​And so we were done. My first overseas trip after Taiwan. The first while serving in a unit. I was looking forward to leave. It was fun but by now you would know that I hate travelling, I was really looking forward to go home. Of course, the thing I was looking forward to was, to finally get to use a proper clean toilet.

​LEAVING OLD CAMP GROWL

​After the normal administration stuff, we left Old Camp Growl. Our home for about 18 days. Less if you were out in the field. It was just an open patch of land with tents, toilets, water tank and canteen set up. As they tore the place down, it goes back to an empty piece of land. You would never know that that place housed 500 plus people at a time.

​ROCKHAMPTON CITY

​The first feel of air condition after 2 weeks. The tour bus brought us to Rockhampton City. I looked out the window and it looked the same as we left it. I think it still looks the same now 20 years later. I like it very much. It was sparse. No crowds. Bright and sunny. Not too hot and definitely not humid. It is a place that would be lovely to retire in. But I guess, as a youth, the place might be pretty boring. You can have a walk through of the city via Google Earth street view now. I think it looks pretty much the same.

R & R

Day 1

We will be having our 2 days 2 nights R&R. Organised tour in the day and free and easy in the evening. We stayed in this place called the Sundowner Lodge. It was a pretty and a simple place. I did a google search and it is now called the “Q Motel Rockhampton”. Still look exactly like how I remember. It is nice. I was in the same room as my buddy Nurizam.

So in the day, they brought us around the city. Went to some touristy spots like a gemstone park, post office, shopping mall, places like that. We had our dinner at about 5pm and then we were left on our own. Here's the funny part. When we were left free and easy in the evening, everything was closed as almost all business closed at 5pm. So basically we were roaming in an empty city. 

There was one big mall that was open though. It was called Target. It closes at 7pm. So we all head there and see what little shopping we could do.

Most of us bought milk as they were cheap. I think it was about 80cents for 2 litres. It was quite fun to drink that much. There was also Vanilla Coke. Remember I said that it was our first time seeing it? A number of us binged on it and quite a number of the Malay boys bought bottles of it to bring home. Remember that it was Ramadhan? They planned to bring home for Hari Raya. Surely the people and guests at home will be surprised to see and taste the flavour. Sounds like a fun thing to do. A souvenir from Australia. The bottles were huge too. They didn't sell them in 1.5 litre bottles like we have here. Theirs was 2 litres. So you see these boys lugging out 4 to 6 bottles of vanilla coke each out of Target at 7pm.

Day 2

We took the bus to a port town called Yeppoon and we took a ferry to this resort island called Keppel island. To be honest, I cannot remember much about this day. I guess it must have been pretty boring. I think we just walked around and took pictures. Some of the guys went swimming at the beach. I didn't bring any swimming gear so, I think I just walked around. And in the afternoon, we went back to the mainland for dinner and then free and easy. Again everything was closed so there was nothing to do. Nurizam and I went to Target again to have a last look on any souvenirs to buy back home.

​THAT EVENTFUL NIGHT

As Target announced the closure for the day, Nurizam and I exited and decided to walk back to our lodge. We calculated that it was about 4 to 5 kilometres walk which was nothing for our youthful fitness.

As we walked, we passed by a club called Hooters. I remember we were given flyers that day in the ferry to Keppel Island saying that Hooters will be opened that night. I guess it was the only thing that was opened or maybe they opened it specially for that night.

As we passed it, we didn't even enter it, it looked like the normal boat quay shophouse so you can see it from the outside, we saw almost everyone was there. It was very very crowded. Nurizam and I just looked from outside. It was funny. The whole city was closed and these whole bunch of hundreds of Singapore army boys swarming the small place. We tried to look for the girls because Hooters had waitresses in tight white t shirts and small orange hot pants. We did see some from outside. Somehow they looked...... Singaporean..... it was fishy. Where the Australian girls at? Hmmm.... not worth it. Anyway we didn't like it so we walked on. But it was quite a sight. Imagine hundreds of these entertainment starved boys in a small shophouse. Weird..

We then walked on along the empty roads. The roads turned to streets as we head further away from the city centre. 

As we walked past another shophouse kind of building, 2 guys ran out from it in front of us. I cannot remember who they were but they were our army boys. They looked at us and said, 

“Sergeant.... you better go inside. I think your friend is going to die already!”
“Who?”
“Sergeant Fardlie la...”

