So we completed our Guards Conversion Course at the same time where the men of 3rd Battalion Singapore Guards 10thMono Intake ended their Basic Military Training (BMT). 

The BMT that they went through were the same as the BMT that I went through and mentioned in my earlier post. The only difference was that theirs was in Bedok Camp instead of Pulau Tekong. Their BMT trainers were from Tekong and they had their best times training recruits on mainland.

Now that they have completed their BMT, we would take over the BMT trainers as their commanders. I was assigned as a section commander for Charlie Company Platoon 8 Section 2. Apparently the syndicates that we were assigned to during GCC was according to our would be company attachments. Syndicate 1 would be attached to Alpha Company, Syndicate 2 to Bravo Company, Syndicate 3 to Charlie and Syndicate 4 to Support Company.

Honestly, I didn't particularly enjoy this period of my army life. It was like, no more school. No more courses. No more anyone else to cover us. Work begins now. No more trial and error. An error means an error. No resets, no trials. 

Honestly too, I was still hoping to be posted out to a non combat unit. Yes I do enjoy the knowledge learnt, the weapons used, the warfare tactics, but... I am not physically fit. I always struggled and had to play catch up to the standard physical fitness and it was very tiring and depressing. There wasn't much regimentation to be uncomfortable about now as we were in an actual combat unit now and not in a school. But I still wanted out. I wanted to go to a unit where I can book out more often. The idea of staying in camp for 5 and a half days a week for the next almost 2 years was very disheartening. Not to mention that there would definitely be moments that we had to go overseas or doing weekend duties in camp. 

Anyway, they said that in the army, we have no choice. “Lan lan”. “Suck thumb”. 

So Advance Infantry Training begins. 

Basically now we had to train the men under us to the skills that we learnt during Guards Conversion Course. We had to teach them rappeling, train them for 10km runs, teach them how to use the section weapons, the section standard operating procedures, the mission techniques and everything else for them to know as a combat soldier.

There was the coastal swim that we didn't do during GCC. We have to do it this time with everyone together. 

I think it was a 4 weeks training and just like us, once they completed the course, they would graduate as Guardsmen. 

I can still feel the dread as I type this. I am not as enthusiastic as when I wrote the other posts. 

The men graduated and then got their khaki berets and shoulder guards tab. When everything was over, basic training was over. Moving on from this Advanced Infantry Training, it would just be tactical training day in day out. As a platoon or a company or as a battalion. On top of that, physical training continues. IPPT, SOC, swimming, target firing, etc. Same old stuff over and over again to maintain proficiency and readiness.

​This post would be the last post for me to write in chronological order. From next week onwards, the posts in this series would be in topics. Well it would still be in some form of chronological order all the way to our ORD date. But do look forward for the parts and more interesting topics coming up. 

I just had to get this AIT over and done with.

NEXT WEEK : OUR COOL WEAPONS

Categories : The Army Series

​Hello mainland! I am back! I was so happy to be back on the mainland that I didn't mind at all to be posted to 3rd Guards. Whatever. Wherever. As long as I'm back. Tekong was depressing. Well at least Tekong has mobile coverage now and the recruits there can bring their handphones. So you see, it should be much better now. And you see why I am writing this series? Because it is so much different now and what we went through then, would just be a myth if we are to tell these experiences to anyone now and in the future.

​Circa March 2001. Bedok Camp 2. Home of the 3rd Battalion Singapore Guards. About 80 of us who have just graduated from School of Infantry Specialist (SISPEC) 17th Advanced Section Leader Course (ASLC), stepped foot into the camp. It was spanking new. We would be attached to the 10th Mono intake of recruits who were at that time undergoing their Basic Military Training. Once they complete their BMT, we would also complete or Guards Conversion Course and will be assigned as their leaders. See, it was all planned and set up. Anyway, the camp was spanking new. The previous batch, ie. the 9th Mono Intake started their service in Kranji Camp. Halfway through their service, they shifted to Bedok Camp. When they completed their service, 10th Mono took over. So the camp would most probably be about only a year old. Compared to old army camps that you can imagine, this place is like a heaven to stay for the next 1 year 9 months. With new blocks, beds, toilets, facilities, etc. The guys from 3rd SIR across the field could only watch in envy. 

We were then separated into 4 groups of about 20 persons each group which were called “syndicates”. They had fancy names then. A “syndicate” means a group or section. The trainers were called “cadre”s. I was grouped in syndicate 3. 

Our Guards Conversion Course would last 4 weeks. There is an online video series if you google Guards Conversion Course. It is not exactly what we went through but it was somewhat similar. So maybe you can have a look at the videos. As for me, I only have diminishing memories in my head as we didn't have digital cameras then. Interesting thing about our course then was, it was the first time for the formation to experiment a “Gentlemen's Course”. Supposedly they were going to treat us trainees as “gentlemen” instead of the usual dreaded “tekan” course. Well, after SISPEC, I guess this was a nice change and welcome. Maybe this Guards Conversion Course (GCC) won't be so torturous after all. 

There were a number of requirements for us to complete in order to graduate from this course. If I'm not wrong, they were

10km run within 50 minutes.
Helicopter, tower and cliff rappel.
2km Coastal Swim
Guards Assault Course
Summary Exercise

For administrative or logistical reasons, we would not complete the coastal swim during the course but we would do it later in the year together with our men from 10th mono intake. 

We were welcomed by HQ company sergeant major, Staff Sergeant Saygar. He had this distinctive way of walking and talking. Numerous badges on his uniform. A commando and a guardsman. Cool character. We all had a kick of imitating him and apparently I was the only person who could imitate him as close as possible. 

As mentioned, we would be there for 4 weeks. It was still a 5 and a half day work week then, meaning we would book out on Saturdays and book in every Sunday evenings. Even though I could only see civilisation for 1 and a half days a week, at least we were on mainland. A public bus stop just outside the gates. 

Staff Saygar said that, not only would this be a “Gentlemen's Course” (his favourite phrase was “all of you are all commanders level”) we could also come to camp in bermudas and sandals. That was kind of cool. Polo T, bermudas and sandals to book in. Unlike other army camps in Singapore. We were also told to bring sporty shades for training. Bedok camp was by the sea so to us, it kind of had the beach camp vibes. A few days later, they even set up a small “shop” with retailers from ASICS and Oakley to sell us running shoes and sport shades at a heavily discounted price. Yeah it was kind of cool.

So 1st requirement. To complete a 10 kilometres run within 50 minutes. We went through a number of running training before we had to go through this test. As Bedok Camp was just beside East Coast Park, our running training was held there. So if you were there at that time, you would see these boys, running bare bodied in running shorts, Asics shoes and Oakley shades. Either running at our own pace or as a large group. Quite a cool image. Not only it was for the image, but it actually brought the soldiers' morale up. We had pride in our training and of course none of us would want to look like weaklings running in public. I still hate running though.

Anyway me and a couple of others could never meet the timing of 50 minutes. Tried as hard as we might, I just couldn't clock below 50 minutes. My buddy, Nurizam, even piggy backed me for hundreds of metres just so I can catch my breath while gaining ground but I still could not make it. I think my fastest time was 50 minutes 20 seconds. Irritating I know. Yes for the whole of my full time NS life, I never gotten below 50 minutes. In a sense, I failed the commanders test of 50 minutes but I completed the course as Guardsman because the time set for the other soldiers was 60 minutes. So because of this, I served my vocation in a Guards unit but I only got my khaki beret and shoulder guards tab a year later after the unit turned operational.
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​I was looking forward for this. What made me excited to be in the Guards unit is that I will get opportunities to do rappeling. One of the officers said that Guards units are either seaborne or airborne and it depends on your intake. Luckily for us, ours was the airborne intake. The next batch will be the seaborne intake. I'd rather be in a helicopter than on the RPL in the sea. 

In GCC we were trained in 3 situations of rappeling. One was tower rappel where we already tried in SISPEC. But here we learnt different styles (we called it stunts). There was the normal tower rappel meaning we go down the tower backwards facing the wall, there was the Australian rappel where we would go down face first. There was also the inverted rappel where we go down head first. 

The other was the cliff rappel which had the normal rappel and Australian rappel. Additional stunts were the hasty rappeling. It is the kind where we didn't have carabiner to coil our ropes. It was just ourselves and a rope and we go down the cliff sideways. We also had a buddy rappel where we piggy back a buddy (as if they are casualties) and we rappel down with him. The cliff rappel lessons were done on this cliff in Changi. 

During my first hasty rappel attempt, which was scary as we didn't have a carabiner to coil our ropes, I kind of panicked and lost my footing and posture. I held on to the rope for my dear life midway down the cliff and was hanging there facing the cliff with my feet dangling downwards. I didn't know what to do. Our Regimental Sergeant Major, Warrant Siva, shouted from below asking me to get my posture right and be brave. But I kept hanging there. He laughed via the loud hailer and kept shouting, “Faster get your footing la! You want to hang there for how long?! Macam cicak la!!” I finally got my footing and rappeled down. He laughed when I was at the bottom, saying I looked like a cicak (gecko). From that day onwards until the end of my NS days, he called me Anwar Cicak Man. This was in 2001. Way before the CicakMan movie in 2006 that was acted by Saiful Apek. Coincidentally a doppelganger.

Last one was the most exciting. A heli rappel. We would rappel down a Super Puma helicopter in groups of 4. Go google “Guards Heli Rappel” and you would see what I mean. The helicopter would hover 90 feet in the air as the ropes were only 100 feet long. 100 feet up in a helicopter at Sembawang Air Base, I could see my block of flats before rappeling down.

​Honestly I cannot remember anything about this. Basically it is a series of obstacle course that you have to clear in a group within a stipulated time. Along the way, you will be posed with challenges by the cadre. Those OBS camp kind of stuff.
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I cannot remember this one either. But a quick google search says that it is 10 kilometres long. I cannot remember what was the timing that we had to meet. Though I think I kind of remember the abrasions and blisters on our feet, groins and armpits.
​

Last was the Summary Exercise (SUMMEX). I think it was 5 days in Tekong. Yes. Back to Tekong. Again I cannot remember much as it was very fast. I can only remember it was mission after mission and we had minimal sleep so it was pretty much zombie and survival mode. I remember it was tough and pretty brutal. So much so I cannot mention them here. I hope I can remember if any of you were to ask me personally and verbally. But yes it was tough and quite brutal. 

One experience that I can share would be this. 

There was one mission where a group of us in our syndicate, I think about 10 of us. We were on one side of Pulau Tekong and we were supposed to do a reconnaissance mission. So the 10 of us walked quietly in the middle of the night, I think it was like 12 am, in our full battle order, to spy and gather information on an enemy base located at the other end of Pulau Tekong. It was roughly 5 kilometres away. 

The mission was simple, walk 5km, gather information of the enemy base, walk back 5km to our base. It was a slow walk though, with the loads on our back and the quiet tactical walk in the night. 

After we successfully gathered the information, we walked back. A few hundred metres on our way back, we were told that we were ambushed. Thunderflashes and gunshots exploded around us. Until now I don't know whether it was the enemy who ambushed us or the cadres giving us a hard time. But anyway the whole thing was a simulation and we had to comply regardless. 

So we ran as hard as we could as a recce mission team were not allowed to engage in fire fights. We ran. As we ran, the cadre would shout out casualty and one of us would be “shot down”. We then had to carry them while we run. 

