau Sudong from the middle of the sea. It was very exciting. It was like a “Saving Private Ryan” moment or a D-Day Normandy landing moment.

The fast craft then reach the beaches of Pulau Sudong and the soldiers storm out to charge at the enemy. Super cool...

After the assault, we were supposed to be airlifted out from the island via a helicopter. It was a combined mission with the US Marines and we were supposed to ride a US helicopter. But somehow on that day, the helicopter was grounded when it was my platoon's turn to board it. So we had to board a Super Puma. I cannot remember the model of the US helicopter though. I can only remember that it looks very similar to a Super Puma and was blue in colour.

​LIGHT STRIKE VEHICLE

The LSV is unique to the Guards Unit. Unfortunately it was only used by the Support company. For the infantry like us, we didn't get to ride it.

​BUT, I managed to ride it just once. It was once in Australia when me and some of my mates got lost in the jungle when we were retrieving our field packs after an assault. We couldn't find our way back. The surroundings looked the same. Our compasses spun around and we were stranded for a good 6 hours. A rescue team on LSVs finally found us and brought us back to the rest of the unit. I will share more details of this experience in another post. Hopefully I will remember. 

So yes. Those are the vehicles that I got the chance to ride. There is one more which is a boat. Like a motorboat. I didn't really ride it. Remember my post during GCC? Where we had to do a coastal swim? Yes, in the middle of the Serangoon Harbour, some of my men were struggling to catch up with the rest. It wasn't because they were weak swimmers but the currents were really no joke. The ships kept on passing by us and with every passing, the currents would push us away. So I had to stay with the straddlers and kept pushing them. This was until we were too far behind from the main group that the safety boat had to travel to us. We didn't board the boat. We held on the side of it as the boat zoomed forward and brought us to join the main group. Haha. That was fun too.

​Ok that's it for this post. I sound happier than the previous posts because I really had fond memories riding the helicopters and the fast crafts. 

Do look forward for the next post next week.

NEXT WEEK : EXERCISE SEMANGAT BERSATU

Categories : The Army Series.