Nurizam and I looked at each other and wondered. Is he getting beaten up? We both rushed in.

To our surprise, there was a small room that was opened for business. It wasn't dim neon coloured but like a bright fluorescent lit room. There was a strip bar inside and we saw Fardlie laughing his guts out. Apparently he was laughing at some of our guys in the strip club watching 2 really fat ladies stripping. This time they didn't look like Singaporeans. They were really Australian ladies. How did these guys manage to find this place is beyond us but they definitely know how to beat the crowd. I think there were about 20 of our guys in there compared to hundreds at Hooters. They were really laughing and enjoying themselves. Nurizam and I sat and watched the strip show and the antics for a while. We both don't drink so it was fun to watch but not our kind of entertainment. After a short while, we left. But yes, it was less crowded, the strippers were more concentrated to the small number of guests and it was fun. It was funny too.

We were back on the dark streets as we continued our walk to our lodge. The streets literally got smaller and narrower. The areas got darker. Because it was dark, random bright lights attracted our attention. 

We saw a light which happened to be in the path of our journey. It was a small coffeeshop. Very much like our small stalls at a shophouse. There was only one burly man behind the counter. We wonder why it wasn't closed. 

2 boys sat at a table. 1 caucasian and 1 aborigine. They were about 15 or 14. The aborigine boy suddenly walked to us and stood in front of us blocking our way. I don't know if he was trying to look intimidating but he really wasn't. He was small and had to tilt his head up to look at us.

“Hey mate.... you got a cigarette?”

Funny boy. I gave him a stick of Sampoerna. A kretek (clove) cigarette. 

“Thanks. You have a light?”

I lit the cigarette for him.

He said thanks, inhaled the kretek cigarette deeply and blew a puff. As he walked back to his table, he wobbled and fell as he tried to reach his chair while holding his head. His friend and the owner rushed over to help him. Nurizam and I chuckled as we walked on. The young lad trying to act tough in front of us couldn't handle the kick from a puff off a kretek cigarette. 

We then walked along a narrow street with 2 storey buildings beside us. From afar we saw a group of youths, maybe about 10 of them. We paused. They were holding metal rods and baseball bats. They were breaking into a store and smashing its glass window. They were in our path so we stopped to see. They were about 100 metres away from us. 

And then as they were breaking the windows, they saw us. Maybe they didn't expect anyone to be there at that time. Heck it was just about maybe 9pm. 

They shouted at us from afar and walked towards us. It was a view from Purge movie I tell you. But somehow we weren't scared. They walked and as they came nearer, we turned around and walked. We could hear them shouting at us to stop. We didn't and then we ran. We were not scared I tell you. We just ran while smiling. This was an adventure!

They chased after us and we just sprinted laughingly while turning corners around the blocks. If you do a google map search on Rockhampton, it looks like many other European or American cities with squarish layouts and right angled streets. So it was quite easy to navigate as long as we head towards a general direction. 

Our sense of direction was strong. Our fitness was at peak at that time. We sprinted and run around corners knowing that they were chasing us. It was fun. We just kept turning at corners and at times we were actually behind them. We saw them getting tired. We saw them gave up and catching their breaths. As they stopped and pant... we appeared at the other end of the street. They saw us but couldn't chase us. We looked over our shoulders and walked on laughingly. It was fun.

We are almost reaching our lodge. Maybe another kilometre away. We walked past buildings. Like I said, everything was closed and it was dark. If any room or building was lit, it would be obvious. 

One room on the second floor was lit. We walked pass it and a lady looked out the window. At least she was pretty. 

“Hey boys...!! Do you want to have fun?”

She then put a leg out of the window ledge and straddled on it. She was half naked and encouraging us to come up to the 2nd floor. Then there were a few more half naked ladies at the window and I think 2 men. Well they were all half naked or fully naked I don't know because the lower part was covered by the ledge. They kept asking us to come up for fun. Hahaha. It was funny. We declined laughingly. But it was fun seeing it. As we walked further the ladies waved at us. 

“Bye boys! Have a good night!”

I don't know. I just feel that was a nice gesture. 

We have reached the main road of our lodge. We headed over to a petrol station just across our lodge. We bought a loaf of bread, water and a jar of nutella. We went back to our room and binged on it as we watched TV to sleep. 

