Monday, September 19, 2005

OCS Here I Come

Time files so fast and I am into my last day of my Bloc leave. Tmw I will embark on a new chapter of my NS life which is OCS(Officer Cadet School) training. The OCS course is around 38 weeks which is approximate 10 mths of training. More physical training, theory and practical lessons and lastly more fieldcamp. Hopefully this time, my physical strength will be able to tahan all those stuff.

Actually yesterday I felt really depressed after hearing that there are more tekang session than in BMT. Went out with Zheng Da, Yong Heng and Sumitra. I really thanks them for thier "Lecture" on the good and the bad about OCS and SISPEC. Really appreciate a lot. Thanks guys! Thanks for ur encouragement. I will do my best!

I heard from my friends that we need to confine a standard 3 weeks during the OCS period. So I will missed my mother cooking, my bed, my computer and last but not least...is U guys!
Cya again in 3 weeks time...

Cheers!

P.S. To all friends taking exams, Millions of Gd Luck to u guys and gals.

Saturday, September 17, 2005

The Long Awaited Posting

Mission: Check my posting @ miw.com.sg
Time: 1000 Hrs


0900 Hrs
Run at my Yishun area. Nice cooling weather after the morning rain.

1000 Hrs
Had Breakfast. SMS is pouring in asking about my posting. I relax and take my time as the website is slow.

1045 Hrs
After bathing, I logged in and check my posting. Guess what? I got into OCS (Officer Cadet School)
Your Posting Order is listed below:

You are posted to OCS (ARMY WING).
Your vocation is OFFICER CADET(CBT).
Your are to report to: SAFTI Military Institute, Warrior's Hall.
Reporting Date/Time: 19/09/2005 at 0700 to 0800 hrs.

I feel fantastically happy. Now very excited as well as thinking how xiong the training will be.

To add to it....

I juz purchase a expandable memory mp3 player. I present to u the Avixe MP3 Player. No internal memory but u can use SD or MMC card to store ur songs and files. The player cost S$39.90 (from SAFE superstore @ Habourfront) and my Kingston 512MB Fast Speed SD card cost S$54. (Sim Lim Square) Even though for that price I could get a 1GB MP3 Player, but the plus point about this player is the usage SD card to expand ur memory. It also uses a USB cable to charge the Player. Sound quality is comparable to Creative MP3 players as well. A proud owner of a new MP3 player...

Cheers!


P.S. The field camp photos had been lost by my section mate. So sorry to disappoint all of u. Really miss out part of the army memories. Hiaz

Friday, September 16, 2005

Lion Trails

This lion trails is part of the BMT course, which happened to commerce on this fateful day. It is a mini tour around the Newater plant, WWII Chapel and Museum and the Johore Battery.

0730 Hrs
Reached White Sands Shopping Center @ Pasir Ris. Waited for the bus to bring us through the tour. But the BMT training branch made a mistake. Our tour was schedule at 1pm while the 7.30am is for Dragon Company. Our company was angry by the mistake and some called the SAF hotline to complain about the mistake by them. Poor Planning. It really spoiled my whole day, which is part of our leave.

0830 Hrs
After much discussion, some of us decided on LAN gaming while some preferred street soccer. We left White Sands Shopping Center for Tampines Mall. One of my section mates purchased a soccer ball and we spent most of our time at the nearby basketball court playing street soccer.

1200 Hrs
We had lunch @ Century Square and back to Pasir Ris for the tour. Haiz.

1330 Hrs
Board the tour bus and off to the tour. Newater tour was a bit boring. Mostly is about reverse osmosis process of water to Newater.

Next is to the WWII Chapel and Museum. This was much interesting than the previous one. It showed the chapel, which was built by the WWII POWs. Next was the WWII museum, which showed interesting display of the items used and wore during the war. It also explained the procedures of the fall of the British and the fall of the Japanese rule as well as quotes from various people.

Last of all, the Johore Battery. It showed the “Big Guns” used during WWII by the British. It also explains the ammo and the guns worked.