We kept on running. More and more of our groupmates were declared casualties. I remember this very clearly. Out of 10, 7 were declared casualty. So 3 of us had to carry 7 of our mates. The 3 of us were me, Fardlie and Hamdan. 3 skinny fellas. Since we could not sprint anymore, we had to do front and rear cover. Meaning, I would run 100 metres forward and point my gun forward as a security. Hamdan had to cover our rear as Fardlie dragged 7 men to my position. Fardlie would then become the rear guard at my position. Hamdan then would run 200 metres and overtake me by 100 metres to be the front cover and I would drag the 7 bodies to Hamdan's position. And we took turns. 

I remember we had about 4 more kilometres to do this process. It was about 3am. We had to be back by 4am to relay the information we gathered to our base so that we can prepare for a 6am dawn attack. I don't know if you can imagine this torture. Just imagine 3 boys dragging 7 fully loaded soldiers for a good 2 kilometres. 

At one point, we were so tired. We knew we cannot make it back in time. Fardlie Hamdan and I just laid down on the ground beside each other. We were done. We cannot make it. Our Cadre, Sergeant Khartik was screaming at us to get up. He gave the simulated threats like we were going to die, our mission will fail, our base will be destroyed, the enemy is going to make us Prisoners of War, etc. But we didn't move. He then moved on to real threats like we are going to be charged and confined for insurbodination and ignoring orders. The 3 of us just looked at each other on the ground. We were ready to be charged. We could not carry 7 bodies for another 3 kilometres like this. We just didn't move. 

Sergeant Khartik was a fierce soldier. We were all afraid of him. I think it was just there and then, he told us, he would recover all soldiers, provided we can sprint back to base by 4am. And he did. And so did we. We all got up and sprint our hearts out. 

Yes. Things like that. It was tiring. On our last mission, we had to fast march to Tekong Jetty while being “chased” by the enemy. Susceptible to random ambush and artillery attacks. We had to carry casualties and did front and rear cover and the basic routines. It was tough. Very tough. 

One of the cadre, I don't know who, shouted at us and said, “The moment you reach the jetty, your mission will end! Endure and carry on! Once you reach the jetty you will be guardsmen and all guardsmen will have a glow in their eyes! Earn that glow!”

It sounded cheesy. We thought it was cheesy too. We just continued with our mission. 

We reached the jetty and we were allowed to stop being tactical and have our rest. They declared that SUMMEX was over. We cheered wearily and congratulated each other. That's where we saw the truth in the cadre's words. I kid you not. I saw literal glows in everyone of our eyes. We couldn't believe our eyes too (pun intended). Yes all our eyes were glowing. I saw it myself. I even asked my mates, “are my eyes glowing too?” They said yes. I remember this image until today. It was cool. Really. Many many years later when google came about, I found out it that our eyes dilated due to lack of sleep and hydration causing the glow effect.
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Not everything was torturous in the course. There were some fun moments too especially because it was a “Gentlemen's Course”. Our morale was quite ok throughout the course. I remember this particularly one incident. 

Remember I said that I was the only one who could imitate Staff Saygar closely? There was another guy who could imitate an officer. I forgot his name and also the officer's name. Let's just say that the guy's name is Tan and the officer is S1. 

One night while we were in a firing range, we were all sitting and chatting in pitch dark in the middle of the range while waiting for instructions. It was high morale and chatty and all. It was really pitch dark and all that we could see was the night sky. To move around, we had to look up and take references from our friends' silhouettes. So Tan and I walked to the edge of the group and sat down quietly. We waited a few minutes to blend in the dark. Everyone was still chatting. And then Tan and I imitated S1 and Staff Saygar.

Tan: So Saygar.... how was the range today?

Me: All ok sir. So far all ok. They all commanders level they all should know.

Tan: Any problems for the night range? Why is there a delay?

Me: We are waiting for instructions sir. But so far all ok sir. 

Everyone just became quiet. Silent. They didn't expect Staff Saygar and S1 to be there. It was really quiet until Tan laughed out loud.

Tan: Aaaaahhh!!! You all scared right??!!!!

They all then realised it was Tan and me and we all had a good laugh.

And then also my syndicate 3 got a confinement on the last weekend of the course because we left a night vision goggle in Tekong during the summary exercise. But being sergeants, we now were allowed to use the Specialists Mess. A place where there was food, aircon, TV, pool table, darts, board games and such. So it wasn't really a terrible confinement. 

All of us graduated from the GCC happily. It was a tough yet fun course. Thanks to the Gentlemen's Course idea. I don't know if there are anymore Gentlemen's Course after that but we were lucky to be in one. Almost all of us got our khaki beret and guards shoulder tab except me and a few other who have yet to complete the 10km below 50 minutes run. As mentioned, I never passed that run until today. I was kind of hoping that they would kick me out from the unit and send me to a less tough vocation but it never happened. 

As we completed our GCC, the men from 10th Mono Intake completed their BMT as well. A good weekend bookout and when we come back next week, we would be assigned to our companies and men where we would then train them to become Guardsmen in what is called the “Advance Infantry Training” or AIT.

NEXT WEEK : Advanced Infantry Training

Categories : THE ARMY SERIES

Every time I hear the word “Passing Out Parade”, I will have people passing out in my head. I will imagine people fainting with a fanfare. 

There was one parade sometime during BSLC, which I cannot remember what it was for, there were a number of trainee from my company who fell out or pass out during the long stand in the parade square. I remember that I didn't fall out and completed the whole parade but I cannot remember how long we stood there that was probably long enough for people to pass out. 

There were a lot of casualties from my company that day and we got quite a scolding from a lot of people. I remember that the scoldings were harsh. Then the last person who talked to us was our Company 2IC whose name was Warrant Estrop. He was a cool guy. The only commando in our batch at that time. Initially he said nicely to us saying that he wouldn't scold us after all the scolding we got. I cannot remember what he said. I only remember the last part. He said something like, “You all can only improve from now on. Because you cannot get any worse.” I laughed a bit under my breath when he said that.

​Anyway, we are going to have our 17th ASLC Passing Out Parade. A parade that marked the end of our training in SISPEC. On this day, those who somehow excelled would get their silver bayonet and the best trainee will get his golden bayonet. I didn't bother to “work hard” to get the bayonets. I just wanted to get this course over and done with and move on nearer to end the army. We all would get our “3 stripes” anyway. On this day we would be given the 3 striped chevron and pass out with a rank of 3rd sergeants. 

I think I mentioned this before in my BMTC post. I told my Platoon Commander in SISPEC that I wanted to be posted back to BMTC. Personally it was because I bear some kind of grudge with my BMT sergeants and Physical Training Instructors and I wanted to get back there and show them that we are of the same rank now and I cannot be your pushover anymore. But my PC told me that the people who were sent to BMTC are there because of a reason. (I cannot say the reasons here. It could be a personal reason. I don't know. But it made sense.) He said I will never be sent to BMTC. “You are fully trained here in SISPEC. With all the training that makes you a leader of men in the battlefield, why would I send you to someplace to teach people how to tie shoelaces?” That was just a part of it. I cannot say more. But yes it made sense.

Unlike in BMTC where we were told of our posting results after the parade, here we were told of our posting results a few days before the parade. I realise that it was all already planned. This 17th ASLC was a Guards batch. And these people who came to this 17th ASLC were from the Advanced PTP and BMT batch. Not everyone but most of us. It's like 60% from BMT went to SISPEC BSLC. 70% goes on to ASLC. And about 80% of us who graduated from this ASLC were posted to 3rd Battalion Singapore Guards 10th Mono Intake. So we would see each other again after all.

​It was a normal parade with just 2 companies. Alpha and Bravo company. Nothing special. Nothing as exciting as BMTC pass out parade. Though on hindsight, I don't see what the hype is about for a BMT passing out parade. 

Anyway I like our uniforms. They were old school starched and waxed and stiff. I don't know if the army does this kind of regimentation anymore. I heard that boots don't have to be shiny anymore now. So it was kind of an experience. The last few batches of the 2nd generation army experience. 

After the parade, our parents or guest would come down and remove the corporal rank from our shoulders and attach the 3rd sergeant rank. I still think the chevrons on the shoulders look cooler than on the chest like now. It felt old school. It felt like the army we knew.

​Anyway the parade ended quickly because there were only 2 companies. We will see most of us in the next vocation anyway. Just a few days break and we will check in into our new camp that we will stay in for the next 1 year 9 months. Yes. My army term was 2 and a half years. My unit vocation last as long as a current soldier's full NS term.

​I was quite happy to be posted to 3rd Guards though I have heard about how tough it is going to be. But at that time I couldn't care much. How much worse can it get? I was just looking forward to check in to the 3rd Guards camp. At that time it was a new building and we would be only the 2nd batch to use the new building. So it was quite new and nice. And also, it is located at Bedok. 

That was my motivation. I'll be back on to the mainland. Goodbye Pulau Tekong. Thank you for the past 9 months. Good riddance.

NEXT WEEK : Guards Conversion Course

Up till today I have no idea what is the right meaning of R & R. Some say “Rest and Relax”. Some say “Rest and Recreation”. Some say “Rest and Recuperate”. So which one is it? 

This one will be a relatively short post too. My memory is failing me and this R&R was 20 plus years ago at the moment I am writing this. Luckily I have photos so it kind of reminded me of a number of things. The importance of photos. 

22 February 2001

Sleepy morning yet very exciting. We are finally done with training and we are going for our well deserved R&R. If you know me, I personally dislike travelling and being in foreign place even though it is supposed to be fun. I'd rather be at home where I know my administrative matters are safe. Nevertheless, we were all looking forward for R&R and get back to civilisation.

Unlike most batches, we had our R&R in Taipei. Most batches and even people I knew who went to SISPEC had their R&R at Kaohsiung. I felt lucky. It would be a 4 days R&R. 2 days of educational tour and 2 days free and easy. Not bad. It was like a 4 days holiday package.

I also noticed something on the first day of R&R. Remember I told you that it was winter and the skies were always gray? On this day, the sun actually came out. It was the beginning of spring and I could really see sun rays and tiny flowers blooming here and there. 

We rode the bus out of Puwei Camp never for me to see it again (even until today via Google Earth) and travelled up north to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. Interestingly we rode past the same route for our exercises, only this time on buses. We can see the roads clearly now. The bridges, rivers, buildings, the training area and of course the pinang girls. I also noticed that many shops were still closed. A friend told me that in Singapore, Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days but here in Taiwan, it is a month long.

I cannot remember where we went after that. I could only remember it was 2 days of tour. It was free and easy after dinner but I cannot remember anything during the free and easy parts for the 2 days. 

As for the tours, it was fun. We went to maybe 3 theme parks, a museum, a dam and some sight seeing places. I enjoyed the theme park though I didn't ride many things there. I have never been a fan of thrill rides. But I particularly liked the theme parks because I have never been to theme parks that really had “themes”. Only then I could see the meaning of “Theme Parks”. If only we had digital cameras back then, I would have taken a lot of photos. I only had a film roll of 36 exposures for the R&R.

We were housed in a proper commercial hotel in the city centre. Still I do not know where and I cannot look it up. (These things actually frustrates me). The maps I had then were all in Mandarin. I cannot remember the name of the hotel and where it was located. But it was a proper hotel and I liked it. It was in the city area so after dinner when we had our own time, we could walk around the area. 

We were given a card each with the address of our hotel in case we got lost and need to ask for directions back. We were also told to never mention that our hotel had a 7-11 convenient store on the ground floor if we ever wanted to use 7-11 as point of reference just like we do in Singapore. This is because, the number of 7-11 stores there then were a lot! It was like 7-11 everywhere at every turn and at every building. 

