Sunday, February 04, 2007
Hey ya ho ah Infantry ya!
I will be returning to camp this evening, it would be my fourth week there already. I am almost halfway through my basic military training. Faaaantastic.I am in School One and my company is called Bronco. We are supposedly the 'enhanced leadership batch'. That is to say that everyone in Bronco qualifies for command school, and to eventually emerge as a specialist or a commissioned officer of the Singapore Armed Forces. There are several other companies such as Falcon who are also leadership batches.One thing about Bronco is that everyone comes from JCs. In my platoon alone are a number of RJC, HCJC and ACJC fellows. Who, contrary to popular belief, are really normal and pleasant.One good thing about my batch is that our stay in Tekong will only be 9 weeks, whereas some others stay there for up to 12-13 weeks. The downside will be that everything is compressed and that results in one hell of a hectic schedule for us to follow through. I literally wake up at 5 everyday and am occupied until 9 in the night. Lights out is at 10.30 sharp. Thus far, I have almost completed all my structured packages and training. I just returned from 6 days in the jungle, of which was horrible, to say the very least. Next up will be another 3 days in the jungle whereby I will take my situational test to determine if I qualify for a place in the officer cadet school.Frankly speaking, the army life hardly appeals to me. But this time in the army has made me more aware of many things that I have previously taken for granted. Take Time, for instance. It is only when you are caged in that god forsaken island that you learn to truly treasure Time, of which you can do as you please, and spend as you see fit.Each time I am there I miss home and all my loved ones. I miss Sharifah dearly and I miss doing all the things I like. I miss football and I miss jamming and I miss school.So there you go, the army does make you more mature. And I think I lost quite some weight. Carrying a 20kg load and walking 12km is no easy feat. Our grand finale will be 24km in full battle order. I am seriously not looking forward to that. I hope that all you guys have been well, hopefully I will get to see all of you soon.