It was an eventful walk and I can remember that clearly until today.


BACK TO ROCKHAMPTON AIRPORT

Back at the airport. Ready to go home. I really couldn't wait to go home. 

Remember the boys buying bottles of Vanilla Coke? We were told that we were not allowed to bring gassy drinks on to the plane. Hahaha. Luckily I didn't buy any. I didn't want to lug heavy bottles in my bag. 

The boys were disappointed. It was a good souvenir. It was for Hari Raya. 

And then they said in Malay, “If we cannot bring the drink, at least we bring back the bottle as a souvenir.” It was nice. The bottle was different and the printing clearly says Vanilla Coke. So the bottles were a consolation.

And then you see these 500 plus people sitting on the floor of the small Rockhampton Airport, passing bottles of Vanilla Coke around to be shared by everyone. Drink and pass. Drink and pass till we empty the bottles. I am chuckling as I type this. It was funny. Drink as much as you can and pass around. We drank till we bloat. And that was how we ended this trip.

​NEXT WEEK : ALERT RED 

Categories : The Army Series

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

​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

​​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 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

​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.

As mentioned in the previous post, the only thing i can takeaway from the army is “experience”. Experiences that I can never get as a civilian. Experiences that are story topics during meet ups with other Singaporeans who served in the army. 

Today I am going to share the experiences I had that I can never have experienced if I wasn't in the army. The experience of being able to step foot on and see the views of locations within Singapore that are not accessible for the general public. The experience of being at the various army training area in Singapore. Not including Pulau Tekong.

Sorry not much photos. They are restricted areas. But, you can always google them.

​THE WESTERN CATCHMENT AREA

When I was in primary school, I enjoyed looking at the old street directory books and was always looking forward to the new edition every year. I still use street directory until today. You can download them on your phone. It is still to me much better than google maps. I don't understand why people rely on google maps to navigate when street directory is so much better.

So because I love reading the maps so much, at that time I memorised all the reservoirs in Singapore. We all know the common reservoirs but there are 4 reservoirs in the Western Catchment Area and they are not accessible to the public. Sarimbun, Murai, Poyan and Tengah. So I kind of wished that I can see them one day. And I did. When I was in the army. 

I felt truly lucky to be there to see the views. The western catchment area is beautiful. So beautiful that it hides the suffering of the soldiers camouflaged between the trees. 

The hills are beautiful. The views from on top of the hills are scenic. The reservoirs look like natural lakes. You would never imagine that such views are found in Singapore. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of them. They are just in my memories. But I think you can google them. Maybe there are some pictures. Actually I tried googling as I typed this. There are not many photos and even if you found them, and you've never been there, you wouldn't know that the pictures are of those places. I guess, the closest you can go is to fly there via Google Earth. Make sure you turn on 3D images. From the southernmost part of Pasir Laba and Raffles Country Club to the north tip of Sarimbun. All I can say, the view is beautiful. But if you ask me to go there again on a mission exercise, heck no. The place is huge. I am not walking there again with my full combat and GPMG load. No. No. But if I have an opportunity to visit the place as a civilian and take pictures, I would gladly go. 

​AMA KENG

The Ama Keng area has a training area that faces the Kranji Reservoir. I remember sitting there in a defence position looking at the Kranji river. Though nice, it was depressing. Seeing how near you are to civilisation but so far away from a book out day. 

There is also an abandoned HDB estate there. Now it is used for urban operations training. It was quite fun playing in real life HDB estate rather than mock up ones. And also playing in a building rather than in the jungle for a change. 

Anyway, recently they've made an urban operational training area just across the main road called the Murai Urban Training Facility. I still prefer the Ama Keng HDB. It was fun choosing the units and rooms to sleep in. You can see this area in the first movie of Ah Boys To Men.

​MARSILING

Finally somewhere nearer to home. Every time we hear that our next mission exercise would be in Marsiling, we would be very happy. Simply because the area is small. It's only about 4 square kilometres. It is has 2 very steep hills. Point 62 and Point 77. From the top of the almost botak Point 62, you can see Woodlands housing estate across the expressway with the skyscrapers of Johor Bahru looming in the background. I remember my PC giving us a pep talk about the importance of our service from on top of Point 62 overlooking the view.