The 2 days of “Free and Easy” were spent walking around the city. 

The public buses there were cool to us then. It was like totally opposite from Singapore's public bus system which we found really cool. Taiwan is a left hand drive system meaning the vehicles move on the right side of the road. The driver is on the left of the vehicle. The bus doors were on the right of the vehicle. The bus stops were in the middle of the road instead of the side. We board the bus from the rear door instead of the front. We paid our fares when we alighted from the front door instead of when we board. Cool right? At that time we joked that we were in a dream and that we entered a mirror and were now on the other side of the mirror where everything was reversed.

The people were nice. The ladies were pretty (to me). The most interesting thing (at that time) was the ladies had a liking to dark skinned males. Which was understandable. They didn't see us much at that time as there were not much internet coverage then or smart phones. It was really fun walking along the roads and paths to have this feeling of the pretty ladies turning their heads and smiling at these dark skinned Malay boys. That was when I had this thought in my head. If I am not to be appreciated in Singapore, I am so going to migrate to Taipei. 

There were also a lot of night markets in Taipei. One of the bigger ones was Shihlin Night Market. (Many years later we started seeing stalls named Shihlin Taiwan Snacks in Singapore.) Just a normal night market but it was huge compared to Sungei Road and Bugis Village and pop-up Pasar Malam. It was really fun. There were really a lot of snacks. My friends challenged each other to eat the “Smelly Tofu”. I could not bring myself to try it and also I was not sure if it was prepared in a halal way. There were also a lot of cold tea stalls too. That I tried. Flavoured tea we have never heard before. We all bought different flavours and tried each other's tea. At that time we have never seen anything like that before. It was after a few months later in mid 2001, the first Taiwanese bubble tea fad reached Singapore.

It was pretty enjoyable but I cannot remember much as my mind was already home. Like I said, I prefer to be home. Not because I love home but because I prefer if my administrative matters are routined and safer.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures in this relatively short post.

NEXT WEEK : Passing Out Parade and Vocation Assignment

This is going to be a pretty short post. Simply because I cannot remember much about the event. Why? Because it is about Exercise Warrior. One of the dreaded exercise in SAF among many others. 

Exercise Warrior was (I think it's shorter now.) a 9 day mission exercise. 9 days in the jungle. Something that none of us has ever been through. Imagine 9 days with minimal rest, mission after mission on Taiwanese terrain. It is already hard to survive 5 days of office hour work, that too with proper 8 hours sleep every night yet by Wednesday we will already be dreading the week. This is 9 days doing something we were trained to do but not something that comes naturally in our daily civilian life. Somewhere between the 4th day, my mind and body was already on auto-pilot mode and I could not remember anything. It was just, weary bodies, sleepy eyes and brains going on auto-pilot, mission after mission.

It was particularly dreading because army missions are confusing to me. They try to make it as systematic as possible but the terrain, time and fatigue always make it difficult. And also, the idea of 9 days in the jungle. 9 days of combat ration. I wonder how we were going to clear our bowels.

But... but.... on the 4th or 5th day, we would be having a “technical break”. So I guess, that was something we could all look forward to. More on the “technical break” later in this post. 

Day 1, we moved off to the training area sometime after lunch. Well technically that was already half day gone so I was grateful. I was assigned to be the section commander for the first mission. Honestly I didn't know that the “mission” has already started once we moved off from camp. 

We reached the training area in the late afternoon and our platoon proceeded to “harbour” in a particular area. Harbour means, we will settle at the area for the night with routine alert and sentry duties, protecting the area and protecting ourselves. We were all positioned by our platoon commander and my position overlooked a hill slope with a wonderful view of the mountains. We were all assigned individual positions quite a distant from the next man. So we were pretty much alone the whole night. 

Yes, a whole night alone in the cold winter Taiwan hills. I had my jacket and gloves on, blanketing myself with my sleeping bag but it was really cold. It wasn't freezing cold but cold enough for a boy from the tropics. Sometime around midnight, our platoon sergeant walked to everyone of us individually to check that we were all ok and reminded us to keep warm. He told us that it is very important because somehow, that night, the weather was colder than normal. It was 9 degrees celsius. 

I couldn't take it but I endured. Then I remembered, I brought this ointment from home. It was called “Minyak Hijau” or green oil. It's an ointment for muscle aches but I remember at that time maybe I can use it because it gives off a heaty effect. Like tiger balm oil or salonpas. But much hotter.

So in the dark, in the cold, I looked for the oil. I took off my jacket, unbuttoned my shirt and pants so that I can apply the ointment on my body and especially legs. Unscrewed the bottle and then there was this rubber stopper beneath the cap. It is especially hard to dislodge that rubber cap when it is a new bottle. So I tried and tried, getting colder as I took more time. And then..... it came off with a pop and I spilled the oil onto my stomach, groin and legs. I looked in horror as half of the bottle has spilt. At first it was a horror of wastage, and then it was a horror of the heat creeping in. 5 minutes ago I was shivering in the cold. Now I was biting my lips and clenching my teeth to fight the heat. It was funny as since I was alone, I took off my uniform and lowered my pants to allow the cold Taiwan night weather to cool me down. Somehow it tire me out and i put my clothes, and jacket on and fell asleep all the way till morning when someone woke me up. They told me there was an earthquake that night and I slept through it. I was quite disappointed not to be able to feel and experience the quake. 

Next morning, we moved off for our first attack. As I said before, I thought the mission started then. We will have a briefing and all. But no, the mission started when we moved off from camp. None of my section mates know our roles or tactics because I didn't brief them. I really thought we were going to do it then. My PC was very angry and we got scared. I told him I will brief them along the go. Shitty thing was, my section was the point section meaning I had to lead the whole platoon to the assault area. It was very stressful navigating the walk that I didn't plan for. I will not forget this. It was very very stressful. It's not like we were walking along a Singapore's nature reserve park connector. This was in a foreign country and I had no idea where we were and where we were going. 

Maybe it was the stress of walking up and down the line of soldiers briefing them on their tasks yet at the same time navigating the route, my legs failed for the first (luckily the only) time in my life. I could still walk but somehow I could not climb. Every slope, my legs just could not push my body up. It was a strange feeling not to be able to feel your legs pushing you uphill. I kept falling and dropping that the people behind me had to push me up every time. It was weird because I knew my body was not tired (yet). I just could not feel my legs. 

Anyway the mission went on and we completed it. I was screaming orders to my men during the attack and the reorganisation after the attack. My PC said I was a “garang” commander. But really in my head then was, I was tired pulling my legs along the walk and I wanted to get this mission over and done with. I had no sense of belonging towards the mission at all. It was just fatigue and please get it done as soon as possible. That was my only mission as a section commander for Exercise Warrior because everyone of us will take turn to lead a mission each. I guess, leading the first mission would be better than the last mission.

After that, it was all blank. Auto-pilot. 

I actually took like a 30 minutes break after the last sentence to see if I can remember anything. Yup. Nothing. It was all blank. 

And then on the 4th day, we had a “technical break”.

A technical break in the army is when all of us have a real break. A tactical break means we will all still be in soldier mode with routined sentry and watch duties while others take a break. But a technical break means we don't have to be in tactical mode at all.

So it was a half day technical break. Something that we all looked forward to. On this day we changed our clothes, had powder baths, cleaned the camo from our faces. Some brought facial wash. Best thing was, we had packed meals. Though it was still camp food, but it was still nice fresh cooked meals. We had fruits and some chocolates. And also, we were told that the exercise will be cut short from 9 days to 8 days. Just one day but it was good enough for us. I cannot remember why though. I heard it was due to some typhoon warning or earthquake or just simply administrative matters.

We also took this time to rest our legs, chatted, a short nap and took photos.

We rested for half a day at this place. It was an orange plantation with some bamboo vegetation. We have no idea who the owner of the plantation is. When we came to the place, the trees were full of oranges. But when we left...... I don't think I can say much but technical break had sweet memories. 

After that, it was blank again. I cannot remember anything. I do remember some faces in my head though. Exercise Warrior was the last exercise of our stint in SISPEC. This was the final opportunity for people to “shine and show their potential”. At the end the whole course, there will be a presentation to the outstanding trainee. Notable trainee will be given the “Silver Bayonet Award” while the top trainee will be given the “Gold Bayonet”. Personally I did not bother about all these. I just want to get NS done quickly without any baggages or extra duties. But there were people who were really into this and tried very hard to impress. It was so weird. The “wayang” was too obvious that it became quite yucky to see. But that's how things work in this world right?

And that is all that I can remember. I don't even remember when we got back to Puwei Camp or what we did. I guess it was all administrative stuff. Clean up and rest and more cleaning and getting ready to leave the camp. Oh now that I said it, I remember people buying street food from vendors outside the camp. It was funny. They couldn't see the vendors behind the wall. But they just shout out the order. In Mandarin. Then they would throw the money over the wall which was about only 3 metres high and the vendor would then throw the food over the wall to the guy within the camp walls. I don't know what they ordered. Looked like some fried snacks. 

Yes that is pretty much it. 

Next week : R & R

​

First exercise in Taiwan. Navigation exercise called Exercise Longstride. 

I googled about it recently and it is said that it is a 3 days 2 nights exercise. Though I don't remember the exact days and dates, I don't remember it being that short. Mine was 5 days 4 night. Or rather it was 4.5 days with the 5th day being a half day. Maybe I got it wrong but I really don't remember it being a short 3 days.

Early morning and we took a truck to the navigation area. We took a truck that was called a 2 and half tonner. It was just slightly smaller than a 3 tonne truck in Singapore. The 3 tonner is already phased out by the current bigger 5 tonner.

We already have the map of the navigation area. It was a topographical map so there weren't much civilian details on the map. But it was good enough for us to navigate. What annoyed me was, I still had no idea where our PuWei camp was. My PC just said that Taiwan is very big. He pointed the navigation area map to us and said our camp is “down here”. He pointed his finger into the air below the map. 

The truck moved on as I looked at the Taiwanese countryside. I was apprehensive and worried and already missing home. Most of us were excited when we passed by booths that sells betel leaves and nuts. There were ladies in sexy attire sitting in the booths selling them. I was told that Taiwanese like to chew on betel nuts and leaves and these booths are by the roadside to be sold to drivers on long drives. These ladies were called “Pinang Girls”. Then I realised that Pinang is also the Malay word for betel. Sorry no photos of these ladies. You can google. I just did as I typed this to see whether they are still around.

We reached the starting point. It was quite a sight. We were surrounded by mountains. Well technically they were hills but for us they were all higher than Bukit Timah so we called them mountains. 

From the starting point, we had to look for our checkpoints which will slowly lead us back to the end point of the exercise and we have to reach it within 4 and a half days. We were all separated into groups of 4 and all groups had different checkpoint allocations. We might bump into each other but no 2 groups will have the same order of checkpoints. Warrant Sim (if you remember me mentioning him in the earlier post) said, “head to the big Buddha”. The big Buddha will be near or endpoint. But he said it in an almost literal and spiritual manner as we separated and dispersed into the forest. Cool. 

The walk was scary as we trudged along an unknown forest. We are not talking about Singapore nature reserves where we are bound to hit some roads or civilisations. This is a foreign forest to us. But we soon found the pattern of the forest. We try to walk along the ridges of the mountains and skirt along plantations so that we will feel safer in case we get lost. There were also tracks along the higher ridges compared to the lower ground. Apparently the locals like to set up their plantations on higher ground. The forest were also less dense than our tropical rainforest and it was easier to walk through. Once we reached higher ground, we realise it wasn't as scary as we thought. There were a lot of plantations and tracks. Most of them oranges and betel plantations. Once in a while we will spot tea plantations. The view was also nicer on high ground where the hills looked less imposing and more scenic.

