What a stressful week (22 – 27 August 2005)

Another week of my BMT training had passed. Time really files & I am down to my last week of BMT training next week. But before that, I had a tough & stressful week. It started off right from the first day of this week.

Monday
12KM Road march to Situational Test (To test ur leadership abilities & qualities) Camp Site @ 0800. The toughest road march ever. Once I reached there, I had lunch, which was combat ration (taste awful after having it for 7 days) & set up my vasha (Tent) at the field before heading for some knot tying lessons. By evening, I had dinner & powder bath before heading for SLEEP.

Tuesday
Wake up and had breakfast. Then I proceed to 4KM fast march. This time, the speed is much faster than the normal road march. Overall it seems that we had march more than we are suppose to but the fact is that it was only 4KM. Then the weather turned bad and rain suddenly. While waiting, I had lunch. By 1400hrs, the weather turned better & we proceed on with our mission, which consist of 6 obstacles. These obstacles required us to organize our men and planned carefully in order to overcome these obstacles. After dinner, we got tenkan (punish) by our officer for moving so slow. We had to put on camo (Camouflage cream) on our face after we had powder bath our face. Initially, the feeling was awful and the officer commented, “Finally, u have grown up as a solider and move like one.” After that, SLEEP.

Wednesday
Wake up and had breakfast. 2KM fast march. Very shagged by the time I finished the 2 clicks. Next we proceed on with another mission with 6 obstacles. By 4pm, we had completed the test and pack off to our company line. Washed up everything and had a good rest in my bunk. Shiok man!

Thursday
After breakfast, I had SOC (Standard Obstacle course). I ran 300m before I start clearing the obstacles. It consists of the low-wall, balancing beam, low rope & etc. This time I manage to clear the low rope and complete the whole course. I was glad that finally I had cleared the low rope. YAHOOOOOOOO! Immediately after the SOC lessons, we had Grenade throwing lessons. We ran for another 300m to reach the training shed for our lesson. We had GAC (Grenade Assault course) and DAC (Distance assault course). DAC means that we had to use 4 different positions like standing and squatting to throw the grenade over certain distances. GAC means that we had to charge or leopard craws to the cover & throw grenade at every cover. We use dummy grenade to stimulate everything. After the grenade lessons, we ran back to company line to prepare for BCCT (Basic Close Combat Training) lesson. Wau pian, my legs were wobbling by then.

Friday
AGR (Advanced Group Running) was called off due to CAT 1 (Heavy rain). Had some extended stretching to replace the AGR. It was followed by hand grenade test. Very simple MCQ test. After lunch, we had a major event; it was the 16KM road march. Initially, I thought it was gonna be tougher than the 12KM, but soon I realized that it was a breeze. Morale was high from the start, my full battle order was adjusted properly, singing was fantastic, we had fun during the road march and most importantly, my platoon sergeant was in a very good mood. He was smiling and joking with us. It was one of my most memorable road march ever. Even thought we were tired after the road march, but our morale livened up our spirit and morale. After night snack, it was RESTING TIME. Phew!

Saturday
Had AGR. Our CO was kind enough to give us only 6 rounds of jogging, a discount from the usual 30mins run. Completed our area cleaning and off to BOOK OUT.

Total Distance march over this week:
34 KM

By the time I reached home, I was totally shagged out and tired but the memorable road march kept me going. Next week, will be the final week. Finally, I would like to say: “1 more week to POP (Passing out Parade)”.

Cheers!