​YISHUN 

We didn't always come here. But when we did, it was always a very short trip. The training area were not big so I guess, there was not much thing we could do. During that time, it was bigger than now though. Some of the areas has already been developed. The area between Yishun Avenue 6 and 8 are now housing blocks. The Yishun Dam area has also been developed for more traffic. 

It was fun to come here. It is even more depressing than what I mentioned at Kranji. Simply because it is so much closer to home. 

Some of the areas that we went to were, Yishun Avenue 6, Yishun Dam, Simpang and Seletar. 

I remember that the forested areas across Yishun Avenue 6 had an illegal prostitution den. When we were there one day, in the day, we walked through the area. Funny dinghy area. It was filled with trash and mosquitoes. There were huts and canvas sheets hung around to form partitions with mattresses in every “room”. It would be funny if we had walked there at night while the den was in service. 

There was also a mission that we did and after capturing the objective, my platoon was tasked to secure the Yishun Dam. Hard for you to imagine now that the dam is full of traffic. But at that time it was deserted but was still an accessible road for the public. I remember we got a scolding for falling asleep while securing a public road. 


PULAU SUDONG

I am now left with other smaller areas as most training was held either in Pulau Tekong or the Western Catchment Area. 

Pulau Sudong was fun. I will explain what we did there in another post. Maybe next week. 

The island is pretty but I guess it looks like another southern island such as St John's or Sisters or Kusu. Still, a civilian will not be able to go there so I was lucky. 

This one you can google how it looks like.


PUNGGOL

Way before Punggol became a housing estate, we were there for reasons I cannot remember. I remember it was still forested. Most probably for mission exercises but I cannot remember why we were there and not in other mentioned areas. 

What I can remember and I can share now is that, we were there for an airlift. I remember sitting beside the river, exactly where the Sumang blocks are now. We sat there from afternoon till evening and I remember seeing the place turned dark while waiting for our helicopter to arrive and brought us somewhere. I cannot remember much. I only remember sitting there and flying off. Obviously it was one of the training exercises where we were zombified.


CENTRAL CATCHMENT AREA

I had only been here twice. Once during active NS and once during reservists. Since it is a public area, we didn't have assault exercises in the area. We only did topography training here. Back then it wasn't as popular as now. Though the trails existed, you don't see the public cycling or walking there. 

I remember bashing through the forest and then suddenly I disappeared. My section mates said I just suddenly disappeared as I was leading them through the navigation exercise. Actually I fell into a hole. It was about 2 metres deep and circular, like a well. Luckily it wasn't a boar trap with spikes or something.

Another cool experience was during reservist. I was attached as an umpire for another unit. They had to walk through the area in the evening. So it was all forest with the BKE on our left. Then their section commander told us that we can have a break under a bridge. More accurately the Gali Batu Flyover. Ok, it was a decent and safe place to take a break especially since it was already night. Funny thing was, below the bridge and behind a pillar, were 2 black trash bags. One was filled with packets of chicken rice and another bag was filled with packed ice and canned drinks. Apparently the section had those delivered at precisely that time as the ice packs were still cold and the food warm. They even ordered a pack of rice and canned drink for me. That was cool.

These images are just in my head now and maybe I will forget them one day. I am a bit disappointed that I don't have photos of these areas and you cannot find much online. But that is understandable. Nevertheless, all I can say is... the views are beautiful.


NEXT WEEK : Our Vehicles

Categories : The Army Series

So we have settled in Bedok Camp 2. A spanking new camp in the year 2001. I may not have much photos of the camp as cameras were not so accessible in those days. But I'll try to remember how life was in my home for 1 and 3/4 years. 

If you have been reading my “Army Series” posts, they were all about being in training schools. After about 10 months, I am out of schools and it was now a steady life of being a full time soldier.

​Life was still 5.5 days week. Even though it was more than a 44 hour work week. We wake up at 530am in the morning and sleep at about 12am every night. The lack of sleep was actually quite frustrating for me but I guess being young at that time, it was manageable. We book out every Saturday noon and back in camp on Sunday evenings, provided we were not assigned to weekend duties.

We had annual leave and off hours that we accumulate. Hearing from other friends undergoing NS, they were able to clear their offs and leave before they ORD. On the day I ORD from NS, I still had at least 10 days of off and 10 days of leave uncleared. I cannot remember the exact numbers but definitely no less than 10 each. I really felt angry at that time (until today actually). We are entitled to those rest days but were never allowed to clear them. I think it is very unfair and it is one of the reasons I hate the army very much.