A day's adventure soon came to end. Night fell and we had to look for a place to spend the night. We all had sleeping bags with us and we can sleep anywhere in the forests but it was cold. We had parka jackets too. We tried resting on the mountain ridge but most of it were to narrow. They were so narrow like a one man's width and we had to walk in a line with steep slopes on both sides. (There was once when all 4 of us slipped down a a steep slope and we slid down unable to stop all the way down to the bottom. We tried grabbing onto vines and roots and branches and tree trunks but we couldn't. So you can imagine how steep it was. We only stopped when we were at the bottom and we had to climb up again.) Plus it was really cold at night. We tried to rest on the slopes but they were to steep. It was really a long walk just to find a suitable place to rest for the night. I remember this. It was quite stressful as it was dark and cold. Legs weary and eyes sleepy.

Then, we saw a shed. It was like those farm sheds. We went to have a look. There was no one there. We wondered if the owner would find us and charge us for trespassing. We thought for a while and decided to give it a rest. If the owner comes, we will just leave. At least we have a few hours away from the cold.

It was a peaceful sleep and no one disturbed us. We woke up in the morning feeling refreshed and moved on with our walk. When the light came in the morning, we found out that the shed was used to store oranges. We never felt so tempted to eat oranges before until that day. I myself am not a fan of oranges. But we respected the place and its owner for providing us shelter so we left the place as it is.

The day moved on pretty much like the day before. Once in a while we will bump into other groups and we exchanged information. We completed our checkpoints and looked for a place to sleep that night. With the previous night's experience, we looked for a similar shed. We kind of know how the terrain is like by now and which areas might have plantations and sheds. 

Day 3 was the same too. More walks. On this day, on one of the mountains, we saw the big Buddha in the distance. We were happy and were very sure that we will reach the end point before day 5.

As we headed southwards towards the end point, we noticed even more "civilisation". There were more houses, buildings, sheds and roads. 

One moment that I cannot forget is; we were bashing through the trees and we heard sounds like some music and chant. That part of the forest was dense so we couldn't make out how far that sound was. We just continued walking and at this particular part, we bashed through some dense trees and it opened like a curtain where we faced a clearing. There was where the music and chant came from. We came head on to a burial ceremony and the grave hole was just behind the “curtain” tree. The group mate who was in front almost fell into the freshly dug hole. I kid you not. We were really facing it. We were shocked, the funeral procession was shocked to see us appearing behind the trees. They stopped playing and looked at us. It was awkward. Especially when they were literally lowering the coffin into the grave. Thinking back now, it was funny. We apologised, skirted around the grave hole and walked while this procession and grieving family members just stopped their business (including crying) and looked at us in silence as we walked away.

That night as we looked for a place to sleep again, we walked through a village. This time it wasn't just a plantation but a real village with people. The children called us “Ah Ping Ke” as we walked past their homes. Some of the residents even invited us to spend the night at their houses. It was a nice gesture but we were told to not accept their offer. 

One group walked past us and said they were from a house who served them grilled duck. They said another group is in one of the house to spend the night. How true were these. I have no idea. 

By now, we were “experienced” enough to locate sheds to sleep in.

Day 4. We completed our checkpoints just before noon. The endpoint was nearby and we were at the big buddha already. There were a set of time for the trucks to ferry us back to camp. Maybe about 3 trips a day. Something like one in the morning, noon and late afternoon. We definitely could catch the noon ferry but we decided to rest and soak the atmosphere a bit more. Plus we knew that if we were to be back in camp before night time, we would not be able to rest. Surely we would be asked to do “Sai Kang” (Literally means shit hole. In the army, sai kang means labour work that everyone dread. Like clean toilets or wash jerry cans or carry things or whatever.)

So we found a good spot where we rested and enjoyed the cool afternoon in the forest. We deserve that rest. Late afternoon, we walked down the slope to the end point where we boarded the 2.5 tonner back to camp.

What started out with apprehension and worry turned out to be one of my most fun life experience ever. 4 days in a foreign forest. 3 nights in the cold. Beautiful views, nice people. It felt like a 4 day hiking trip. But then it was tiring and we also looked forward to be back in camp to have a good shower, cooked food and sleep in our bunks.

​NEXT WEEK : Exercise Warrior

Hello. In view of celebrating my enlistment anniversary on the 13th of June, I think it would be a good time to start blogging again. I have kind of settled down and adapt to this pandemic period and I have given up looking for a job so I guess I have more reasons to post regularly. I am planning to post an entry every Saturday morning so it can be something that you look forward to every weekend.

The last post was about my adventures at SISPEC ASLC. I promised to post on Taiwan next. Here it is. Have fun reading!

February 2001. It was winter in the northern hemisphere. It was also my first long flight out of Singapore. I cannot remember the time and date but it was at night when we checked in at Changi Airport. I was excited yet very apprehensive. I have never been away that far and that long in my life before. 4 hours on an SQ flight to Kaohsiung, Taiwan for exercise “Starlight”.

​When we arrived, it was already morning. I am slowly forgetting these memories so bear with me with all these estimations. I was very sure there was already daylight. 
​
We were told that all other Starlight participants will always alight at Kaohsiung and then head to this camp called Heng Chun Camp. But we are the lucky batch to go to a different camp. How lucky were we? I had no idea. We were told that we will be going to Puwei camp which I had no idea where. There weren't internet then and there and I really could not do any search or obtain any information. I was just following wherever they brought us to with no idea where we were and where we were going. Until today, I have no idea where Puwei camp is and where it is on Google Earth.

​The travelling time to Puwei camp is supposedly longer than to Heng Chun camp. We took a bus and even had lunch along the way. 1st meal in Taiwan. Me being picky, I really wondered what it would be. It was ok actually. Rice with soup, stewed fish, tofu and scrambled eggs. After the meal, we continued on the bus to Puwei.

​Upon reaching Puwei, it was already late afternoon. We checked in into this really cool camp. The premise reminded me of the setting in Ultraman TV series. Everything was grey. The city was grey. They buildings were grey. The skies were grey and this camp right smack in the middle of a town. It was not in some forested area. It was really in town. You would miss the main gate like it was a typical school along the road. Unfortunately I don't have photos of the exterior of the camp. Anyway you can go to street views in Taiwan counties. They all look the same. 

It was winter and as the sun sets, the weather became much cooler. Our first task was to check in into our bunks and get changed to our admin attire. After that, we had our first meal at Puwei camp. It was already dinner time. There was a halal cookhouse and I was very happy that the meals were actually very nice. At that time, there were cooks stationed in camps so the halal cookhouse had normal Singapore style halal cooked food. So yeah we still had rice and spicy meat and fish and vegetables. It was all normal. One guy from Bravo company brought a big tupperware of sambal ikan bilis. He thought that we were going to have bland meals throughout our stay there and brought sambal over. Since we were all surprised to have normal meals, he shared the sambal with everyone in the cookhouse. It was very funny and we all had a good laugh. “I thought we were going to eat soup everyday!” he said.

After that we all queued to use the telephones. There was a room with public phones arranged in rows on tables like an old fashion call centre. You can use either coins or phonecards to make calls. There was also a small booth that sold phonecards (Tien Hwa Ka) but it was already closed for the day. I cannot remember where we got our coins from but we all used coins that evening to call home. 

After that, it was all briefings and then we turned in for the night. I didn't have problem sleeping as the weather was cool and it was so nice to sleep even though the bunks were very crammed.

The next morning, we had our first morning exercise. The funny thing about this day that I can remember was, previously all of us will dread these morning exercises. But on that day, everyone was looking forward for it. Reason being, we were all so cold! We were freezing while we slept as dawn came. All of us walked quickly to the parade square and we really did our exercise with such energy so as to warm ourselves up. The funny part is the run. We always dread the run. But on this particular day, everyone were asking the sergeants to quickly finish up the basic exercises so that we can run. The moment our sergeants said, “Ok all form up for run, 10 rounds around the parade square!” we have already started sprinting around the square. Yes. We didn't just run. We sprinted! We were all so desperate to start perspiring.

The rest of the day were all administration duties and a lot of briefing about our 21 days stay in Taiwan. We had to collect our stuff such as sleeping bags, some military equipment and other stuff. We also got our uniforms. We were all given Taiwan uniforms to use during our stay. It also had our names in Chinese characters sewn on the right breast pocket. Mine had 2 characters and they are pronounced as “An Hua”. My buddy's name is Dzulkifly and his had 3 characters that are pronounced as “Chu Ke Fei”. Our Chinese friends said that it means “Pig Can Fly”. We all had a good laugh. At least they got the “Fly' in Dzulkifly right.

​Our first main event in Taiwan is a 5 days 4 nights uncontrolled navigation exercise. If you read the previous posts, we had another navigation exercise in Pulau Tekong. This time we are going to be thrown into the Taiwan wilderness and make our way back to the finishing line on our own. We were broken up into groups of 4. We were given our navigation equipment that includes 2 maps and 2 compasses per group. We had our navigational data sheet (NDS) and protractor per person. We were also given the Mean Grid Reference (MGR) of the checkpoints that we had to look for and plot them on our maps. If I can remember correctly, we were supposed to look for around 12 checkpoints within these 5 days with the last checkpoint being the finishing line and the ferry point to bring us back to camp. 

​It was very exciting for me as I really looked forward to walk and explore the terrains, views, countryside and the forests of Taiwan. Of course there was always this constant worry of getting lost or injured in the middle of nowhere but I guess the excitement and being very youthful made us more excited than worry. Anyway we also had safety and communications equipment and was already throughly briefed on various exercise procedures.

We spent the night planning our route for our exercise the next day. Remember, we had no internet and none of us (except the commanders) have ever set foot on the terrain. We better not get lost. We better bring enough food, yet we better not carry unnecessary weight on our shoulders. 

Tomorrow morning we will be off into a new terrain, a new wilderness, experiencing winter for the first time in my life.


NEXT WEEK : Exercise Longstride

Next post! 


SISPEC. Advanced Section Leader Course. I found the group photo of the course and I finally manage to remember the dates for the courses.


If you remember the previous post, SISPEC was tough. I am not sure of how it is today, but it was tough then. It was supposed to be tough. Yet I had no qualms about it. Unlike BMT where I hated it very much. If you look at the group photos, I actually smiled. It was tough and stressful but, it was different. It had good memories. And I shall write them down before I forget them. 

​
Like I said before, I have slowly forgotten many things. Unfortunately I have to avoid sharing some things even though they were memorable and I still remember them. They were mostly the treatment and punishment we got. Meet me and I will share them to you in person.


18th December 2000.

The start of ASLC. As a number of us from BSLC were posted out, the number of trainees in this course were relatively smaller. Also mean, it's harder for you to escape the "tekan". I realise now that it was also very short. About 12 weeks. But, so many things happened within these 12 weeks and I had a hard time remembering and squeezing them all in this post. I have to split ASLC into 2 blog posts then. 


By now, I have acclimatised to the life in SISPEC. Training got more intense. I realise they were trying to squeeze as many things as possible within these 12 weeks, including 3 weeks of training in Taiwan. So for this post, I will share about the training in Singapore. The Taiwan trip will be in the next post. That too, there were 2 phases in Singapore. 1 in Tekong and another phase at Pasir Laba Camp.


RAPPELING


I have never done this before. I never got the chance to do all these things. I was super excited! Until.... I got to the top of the tower. 


It was actually a simple rappel down the slope. It wasn't a 90 degree wall, but being up there for the first time, it was only natural to feel worried and shikes! The harness was uncomfortable at the crotch really. The free size gloves didn't help either. As I was lowering myself down the edge of the top deck, the gloves started slipping off my small hands. I braked and asked my PC who was despatching me down, for help. He just squinted his small eyes at me and shouted at me to go on. 


"But my glove sir......"


(unexplainable moment) and the next thing, I have already reached the ground with my gloves halfway up my hand. I basically rappelled with my fingers. That was scary yet fun and I volunteered to run up again for another round. Yup. This was what I meant. It was tough yet enjoyable. 


RIVER CROSSING


We had to learn and try this infantry river crossing exercise. There wasn't easy access to internet then but I think I saw pictures of it so I could expect what it would be like. You can google it to see how it looks like. 


So basically we would have to attach a rope across the river and the whole unit would then cross the river by tugging along the rope. There were SOPs that we had to learn like, the security team, the swimmers, the knots, the waterproofing of equipment preparation, etc etc. It took place at the Pulau Tekong reservoir. You can view the place on Google Earth too. I remember the whole platoon sitting in front of Warrant Sim while he was giving us lectures about the whole procedure. It was in the early afternoon. We were all so tired and sleepy. Everyone including myself were just nodding off.  He told the whole platoon to get up and fill our helmets with water from the reservoir. He made us stand in a line by the water and did our punishment (unexplainable moment) and then put on our helmets. To be honest, the water that splashed from our helmets when we put them on, didn't really freshen us up. I think most of us actually still fall asleep somehow after that. But that punishment was memorable. We had a good laugh when we went back to our bunks that night. 


FIBUA


Fighting In Build Up Areas. We were all looking forward for this one. Finally gunfights in a building. Finally counter-strike! Counter Strike was a popular video game at that time. We went to a small "town" at the end of Tekong Highway in the east called "Ayer Samak". There are some buildings there that looked like old shophouses. I wondered if they were really abandoned shophouses or made just for army training. It was cool to play fighting in buildings for a change. One thing I found out now is that, all FIBUA training now requires the soldiers to put on ear-plugs. It wasn't a requirement then. The gunshots and thunder flash (flashbang in COD mobile) were so loud but we loved it. The adrenaline rush were fun in this one.


TOPOGRAPHY


Another round of topography exercise in Tekong. In BSLC I was with Paul. This time I had another buddy, Dzulkifly, because Paul was posted out. Same thing, we had to look for checkpoints the whole day and evening with the last checkpoint being at the top of Rocky Hill just behind the SISPEC camp. This time around, the exercise was interesting. 


Ok let me tell you. There is this part of Pulau Tekong that is "out of bounds". It is called Kampung Unum, on the northern tip of the island. Why was it out of bounds, we had no idea. 


It was about 11am. Dzul and I just reached a checkpoint somewhere around the north-east part of the island. Our next check point was at the north-west part of the island. To play safe, there were a lot of roads in Tekong that we can use as guides. Well they weren't exactly tarmac roads. More like dirt tracks. There was this track that goes across the island on the northern side called the "Northern Axis". We could use it as a guide to get to the north-western part of the island. If we were lazy, we can just walk along the track and quickly hide in the vegetation if we hear any vehicles. We were not allowed to walk along the tracks actually. We didn't feel safe also as we believe there would be instructors planted on different parts of the tracks to spot us. No way were we going to break the rules. Our weekend bookouts were precious. So what did we do? We walked in the jungle, BESIDE the track. Always keeping the track in sight. 


But, to follow this track, it would bring us a longer route. Dzul and I decided to bash through the jungle and take a more direct route. There were foot tracks that we could use too and the jungle wasn't that thick. The thing is, a direct route means, we would have to bash through Kampung Unum. Hmmm... was it a risk? Yeah we took it. It was a bright sunny day and there were footpaths anyway. If we got lost or anything, we can just track back along the path and look for the "Northern Axis" as we would be walking parallel to it. 


We walked along a very clear path. Wide enough for a man to walk. Through the jungles. It was our lucky day. And then the path brought us into a clearing. It was like a helipad and it was circular. It wasn't so big. Maybe about 2 basketball courts. The path goes into the clearing and we walked across the open patch. At the end of the patch, we were blocked by palm trees with sharp thorns. We tried bashing through it but they were too sharp and tough. So Dzul and I decided to walk back across the clearing to the path we came from, to look for another route. And then, we realised, we couldn't find the path we came from. We walked around the circular clearing looking for the path. We had our bearings and directions all recorded so we knew where we had to look. Plus the clearing wasn't big. The path was at the east of the clearing. But we couldn't find it. Imagine walking around a circular grass patch the size of 2 basketball courts surrounded by thick thorny palm trees. It was cool because there weren't any of those palm trees when we reached the clearing from the east. But now, the palm trees surrounded the whole clearing. 


We kept on circling. We couldn't find any path. We couldn't get out of that clearing because it was surrounded by the palm trees. We were puzzled but we continued searching. We stopped for combat ration lunch. We continued searching. We were there for hours. I remember it was lunch time and we were there until about 4 plus. We just went around and around looking for a path. 


And then somehow at around 4 plus, we saw a path out of the clearing heading west. The path was as clear as day and was not blocked by any palm tree. Wide enough for 2 men to walk. No way we could have missed it for 4 hours. We didn't think anything about it. It was more of a... "aaaah found it!" and we walked to the west where we found more clearings, more paths. As we walked, the tracks turned into cemented paths, which was quite surprising. Then we saw ruins of a village. Buildings with walls intact but without roofs. We could see through the houses. Bed frames, cupboards, sewing machines, slippers and all. We just found it cool and walked. In my mind was, "if I only I have a camera with me." We walked until we found our checkpoint on the north-west. A walk that was supposed to be 2 hours shorter as compared to using the Northern Axis, turned out to be a 5 hour walk. It was frustrating but we didn't think much about it. Only when we reached back the bunk that night did we talk about it. How could we be stuck in the clearing for 4 hours? How could we not see the path for 4 hours when it was there, so wide, so clear? It was a mystery to us and we just slept it off.

EXERCISE NUTCRACKER


This was another interesting experience. It was a "defence exercise" where we were supposed to defend an area from enemy attacks. We were suppose to be there for 5 days 4 nights. Unlike the field camp in BMT, this one was more "tactical". The highlight of this exercise was, we all had to dig a trench in pairs. My partner was Chua Koon Ann. 


The trenches were set along the perimeter of the area that we were suppose to defend, facing outwards. This was the first time we had to dig a trench. It was suppose to be about 2 metres long and about 1.6 metres deep. If we stand inside the trench, it should be about neck height and only our heads and guns will be above ground. Some instructors told us, everytime there is an Exercise Nutcracker, SISPEC will indent (order) rain. And yes, it rained throughout the 4 days, only stopping intermittently. Instead of digging into the ground, we had to dig into the mud. Everytime our trench looked like there was some progress in terms of depth, the rain would wash the mud back down the hole or the trench simply collapsed and we would have to dig again. 


One thing I could not forget, one side of my trench had holes in them. At first I freaked out. I was worried. But I had to think of my weekend bookout and continued digging only to see more holes. They were clean holes like a network of tunnels and they were all in perfect patterns. I could just assume they were tunnels made by snakes. It creeped us out. But after a day, we didn't see any snakes and we made peace with it. In fact, when we had to dig at night, we even placed candles in the holes to illuminate our trench. It was quite a pretty sight. 


When the exercise ended, we were quite sad to fill our trench up. Our 3 room hdb flat for 4 nights.

PASIR LABA CAMP


We had a moment at Pasir Laba camp. The old run down camp. Not the new one that you can see now. It was an abandoned camp. We were there for maybe 2 or 3 weeks. I cannot remember. We were there because our next few exercises would need us to be on the mainland. You have no idea how excited we were to be back on the mainland. Finally, we had things called "Nights Off". We can go out of camp after dinner and be back by 10pm. We didn't have much. I think maybe once a week. But it was good enough. A few extra hours per week off from camp. It was heaven. 


We had a chance to sleep for a few nights at the old Basic Combat Training Camp (BCTC). It was a good experience staying at an old camp and feel how BMT was like many years back. 

FOFO HILL


Fighting On Fortified Objectives (FOFO). I heard that this concept is not in use anymore. What happens here is that, remember Nutcracker? There is a hill near Pasir Laba called FOFO hill. The hill has trenches made in it. Supposedly, the enemy are in this trench, defending this hill, just like how we defended the area in Exercise Nutcracker. But Singapore being Singapore, the trenches were all cemented and had a series of trenches that were interconnected. The objective of our training here was to learn how to capture this hill with the enemy inside the trenches.


The trenches were big. We all called it 5 room flats, compared to our 3 room flats. The paths were wide enough for 1.5 men. Meaning, if one person stayed flat at the sides of the trench paths, another man can squeeze through beside him. Funny thing about this exercise is, we would attack in lines, like ants as we made our way along the narrow paths. And if the in front person got "shot", he would have to lie flat on the ground on his stomach and the rest of the platoon would have to continue running pass him. We learnt how to step on them safely and jumped over them quickly. 


In other exercises, any of us would love to be shot and declared as a casualty so that we can rest by the side, assuming that we are "dead". But in this exercise, no one wanted to die, because if he dies, the rest of us would have to step on his back as we run across him. That was funny. We were all laughing at the people we stepped on and those who got stepped would go "aaah aaah aiyohhh! expletives expletives". I think the instructors had fun declaring people as casualty because of this. I'm still laughing as I typed these.


STANDARD OBSTACLE COURSE


You remember I was a weak runner right? Yes, I had trouble passing my SOC. I couldn't meet the timing. But here at Pasir Laba, everyone who failed, would pass. Because 700 metres run before the course were all downhill. The obstacles were smaller. The wall was lower. The "Monkey Bars" were so low, I could walk and act as if I was hanging on to them. We all passed. Everyone thought that it was funny. But it was all good. We all passed. The commanders told us, "if at Pasir Laba also you all cannot pass, just go and be (unmentionable words). Hahaha.


CHEMICAL CHAMBER


There is a chamber here for us to train in "Chemical Warfare". It is basically a room filled with tear gas. We would be in chemical warfare suit with gas masks on and play in the room. The suit was hot, but it was ok to us. What we didn't know then was, the tear gas not only would sting our eyes, but also on skin if we perspire. So the instructors made us perspire in there. Made us do physical exercises, jumps, jogs, runs, etc. 


We went into the chamber with our section of 8 men. After we were done with the exercises, we were told to stand in a straight line facing the door out. We stood in our bed order. So basically bed 1 in front, bed 8 the last man. We were told to sound off our rank, name and ic number, one man at a time. The door would be opened. The man can run out of the chamber. Door closed. 2nd man to say out the same thing and run out. One at a time. Sounds easy. 


And then the instructors told us all to remove our masks. We are going to do this with our masks off. The stings started to settle in. Good luck to the number 8 man! I was number 5 or 6, I couldn't remember. 


Number one got out. Door closed. Number 2 man shouted out his rank, name and IC number. Door opened. Run out. Door closed. The remaining men were already enduring the sting on our face, eyes and neck. And then, this one guy.......


"Corporal Tan Boon Tee! IC number... S7.....7....S79....."


The rest: "faster la Boon Tee!!!!"