Everyday it was just training after training. Physical training, military training, proficiency training. We just keep doing them over and over again. The idea was to keep us proficient but we got bored and it just went on to become a monotonous routine. 

So we had (at least for me) to look for things that could make our life there interesting for the rest of our active days in NS. I was still hoping that I could be posted out to a non combat unit though but you would have known by now that it was never achieved until I completely finished my army stint at the age of 37.


NIGHTS OFF


Well sometimes we had nights off. It didn't happen often. Maybe once in 3 weeks or so. Most of the times I went to meet my girlfriend. Most of us had girlfriends then so if you didn't have one, you won't have anyone to meet when you go for night off. 

Since we were on the mainland already, and in Bedok, it was easier to head to some place. Luckily we were not at Lim Chu Kang or Kranji. We could always go to Tampines and Bedok and sometimes head to town. The bus stop was just outside our camp and there were bus services to these places. It was quite convenient. 

Of course our hearts will sink again whenever we came back to camp. But upon alighting from the bus, we would see the Bedok Camp 1 first before walking to our camp behind it. We count ourselves lucky as our camp was a nicer and newer camp. Bedok Camp 1 at that time was an old run down camp and it was occupied by the 3rd SIR if I'm not wrong. In our minds was, ok lah... at least we were not posted there.

​BUNK

As we trudged back to our camps and bunk with very low morale, we had to make it into something that could make us feel better. A number of us picked up smoking. There were also smoking areas on every floor of the building so it wasn't as strict as it is now. Just walk out of the bunk and turn left to the end of the corridor. 

As for our bunks, we personalised it to make it more “welcoming”. We rearranged our beds to make it more interesting such as we had our own space. We even arranged our cupboards to create partitions like as if we had our own areas. We attached curtains to the windows, pasted posters on our cupboards, used our own bedsheet and pillowcases. We also brought our own extra pillows from home. We used our own non army towels and clothes when we're in the bunk. 

An interesting thing about our bunk was, somehow, some day, one of us actually brought a TV in. We were all very happy. The TV was placed at the end of the bunk. Slowly we started attaching a VCD player and a playstation. So we could watch TV, play games and watch movies. At that time there were a lot of pirated CDs so it was fun. A friend brought boxes of Korean drama series VCDs and we would watch it together. We also played the playstation console, mostly FIFA games and I remember there was a time when we watched the 2002 World Cup games in our bunk.

​FOOD

Honestly the cookhouse food in Bedok camp was nice. I was a more picky eater at that time but they were nice. Breakfast was a bit hard to swallow though. Maybe it was just me. I still feel that 530am is too early to eat breakfast. 

I would then eat a bit and then waited a while to maybe about 9am when I would go over to the canteen to get breakfast. Yes we had a canteen even though we have a cookhouse. My usual meals there then were half boiled eggs and toast bread.

There was also a barber too but most of us cut our own hair. The “guards” haircut was a simple crop at the sides and back and very short top so we could do that by getting our own hair clipper. There was also a guy who would offer to cut hair. He would set up a chair at the end of the corridor and some of the guys would ask him to help them cut their hair. 

We also had a “mess” where we could eat western food and chill in an aircon room. There was a TV there, some board games, a fussball table, a billiard table, a pool table and dart boards. We go there once in awhile but since we already had TV in our bunks, we just bought food there and bring them back to our bunks.


RECREATION

Well there were some recreation facilities in the camp but we hardly got the chance to use them. There were basketball courts and street soccer courts. Sometimes we did have time to play but I don't remember that we played that much.

Most of the time we were told to go for runs. Our common running routes were of course along the camp's perimeter. For planned group runs, we ran along the East Coast Park. Out of the camp from the back gate and cross the expressway via an underpass. Since we could not get nights off, sometimes we would say that we want to run outside of camp. We would then run in the evening to Bedok interchange, eat ice kacang at Hollywood and then go back to camp. 


BOOK OUT

And then it is a Saturday again. Book out day again. We would change to our civilian attire, ready for another short weekend. I mentioned in a previous post that we were allowed to book in and out wearing a minimum of polo t shirt, bermudas and sandals. It was a privilege that no other camps in Singapore at that time had. 