Boon Tee: "S...... S...... eh what is my IC number ah??? 


We all groaned and told him to hurry up. He got more stressed. It was painful but it was funny. When he finally got his number right, he ran out of the door. Since we were there longer than expected because of him, the door didn't close anymore and the instructor told us to shout out our rank, name and IC number together and run out together. We ran out gasping for air and crouched all over the place, waiting for the stings to ease. The moment we were all ok, we gave Boon Tee a good bashing. While laughing, of course.


EXERCISE GRANDLAM


The finale of our training exercise here in SISPEC while in Singapore. I think it was a 5 days 4 nights exercise. It's always maximum 5 days. Monday to Friday. We still get to book out on Saturdays. 


Exercise Grandslam is a a platoon level mission exercise. Meaning, the platoon would be given military missions for that one week. Attacking enemy objectives (hills mostly. sometimes buildings), defending an area from enemy attacks, ambush missions, scouting missions, quick attack missions, security patrol missions, you know all those army stuff. It was fun if it wasn't tiring. You're practically awake throughout the 5 days except for a few hours shut eyes here and there when you're not on "duty". No showers, maybe 1 change of uniform, combat ration meals. Things like that. I thought Grandslam would be the real finale. I really hoped that it would be the finale. Though I expected and it came true, that this mission exercises would be my life for the next 17 years. 


One night as I trudged down the jungle path on the first night of Grandslam, we passed by a building. It was a cool thing to actually see a civilian building while being in a mission. After so long in Tekong, the sight of a civilian building was a sight to behold. It was night and the building's rooms were dark. But its area was lit, the building was lit and the corridors were lit. The shape of the building was a giant horseshoe and it looked exactly like my polytechnic. It was a blatant architectural rip off I tell you. But yeah, at that time, my eyes were wide open as I walked past it, wondering what the hell am I doing here while looking at a building that looked like the school that I have just graduated from. I still remember the view. It was a..... wow plus sigh moment. I walked on, leaving the building behind me together with my army mates. All tired and trudging. 


But definitely a highlight of Grandslam was the helicopter ride. I believe it was the first time for almost all of us. It was the first time for me. I savoured that moment because I never thought I would ride a helicopter again. In the pitch dark of Pasir Laba jungle, we boarded a "Super Puma" helicopter. I heard that the Super Puma is not in use anymore. As the helicopter lifted off in the night accompanied by the deafening sound of the rotor blades above us, I saw Singapore below me. The lights, the sea, the buildings, the roads, the vehicles. They were all there below me but I wasn't able to be with them. I felt like a soldier. I can see my country. But my country cannot see me. And then the helicopter flew into the jungles of Singapore's army training area. A whole area out of bounds for every civilian unless you're a soldier. A whole area to the west of the island. I have to tell you this. It is beautiful. Both day and night. The jungles, the hills, the lakes and rivers. It's beautiful. I always wish to go there again some day with a camera. But I guess, I can only have the images of the scenery in my mind.


There was also one mission where we had to "attack" a place called "Cow Hill". We had no idea where it was. I was just sleeping in the lorry (Back then it was a 3 tonner truck. Now they are all replaced with a bigger 5 tonner truck.) and didn't bother where it would bring me. Upon alighting, I was surprised. We alighted by the roadside at some block of flats. I cannot remember the exact block but it started with the number 6. So it was 6 something something, in Woodlands. The area is all built up now. At that time, that block faced a forested area and we quickly ran into the forest. A short walk later we arrived and "attacked" Cow Hill. From on top of the hill, I could see the whole of Woodlands and Marsiling with JB in the background. It was really an awesome sight. Again, looking at civilian buildings but not able to be there made me feel heavy. Much later I found out where we were actually was. The hill is beside the SLE in between Woodlands Avenue 2 Exit and BKE exit. 


As Grandslam ended, so did our ASLC training in Singapore. After that, we were to embark on a 3 week training exercise in Taiwan, also called exercise "Starlight".


There were other wonderful memories I had in SISPEC. 


One of it was when I had to do Company Orderly Sergeant (COS) duty during Chinese New Year holidays. COS means the sergeant in charge of your company's administration. You had to man the company phone for 24 hours, check the premises, go for canteen duty. It's like a mish-mash of being the security guard cum receptionist cum school prefect. There will always be one person doing the duty every day.


So when everyone left Tekong for Chinese New Year, the non-Chinese would have to do COS duties. Me included for one of the day. Just me alone at the quiet SISPEC Alpha building for 24 hours. It was peaceful and quite a cool experience. When another person took over my duty at 7am the next day, I could book out and enjoy the remainder of the holidays.


​The interesting thing was, the whole island was almost isolated. I had to walk from SISPEC to Tekong Ferry Terminal. There was no transport. If you read my previous post, you would know how far the walk is from SISPEC to BMTC. As I slowly walked, I saw a pick-up truck with Indian foreign workers. I guess they were building contractors. With no shame, I hailed them and asked if I could hitch hike to the ferry terminal and they welcomed me on board. That was cool right? So I got myself a free ride. As I reached BMTC, I saw my childhood friend, Alfian, walking to the terminal too. I shouted out, "Yan!!". We had a good laugh. He was doing his BMT and was marching towards the terminal. Sorry I couldn't ask him to board the pick-up truck with me. 


Another interesting experience was, the trees behind Alpha company building were rambutan trees. They were just there. Rows of them. Just trees. Somehow, as our time there was ending, the trees bore fruits. Bright red rambutans on all trees. It was an exciting sight. Even more exciting was, all of us went to pluck the rambutans. We had a fun time plucking them and eating them together with our instructors and our commanders.


I told you. SISPEC was tough. We were treated like dogs. Yet we appreciated every single moment of it. We grew to become soldiers. We became tougher, stronger, braver yet we never forget to have fun and appreciate life.


Next up would be the highlight of ASLC. 


Exercise Starlight. 


Taiwan. Here I come.

Categories : The Army Series

2 am and the rain is falling
Here we are at the crossroads once again
You're telling me you're so confused
You can't make up your mind
Is this meant to be
You're asking me



That song by "Trademark" filled the air constantly. It was the song of the moment. Not because I like it. You have to understand, back then we didn't have spotify or smartphones. We didn't even have an mp3 player. We had cassette players, walkmans and discmans. But they used up a lot of battery. So what we had then were small transistor radios. I had one, so small, it fits my pocket. A transistor radio as small as a zippo lighter. It was cool. It used a small battery and lasted quite long. That being said, it means, we couldn't choose our songs. We had to listen to the radio and this annoying song kept hogging the air almost all the time. 


It was the song that was on the radio as I took the ferry back to Pulau Tekong. Actually almost all the time I booked in, the radio was playing that song. But this time it was different. I was going back to Tekong after a 1 week block leave. A full complete 1 week. I forgot the date already now. I believe it was a 9th of October 2000. Definitely a Monday. I told my girlfriend then, I would be in Tekong just to take my posting results and I would be back on the ferry to get off the island in no time. I remember that very clearly.


The whole lot of us gathered in front of Mohawk Company in our platoon level. The sergeants counted our strength (the army term for checking attendance) and announced our postings. Verbally. One at a time. It was suspense-fully nail-biting kind of moment. They called out the names according to our platoon, section and bed order. Meaning, the 1st person to hear his posting result was the guy from platoon 1 section 1 bed 1. 


Faizal Khan was in platoon 1 section 1. His posting was, National Service Police Inspector. He was so happy. He kept shouting, "yes! yes!!". It is basically like the police force I mentioned in the last post. You got to go back to the mainland and do things that are more practical in real life. He got to go back to the mainland, off from the army and be an Inspector in the Police Force. Basically, his army days was over. You can never get any other better vocation than that other than the NS Police Inspector.


Then to platoon 2. Shaufi section 1. School of Infantry Specialist (SISPEC). Shucks. 


Sergeant Khir, "Private Anwar Hadi Bin Ramli.... SISPEC."


My heart sank. My first thought was my girlfriend. I told her I would leave this island. I was extremely sad. Very extremely terribly sad. 


Wan Cing Cong was posted to Officer Cadet School (OCS). That's at Jurong. 


"All form up in your posting order. Those going to SISPEC, fall in behind the company line!"


I said goodbye to Wan Cing Cong. He was happy. I was very sad. Apparently a number of us were posted to SISPEC because I remember we had to fall in together and it was about a platoon size. When everyone of us were accounted for, we walked. When everyone else walked to the ferry terminal to go back to the mainland, we walked, from Mohawk Company BMTC School 2, to SISPEC, 2.9km away, deeper into Pulau Tekong. Where from BMTC we could see the sea and the Singapore mainland across it, we would walk to a camp called SISPEC further inland, surrounded by forests, away from the sea. Can you imagine how depressing that was? And we walked, with our duffel bag (aka ali baba bag) slung across our shoulders. Yes, our duffel bags then didn't have wheels.

School of Infantry Specialist. 


The Specialist Cadet School (abbreviation: SCS), formerly the School of Infantry Specialists (SISPEC), is the military training centre for specialists (NCO-equivalents) in the Singapore Army. The school is situated in Pasir Laba Camp (PLC) in the western part of Singapore. From 1999/2000 to 2006, it was located at Rocky Hill Camp on Pulau Tekong while its new premise was undergoing construction.


In 2010, SISPEC was renamed to Specialist Cadet School (SCS) to reflect the wider scope of the school, as it no longer provides Specialist training only for Infantry units.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specialist_Cadet_School



Instead of going back to the mainland, I would be stuck back in Pulau Tekong for at least 11 weeks. We were going to embark on a course called Basic Section Leader Course (BSLC) for about 11 weeks. After that we will be given posting results again. Either we would be posted to another unit or to continue going through phase 2 of the course called Advanced Section Leader Course (ASLC). By this time, I was just expecting the worse. I didn't want to expect to be posted out after 11 weeks. I mentally prep myself that I would be there for the whole of 22 weeks (5 months), on Pulau Tekong. That was the worst case scenario. 


ROCKY HILL CAMP

After that 2.9km walk which felt like forever, we reached "Rocky Hill Camp" where SISPEC was located. Right in the middle of the forest. The whole camp was literally surrounded by forest. I was posted to Alpha Company. The camp building looks much older than the spanking new buildings at BMTC. I heard that this camp is an abandoned camp. It had almost no mobile reception. No M1, no Starhub. Only 1 bar of Singtel if you sit near the door of the bunk. Same for radios too. Almost no radio waves. Our transistor radio would only work if we place it near the door and adjust its antenna to perfection. But there was never perfect reception. The building look like an old HDB block in Queenstown. Long, with a lift and staircase in the middle of the building and staircase at the end of the building. I googled and can not find a picture of it, but it looked something like this.

Alpha company, Platoon 2 Section 3 Bed 8. This time around there were only 3 platoons per company, 3 sections per platoon, 10 men per section. Our course was called the 17th BSLC. Meaning the 17th batch of SISPEC trainees. Only 2 companies for this 17th batch. Alpha and Bravo company. Shaufi was posted to Bravo company. 


As I entered my new home for the next 5 months, I felt very sad. I hated the idea of staying on the island. I didn't like to make new friends. But the friends turned out ok because all of us felt the same. We all had to go through it. We didn't have any choices. Except for 1 guy. His name is Tan Boon Tee. He was the only person in my bunk who was an army "regular". Which means he signed up to be in the army as a career. The rest of us were NS boys. Me in bed 8 means I was assigned a buddy who was in bed 7. His name is Paul. I found a familiar person in my bunk. Bed 6. His name is Dzulkifly. Cool spelling I know. You will read quite a lot about him in the upcoming posts. Dzul worked part time at the Library Supply Centre at Changi South. I was there for my internship. That's where I knew him. Apparently he was from the same polytechnic as I was but I never saw him in school.


The bunks were decent. It looked old but it felt real. It looked comfortable. Like they know we were going to stay there for long. There was a small partition in between every bed. We not only had a locker, but also a bookshelf with army books. They would be our textbooks for our BSLC course. The toilets were clean. I was slightly happy when I saw the shower cubicles had doors, unlike those in BMTC. 


Our section commanders were 3rd sergeants. Obviously they were NSFs just like us. But our platoon sergeants, unlike in BMT, were staff and master sergeants. Our Platoon commanders, Officer commander and Commanding officers were Warrant officers. They were all army regulars. They were much older than us. They were in their 30s and 40s. Darn I tell you, they looked damn fierce. So fierce, I feared looking at them in the eyes. Because unlike the Mohawk instructors, these sergeants and warrant officers were the real deal. 


I couldn't remember who said this, because I was too afraid and sad to look. But I heard this,


"I hope you have enjoyed your BMT. BMT is just the start. BMT is your honeymoon period in the army. It's all over now. You all jolly well wake up from your honeymoon idea. This is SISPEC. This is not OCS. In OCS you will be treated as gentlemen. Here you will be treated like dogs. When this course ends, you will be as fierce and as hungry as dogs. Your men jolly well be afraid of you." 


The guy who said this, didn't scream or shout like the Mohawk instructors. He spoke in a cool stern manner, very much like a mafia godfather. He was damn right. I was afraid of him. Until now I don't know who said those words.


Honestly, I don't remember much about BSLC. I am just going to share whatever I can remember. Really it's not much. Maybe because I was too sad to remember those moments. It was just days and weeks that passed by. We still get to book out every Saturday, so it was pretty much the same as in BMT. But since we were a "rank up" in terms of training, we got to take the earlier ferry out of Tekong every Saturdays before the BMT recruits, like maybe 12 or 1pm. We got to book in later too, like 10pm instead of 8pm. There would be a bus to take us to and from Tekong Ferry Terminal. A cool thing was, we didn't have to go to Pasir Ris Bus Interchange anymore. We can just report and leave from SAF ferry terminal at Changi. That means more time to spend with girlfriends for most of us. 


I remember there were a lot of shouting and screaming and barking orders. Very regimental. The physical training were tougher. The punishments harsher. So harsh, I cannot even blog about them. Same thing, you can meet me and ask in person. 


We had a lot of section training. Those army movement and firefight training. How to move in the jungle. How to walk on the tracks. How to react to gunshots, artillery fire, ambush, etc. How to do fire and movement and attack the enemy. All the strategies, plannings and contingencies. It was fun to be honest, but it was too tough to feel fun because most of the time we were tired or afraid. We also had to take turns to be the leader of our section, platoon and company. We would be given arm bands that says, "Section Commander", Platoon Warrant Officer (PWO) and Company Warrant Officer (CWO). Everyone would be given a chance to don something. It was responsibility but it was also scary. We were all scared to screw up. 


The staff / master sergeants and warrant officers were scary. They were damn fierce. But I really have to say this. Unlike in BMT, we respected them. Every time an instructor in BMT were to shout, I felt like punching his face. But here, every time they shouted at us, we looked down. We felt bad for letting them down. That was how much we respected them. I grew to like and cared for them rather than being disgusted of them. That's how great leaders they were. In BMT, when I had trouble running (I was a weak runner, remember?) the instructors would just scream from a distance and punish me later. Here in SISPEC, when I was falling behind from the rest of the group while running, my Platoon Commander, Warrant Sim, who also ran with us, would fall back and push me physically and mentally. He would pull my hand or push me from behind. He would scold me things like, 


"I am older than you!! I can run faster than you!! I am fitter than you!! Are you not ashamed? Huh? You tak malu is it? You better run! How are you going to be a leader if you cannot push your men? You not malu is it? Your men stronger and fitter than you? Hurry up! You won't die!" 


That was a real leader I tell you. I was 20 years old. There were a number of us struggling too. It wasn't just me. But this man. He was in his early 40s and he ran up to the front of the platoon and asked us to keep up to his pace. He ran to the back of the platoon to push the strugglers up. And then he ran back to the front. He would do this many many times. Front and back and front and back barking orders laced with encouragement. He was a real leader. Warrant Sim is still my hero until today. 

THE WEAPONS

Remember I told you how excited I was to “play” with the M16? In SISPEC, we got to learn and use more weapons. It was super cool to me. We had the M203, a grenade launcher fixed to the M16. A “bazooka” called the Light Anti-tank Weapon (LAW) and the Section Automatic Weapon (SAW). These are the generic weapons to an infantry section. I don’t think I am allowed to talk about them but you can google about them. The LAW is not in use anymore now and has been replaced with a slightly bigger version called the “Matador”. I don’t remember if we fired live rounds using these weapons during BSLC but I definitely remember firing them later in my army life. We also learnt to use other explosives or what they called “charges” such as the “claymore mine”, the “C4” and one more I cannot remember. It was a “DIY” charge using sandbags, gunpowder and strips of sandbags placed in a jerry can. You can google these too.


SISPEC SONG



Just like in BMT, we had to march from point to point. And whenever we marched, we were required to sing army songs. There was a particular song we had to learn here. It was the school song. The SISPEC song. Now that SISPEC is called SCS, I don’t think this song is in use anymore. The lyrics are as follows:


School of Infantry Specialists here we come
Soldiers of every creed and race
Soldiers to Specialists we will become
Leaders of six men to set the pace


SISPEC warriors, we are the warriors
SISPEC warriors with pride we will lead
Fearlessly we lead with pride
We train hard full of might
Trained to lead by day and night
We will strive for greater heights


I was humming as I typed this. I can remember the song, the tune and the lyrics still. 


One thing I remember about this song is that, the melody used a lot of flat notes. The chords were in minor. Thus the song was very sombre yet silently strong. It has the feeling of an army of Orcs marching in units in Warcraft. I remember a sergeant, I forgot his name, teaching us the song. Since it was in flat notes, he had problems singing it and he got all of us confused. Every time he repeated, it would sound different and out of tune. After a while he gave up, laughed and let us hear a recording of the song in the AV room. Even until we graduated, many of us couldn’t get the tune right. If you meet me, I can sing and play the song on garageband for you. 


And so, we were told to sing the SISPEC song first before any song every time we march. It was compulsory. SISPEC song first. Here’s the funny part. Alpha company was just across the cookhouse. Whenever we were going for meals, we would fall in at the parade square just at the doorstep of the company building, and then march to the cookhouse. It was like a few steps away. So when the PWO gave command for us to march off:


“Platoon 2! Dari kanan cepat jalan!”


Platoon 2 would shout out,


“Left right left right left right….. Alpha! Left right Alpha! Left right Alpha! School of Infantry Specia…..”


PWO, “Berhenti!”


Platoon, “Check 1 Bang!”


Hahahahahaha! That was funny! We would always laugh every time. We didn’t even get to finish the first line and we would already stop at the cookhouse. As time goes by, we became more comfortable and daring, we would fall in further into the parade square and even nearer to the cookhouse. The song would even get shorter. And we would laugh. The sergeants laughed too and sometimes they would call us back and fall in further so that we could sing slightly more. It was funny to us, that we didn’t mind doing it again. Sometimes, for the fun of it, we would march around the parade square and finish the song before we stop at the cookhouse.

NAVIGATION

The last thing about BSLC that was memorable to me was “Navigation Studies”. We learnt to read topography maps. I love maps since I was a boy so I particularly loved this lesson. I was so good at it that it would decide one of my vocation later in my army life. 


So we learnt how to read topography maps, use the compass, learnt how to confirm ground, check direction using “mils”, read Mean Grid Reference (MGR), gauge distance using our steps (73 paces = 100 metres), gauging distance using your thumb (a full grown man would be the height of your thumbnail when you extend your arm if he is 100 metres away), navigating using the stars (the north star and the Orion belt). Cool right?


After learning all these, we were paired with our buddies. Me and Paul, like the other pairs, were randomly despatched to different parts of Pulau Tekong. With the knowledge learnt, we had to hone the skills. We had to look for checkpoints all over the island with the last checkpoint being SISPEC camp site itself. That was the first time I was left to fend for myself in the jungles of Pulau Tekong, theoretically alone. I mean I had Paul with me but it was quite a nervous experience. Navigating through the unfamiliar jungles of Pulau Tekong, relying on our map, compass and pacing steps. It was cool. When night fell, I was a bit worried. In the dark, in Pulau Tekong jungle for the first time in your life is no joke man. It was just me and Paul. What if there were wild animals or we got stung or bitten. I didn’t care about ghosts honestly. I was more worried about animals. But let me tell you, the nights in Tekong were actually beautiful. The skies were clear as there were minimal light pollution. The stars were visible. There were types of plants where the roots glow in the dark in white purplish  colours. I also got to see swarms of fireflies. It was beautiful. Only when I got home and shared these with my father did he say that fireflies are attracted to carcasses and dead bodies. So if you see fireflies, there would be a carcass nearby or a cemetery. Thanks. Anyway, none of us got lost and we all reached Alpha company safely at about 2300hrs.

11 weeks passed, that was pretty much all that I can remember about BSLC. It was way tougher than BMT. And yes we were treated like dogs. But unlike BMT, we had pride. All the punishments and scoldings and beatings and torture and tekan, we took them all with pride. It was tough, but we didn’t feel any hatred to our commanders. Because they were real leaders and we looked up to them. 


As 17th BSLC came to a close, some of us got posted out to other units. As I said before, I didn’t expect myself to be posted out. I was right. I was posted to stay in SISPEC to attend the 17th Advanced Section Leader Course (ASLC). Meaning I would continue my stay at SISPEC Alpha Company Pulau Tekong. A few of us got posted out. About 1/3 of us. Paul was posted to the Air Force to be an Anti Aircraft Gunner. I never saw him again. 


17th BSLC. All of us were promoted to Corporals. There was no block leave. The week after, we started ASLC straightaway and that’s when more memorable events happened. 


Corporal Anwar Hadi Bin Ramli, reporting for 17th ASLC sir!

Categories : The Army Series

The best thing about writing this blog series is that, I know I don't have to write it for anyone. I have no idea who read them. But I can see the traffic for my website and definitely I can see that the traffic is very low. Meaning, not many people actually come here to read. I see good looking people posting videos of them drinking water and they get a million likes and comments and viewers. It is sad and terrible. Where people who need the attention for their works and jobs are neglected. It is an ugly world. It definitely is. But this blog series is not for them. It is for me to remember before my memory fails. So I actually do not feel disheartened when I know that not many people actually come here to read. At least, I do come back here to read.

I had to came back to Pulau Tekong after my 1 week disruption. It wasn't exactly 1 week.. it was more like 4.5 days or so. Including the weekends. I still think it is a scam till today. 

I reached Mohawk Company on a Sunday night where we will begin our Basic Military Training on Monday. The beginning of another 10 weeks. There weren't much references about the army in those days except for word of mouth from the elders. From a small handbook (titled: Guide to BMT for Muslim boys, I think was the title) and the "Army Daze" movie. Almost all of them mentioned that BMT would be the best time of your army life. You will make a lot of friends and will have a sense of achievement once you've completed it. I never saw the logic in that. BMT is just 10 weeks compared to 2.5 years of NS. My sense of accomplishment will come when I get back my pink IC. Not BMT.
​
But here I am. BMT. Mohawk company is still a tekan company with arrogant superiors, but at least there are more important activities where the instructors had to adhere to rather than wasting time punishing us. There were definitely less punishment and more proper activities.