So we walked out of the gate heading towards the bus stop. One funny view that I can remember was, the bus stop was just at the doorstep of Bedok Corner food centre. At that time the design was different and you could see the stalls from outside. And on every Saturday, ALL the stalls, be it the drink stalls and all food stalls, would have a young lady working there. I remember this view very clearly. It was obvious that all the stall owners would get their daughters or nieces or whoever to help them out on Saturdays. It was funny. The attraction didn't work for me though because I just wanted to get out of there quickly because before you know it, it would be Sunday again and it was time be back in camp again.

NEXT WEEK : Training Areas

Categories : The Army Series

One of my many gripes of being posted to an army unit is that, on a superficial level, the knowledge gained there are not applicable to civilian life, as compared to be posted into a police or a civil defence unit. I tried asking to be posted to a driver unit and a medical unit so that I could gain some knowledge that I can use once I am out of NS but of course they were rejected. I don't want to talk about discipline and regimentation of the army and how it helps us in our civilian life. That is very generic as NS discipline is learnt in other units and vocations too. Heck! I hear that they have cleaners in camp now and the NSFs don't have to do area cleaning and clean toilets anymore.They have no idea how many times we had to book out later then planned just because there were dusts at the corner of a window frame or a polishing brush bristle at the corridor.

Well I guess, the only main takeaway I have from the army is just.... experience.

​So today I am going to share my experiences with things that I cannot get anywhere in my civilian life. “Call of Duty” is not counted. Our cool weapons. 

I am not going to share information about the weapons as you can always google them. I am going to share with you experiences that I had with them. 

​
​Our first wife. Being the last batch of the 2nd generation army, I still managed to get to use the M16 rifle. I still think that it is beautiful. I still prefer it to the SAR21 even though the SAR is a much better weapon. Why? Because army is wayang. And the M16 looks good to be in a wayang. It gave me the war feels. I felt like I was in some Hollywood war movie in Vietnam. The SAR21 has the modern feels. It made me feel like I am in a video game. So M16 is the weapon of choice for me. Especially when you get to hold it and ride a helicopter.

Another important reason. You can fix a bayonet in front of the M16. A brutal war feel. Ask all 2nd generation soldiers, what does a bayonet remind you of? We would say, “bayonet fighting”. Could have been super fun but with the use of SAR21 now, those training has become obsolete.

​I am going to share an experience that will make you all jealous. 

Since I am the last few batches of the 2nd generation army, there was a time of transition to 3rd generation. Some time during my NS days at Bedok Camp, we were told that we will transition from M16 to SAR21. So we said goodbye to our used and reused and I don't know how many batch has used, our M16 weapon. For your info, we were all officially assigned to our weapons, so that particular rifle was ours for months. 

One day, we were told to collect our SAR21. So in batches, we went to the collection point. We all had a new rifle each. It was given in an unopened box, sealed, and had our names on it. Imagine going to the collection point and they gave you a bow with your name on it like a parcel. We went back to our company line and opened it like a new toy. It was really new. It was a very cool experience. At that time we didn't have online shopping so these kind of unboxing things were special. Imagine a new SAR21 delivered especially for you. How cool is that.

​A mini machine gun. Cool right? Yes it looks cool. It's specifications sounds cool too. But when you use it to fire blank rounds, it becomes a sniper rifle. 1 cock 1 shot. When you hear someone shouting “IA!” (Immediate Action) during a firefight, it is most definitely the SAW gunner.

​Attached below the barrel of an M16 or a SAR21, this thing is powerful. On paper. It can propel a grenade to an intended target. How powerful is that. But since we are all training to be soldiers, we hardly got to use it. I think in my whole army life, I only experienced an M203 live firing twice. So the soldier who was assigned to be an M203 gunner only had the experience of firing it twice while the rest of his army life, he had to carry that extra weight in his hands. Those things get heavier the further we walk. Sometimes we are told to simulate the use of an M203 during our mission exercises. But most times, they are not feasible because we would be walking in thick forests. The “simulated grenades” would not have enough foliage clearance to propel anyway.
​

Unlike the SAW, this one works. It is a fun weapon. On paper. In real life, it is a trouble. This gun needs a 3 men team to operate. Well actually, the idea of a 3 men team is fun. 1 commander, 1 assistant to carry the rounds and 1 gunner to carry the gun. Sounds good, if you're an infantry unit. There are other items that are associated with the team. For an infantry unit, these items would be placed in a “combat train”, a truck that will rendezvous with you upon reaching your objective. But for a Guards unit that is inserted behind enemy lines, we had to carry the items ourselves. So what are the items? 