SBO


Finally we really got to wear our army uniform with helmet and field pack and SBO. The SBO stands for Skeleton Battle Order. Also known as the "Bra". It is no more in use now. It is supposed to be a kind of Batman's utility belt. It's kind of cool and I like it. But I was too skinny and even though how tight I made it, it would still be loose and brings the weight on to my shoulders. It was terrible. I could not do any modifications to it because everything has to be standardised among the soldiers in the company, so it was a terrible 10 weeks. Only later in my NS life did I manage to modify it to fit my waist and life became so much better. It was literally weight off my shoulders.


M16S1


We also get to do army things and those were fun. Compared to the nonsense punishments. Finally I got to hold a gun. An M16S1. 1 metre long rifle. Also not in use anymore today therefore I feel privileged to be able to use it in my lifetime. It was exciting to me. These are the things that you would never got to experience as a civilian. 


Side track, I was in the NPCC in secondary school. During the CCA fair, it was publicised as a "police" thing. When I signed up, we wore t-shirt and shorts all day. Same thing, we got screamed and punish all the time from seniors who went through 238 racial riots in their lifetime but only 3 years older than us. Everyday was just punishments and knots and march. It was disgusting to me. Where's the police stuff? I quit at the end of Secondary 2. The teacher in charge warned me that I would be getting a black mark for my CCA grades. I didn't care. 2 years there and I didn't learn anything except curse words and marching with seniors barking commands in broken Malay. I only got to hold a gun, a revolver, once in that 2 years. Once.


So being able to hold an M16 was cool. We learned to strip, clean and assemble it. We got to learn to be proficient in handling it. We got the chance to shoot it at an "Individual Marksmanship Trainer" environment, like an arcade and fully air-conditioned. We got to fire live rounds. M16 was cool. I definitely miss it. Given the chance, I would like to hold it again, strip and fire it again. Really. It's shape and length makes it feel "soldierish" compared to a much shorter SAR21.


GRENADE THROWING


I'm sure this one is memorable to all who have been through it. We had practices throwing dummy grenades for a few days before we went on throw a real grenade. Many years later, I found out the grenade we used during BMT for this exercise is a scaled down grenade and a real grenade would have a stronger explosive power and blast. Darn.

It was still cool though. Throwing a grenade, hiding in the bunker and feel the shockwave passing above you. I believe, another cool and memorable thing would be, how your instructors, your sergeants and officers would suddenly be so nice to you on that day. Mmm hmmm... hypocrisy at its best. 

The rest are the same things that you see in army movies like "Army Daze" and "Ah Boys to Men". The normal BMT things. There really wasn't much interesting things that happened because like I said, it was a tekan company. I got bored. I tried very hard to keep my morale up throughout. 


FIELD CAMP


This was something to look forward to. Finally we got to be in the jungle. Sleep in a basha. Camouflage our faces. Do fire and movement manoeuvres. You know all those army stuff. Finally NS made sense. So I particularly enjoyed these 5 days 4 nights living out at a rubber plantation that I forgot its name. We ate combat rations. We got to use the hole toilets. I made a point not to pass my bowels these 5 days and eat as little as possible. Never am I going to use the hole toilets. The toilets where holes were dug into the ground. Not because of its physical circumstances. It was because I didn't trust the company's instructors. Yup, if a soldier do not trust their commanders... I would say that is a fail. I don't trust them. I had a feeling that they will command you to fall in while you're doing your business, just for the fun of it. And when you had to fall in later than the others, the whole platoon or company would be punished. I really hate that. 

Also we got to experience powder baths. I went through a lot of camps in Poly so, I am ok with all these out of the norm hygiene matters. 

We were also told not to shine the trees with our torchlights. They never told us why. They just hinted that we might see ghosts. I didn't see any. Most of us would fear the instructors' punishments rather than ghosts by this time. I didn't fear the instructors. I was already pissed off with them. I fear myself over-reacting and jeopardising my precious book outs. I listened to their instructions for the sake of my book out rather than due to respect. And during this field camp I got a very tiny little bit of relief. 


The kiddish instructors went on trying to steal our rifles as we slept in the night. I had good sleeps during the camps but they were considerably light sleeps due to the constant awareness and the discomfort of the hard ground. So one night a sergeant tried to steal my rifle. I could see in the dark, his head near my boots and his hand reaching for my rifle. I couldn't see who though. As he came closer to my rifle, I gave a good size 277 boot to his face. Oooof! Sedap! I acted as if it was a reaction to a disturbed sleep but I did it on purpose. He then moved away. Oooof..! Almost satisfying.

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​THE 2 SPECIAL PLATOONS

This I have to share because it is something I don't want to forget. During BMT, another company started their BMT training too. It was Orion Company. Remember I said there are 4 platoons in a company? For Orion it was only 1 platoon in the company at that time. It was a platoon of female regular soldiers beginning their army careers in BMT. For many of us, it was refreshing to see ladies in Tekong. No matter how much anyone denied it, seeing girls in a camp, made your adrenaline rush and your morale lifted. Just a boy thing. It was a memorable part of my BMT.
 
The other one is a different platoon. I don't know how to say or type this because everything is so sensitive these days. Back then, everything was more crude, direct and tougher. There was this platoon that never marched. We always have to march and sing from point to point. But there was this platoon. They never march. They just walk in steps. And they never sing. They just walked quietly. I cannot remember which company they were from but they were from School 1. All of them had this name card kind of badge that you buy in a primary school bookshop, pinned on their left breast pocket. It was a blue name card badge. Sometimes we manage to see them walk past us and I noticed the card says PES C something something.... I couldn't make it out. And also, I would say 85% of them were Malays. Shaufi and I would question each other wondering how come there is an "askar melayu" platoon and they just walk quietly. Almost mysteriously. 
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One day we got our answer. As we were eating lunch at the cookhouse, we saw the platoon walking towards the cookhouse. Since 85% of them were Malays, most of them would have to sit near us at the Muslim dining area. The whole lot of them sat at the table behind me and Shaufi and we heard them for the very 1st time. Apparently they were all effeminate soldiers. All of them placed together in a platoon. I have no idea how it works but all of them were effeminate. At that time, it felt kind of weird to us. We tried hard not to turn around and look but their conversations and effeminate way of speaking were audible.


5 CRITERIA TO PASS BMT

I have to share this too because I found out that this thing is now a thing of the past.
 
Back then, there were 5 criteria to pass in order for you to complete BMT. I heard it is no more the case now. Back then, if you don't pass one of the criteria, you would fail the BMT course and you have to recourse, ie. redo the whole BMT course with another batch of recruits. Now you don't have to. Even if you fail your any of these 5, you will still pass out from BMT and get posted to another unit.
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Heck! No way any of us would want to recourse the whole BMT again. No way if it would be at Mohawk company. We had to pass these 5 things:


1.  Route March. 8km. 16km. 24km. I missed the 16km route march due to being granted off to attend my poly graduation. So everyone who missed it, still had to go through it together and complete it. So we walked the whole of 16 kilometres in camp, around and around the parade square. I lost count how many rounds. I just walked. Saiful was the medic on that day. It should be a Saturday because Saiful sat there and kept saying to me, "Hurry up! I want to go home!"

2. Situational Test. This was fun. We were despatched in section level at the reclaimed land, south of Pulau Tekong to go complete this test. There were instructors from other units or companies to assess us as we were given missions to complete. The missions were like, casualty rescue, storming a building and stuff. This was fun.   

3.  Swimming. All of us have to be able to swim unassisted for 50 metres. I passed this test on my very 1st attempt. After that, I didn't have to attend any more swimming lessons. Only those who have yet to pass, had to go through the swimming lessons. The sergeants called these people "Divers". When it was swimming time, the sergeants would shout, "Divers! Fall in!"  

4.  Standard Obstacle Course. This one took me very long to pass. At that time it was a 700 metres run, clear 11 obstacles (i think) and then run 600 metres to the finish line below 10 minutes 45 seconds. It sounds easy to some, it was difficult for me. I had trouble running. The loose SBO didn't help either. Same thing like swimming, those who passed it, didn't have to attempt it anymore. I think I had to go through all of it before I finally passed during the last attempt.   

5.  IPPT. I mentioned this in the last post. There were 5 stations and you have to pass all 5 stations to complete IPPT. I remember seeing 2 of my bunkmates who stayed back in bunk as we left Mohawk company after we passed out from BMT because they didn't pass just the IPPT. Thus they didn't complete their required 5 compulsory criteria. One of them could only do 5 pull ups and he had to recourse the whole BMT. Just because he was short of 1 pull up. The other, same thing, passed every single thing but failed at standing broad jump. Just that one. He too had to recourse the whole BMT. I was honestly very sad for them when I left. So sad I can remember their faces when they said goodbye to us. And now, you don't even have to pass your IPPT to pass out from BMT. You don't need to pass SOC. Every one of the 5 criteria mentioned, you just have to attempt them and you're done. Such unfairness. 


WHERE DID I WANT TO BE POSTED TO


As BMT slowly came to an end and we could smell freedom from Mohawk, we started to have interviews with our Platoon Commanders. I told you I hated all my instructors. Including my platoon commander. I remember his face, I cannot remember his name. During the interview, he would look at our performance records and stuff. He would also ask us, where we wanted to be posted to after BMT. 

I didn't have much knowledge of the army at that time. I didn't know my options. I only knew, I wanted to be posted in to a unit where there would be some meaning to my life. Yes, the army taught us how to use the M16, but how relevant is that in our civilian life or even as a person? At least post me to a unit where there would be beneficial learning points and skills that I can apply my whole life. 

I said I wanted to be posted to the police force as a National Service Police Inspector. He just brushed me off with "Next..". I said I wanted to join the Music and Drama Company. He asked, "Are you gay?" I said, "No." He said, "Next." Lastly I said I wanted to be a driver. At least a driving license is beneficial for my life. He said, "Ok that's all. Call the next person in." I didn't get any of the vocations I asked for.


FINAL WEEK OF BMT


It was finally here. Like I said before, I don't see the point of BMT passing out parade and the hoo ha that comes with it. They always make it sound like it was a big accomplishment. I just want to pass out and leave Mohawk company. Leave Pulau Tekong. 
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We had rehearsals for our passing out parade with all the graduating companies. We had a games day which I don't remember what sports were available. I only remember I played football.

And then of course we had our 24 kilometres route march. How route marches work is, we walk for 4km within 45 minutes and then rest for 15 minutes. So in all, a 24km route march would take, ideally, 6 hours. Like I said, I am beginning to forget details. I cannot remember if our march was in the night or in the day. I only know that, the march ended at the main parade square where our parents were already waiting for our march in.

And then, that's it. BMT is done. Let's get out of this island now please. The difference then was that, we did not receive our posting results before we pass out. All we know was, we can leave the island for a week, courtesy of our leave. Yes it was a block leave. We would then come back to Mohawk company line the following Monday where they will announce our posting results to everyone. I just wanted to leave Pulau Tekong and Mohawk very badly. I prayed hard that the coming Monday would be the last time I set foot there. 


Goodbye Mohawk. Good riddance. Goodbye Pulau Tekong. It was fun while it lasted.

Categories : The Army Series
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