Extra box of rounds. Spare barrel. Cleaning kit. Camouflage net. Tripod with Anti Aircraft attachment. Night vision binoculars with spare batteries. Normal binoculars. 

It was terrible I tell you. The tripod is a nightmare. I have permanent back damage because of this load and still experience pains till today.

​For most guns, we use the 5.56mm ball. For the GPMG we use the 7.62mm. There are the live rounds and also the blank rounds for training. For night shoots, we would also use a “Tracer” round. 1 tracer after every 4 normal rounds. We all really enjoyed looking at tracers leaving red trails during these night live range. You can google to see how these tracer rounds look like when they are fired. 

And how can we forget the “Universal Rounds”. Magic bullets that can kill any enemy. All you had to do was shout “Bang! Bang!” as you charged towards your enemies.

​We had the Armbrust Light Anti Tank (LAW) weapon. But again, just like the M203, I think we only fired it twice. Quite fun because when we watch movies, these “bazookas” pack explosions when fired. But these LAW weapons are recoilless. There was no explosion when fired too. Only a cool air splitting sound... like “shiiiuuuuuuuu.....”. The explosion only happens when then round hits the target.

Pretty much similar for the heavier 84mm Recoilless Rifle. Urrghh... these things are heavier. I cannot complain when I was assigned to be in a GPMG team because it was still luckier than being assigned to an 84mm team.

​These are my personal favourites. Pen flare, rocket flare and trip flare. The closest I could get to fireworks. 

There was once when we had rocket flare training, one guy had a faulty flare. Instead of firing forward, it got stuck a while and exploded backwards. Luckily it was just a flare so we just had to put the fire out.

One interesting experience I had with a trip flare was in Thailand. So I set up a trip flare around or platoon defence area. The point of a trip flare is, when the enemy accidentally step on a cable, the flare will burst and burn for 40 seconds for us to see and locate the enemy. Of course these things are for enemies that try to creep to our area at night. 

But it was in the day and suddenly the flare tripped and exploded. At that time I was just assigned to platoon 9 from platoon 8. It was my first overseas mission with them. One of the funny thing for platoon 9 is that there is this guy named “Foo”. Every time something goes wrong, the other guys will say, “Must be Foo!” even on times that he wasn't involved. So it was a joke and it was rather funny. I never saw anything wrong that he did. But on that day (yes in the day) when the trip flared, the guys around me immediately shouted “Must be Foo!”. And you would have guessed it by now, he meekly appeared from behind the bushes and said, “sorry sorry.....” It was really him! I still remember that moment and how I laughed so hard seeing this “Must be Foo!” thing actually happened.
​

Just like the LAW and M203. We only got to experience these explosive devices maybe twice or thrice in our life. The rest of the time, we had to carry the dummies of these things. Nevertheless those few moments of using the real thing were pretty fun.

​When we didn't have enough stocks for dummy grenades, we were told to create a few for ourselves. And also so that it won't be expensive for us to replace them if we lose them. So we filled empty yakult bottles with sand and taped them up using blue gaffer tapes.

Of course who can forget our roots. The traditional parang and cangkul. We had to bring them everywhere we go. To clear vegetation and to dig the ground. These things were never sharp when you need them. I think they are cursed to never be sharp. They work though but somehow, always not how we would want them to be. 

Just sharing, there was once during an mission exercise in Marsiling, I led my platoon at night. There were vegetation in front of me and I wanted to clear it with my hands and then suddenly there was a loud snap. I thought the plants snapped my fingers. It hurt for a while but I continued walking. Then I felt my rifle being wet sticky. I asked my platoon commander to help me shine a small torch to check. My rifle barrel and my hand was soaked in blood. We washed off the blood and the middle finger in my left hand was split clean missing the bone. So I was sent to stitch it up. I still believe it was a parang that snapped because it was a clean split. But who did it, I don't know and I don't want to know. 

So that's it. I don't know how they can be applied in civilian life. Maybe you can ask me for advice on what weapon to choose for your Call of Duty games. Now only if I can get paid for that.

Categories : The Army Series