1615 Hrs
End of tour. Back to Home.

P.S. We hoped that the BMT training branch had better planning and keep us informed of the changes even though this was a minor programme.

Out……

Monday, September 12, 2005

07 - 11 Sept 2005 Happening

07 September
Street Soccer @ Republic Poly. My first physical activities of the week. Play a good 4 hrs of street soccer. Shiok man!

08 September
Dinner with my platoon mates @ 镇发火海鲜 (Zhen Fa Huo Hai Xian), Marina South. TCS over there and enjoy the multiple selection of food. After dinner, we had a few rounds of Pool at the nearby entertainment center.

09 September
Waste the trip to Suntec City to repair my Nokia 6610. By the time I reached there, the Nokia Care Center had closed. Wau Pian eh! Had Dessert with Zheng Da and a game of Lethal Enforcer 3 with him.

10 September
Another waste trip to Suntec City again. Argh! This time the Nokia Care Center was opened but when they checked my phone, everything is normal. I gave up using the phone and place it under cold storage until I upgrade to another handset by year-end. I also wanted to trade-in my 6610 as well for the Carrefour Sony Ericsson promotion. I was attracted to Sony Ericsson J300i. But the event that happened earlier, put me off in buying the phone.

11 September 2005
Meet up with my SPCC (Singapore Polytechnic Computer Club) pals for a meet up session @ Marina Square. Shop for a belated birthday gift for Renwei. It was a head phone set for him. Next we had pool for 2 hrs. Quite off form for the whole of 2 hrs. Don’t koe wat went wrong. We had dinner @ Shaw Tower at a Turkish restaurant.

Sign out…

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

BMT Graduation

Roll, Roll, Roll…left right left right…

As the drums roll, I felt a sense of excitement in participating the Passing Out Parade and marching into the parade square in front of my parents and brother. Under the afternoon sun at 4pm, everybody were ready in putting the best show of all the guest including our viewing officer PM Lee Hsien Loong.

1330 Hrs
Last preparation for the POP. Brief rehearsal and after that we march off to the empty line to wait for the final moments.

1430 Hrs
Waiting at the empty line. Took some photos with my buddies and brothers while waiting.

1600 Hrs
The show begins. We march in as the drums roll and perform the saluting of the Viewing officer. After prize presentation and his speech, we marched and passed by the viewing officer.

1640 Hrs

We reached empty line, put our SBO and helmet to get to the next part of the parade, the wearing of jockey cap by our parents and the infantry roar. Jogged in and singing the Training To Be Solider song. After that, my parents helped me to wear the jockey cap. Next we present the audience with the Infantry Roar.

1715 Hrs
After the infantry roar, we dashed off to get our stuff and some hurried photo-taking, my parents and I dashed to the ferry to board the fast craft back to mainland.

1800 Hrs
Reached Pasir Ris Interchange, took a taxi and off to HOME SWEET HOME.

From today onwards, I am not longer a recruit but a newer promoted Private. Yahoooooooooooo! After 9 weeks of training, the training we gone through, the dirty feeling we gone through, I find the graduation parade the most satisfying as it sum up the whole of 9 weeks of training.

Now I got 12 days of bloc leave and posting will be on 16 Sep @ 1000Hrs. Hopefully the posting will be a gd one.

So for now, I will be slacking and training OTOT (Own time own target) and enjoying my leave.

P.S. Sorry, photo for field camp not up yet. I will be getting it ASAP. To those, enlisting this week, all the best for ur BMT life.

Cheers!

My Brother & I at the empty line Posted by Picasa

With my buddies @ BMT Graduation Posted by Picasa

PM Lee Hsien Loong as viewing officer Posted by Picasa

Ulysses Company marching by Posted by Picasa

My mother wearing the cap for me. Posted by Picasa

Yahoo! My brother & I are Private Posted by Picasa

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Last week of BMT

Yahoooooooo! At last I have reach the pinnacle of the BMT course. Having completed the 9 weeks of BMT, I have come to the end of the course. Even though the training was tough initially, but I managed to pull through and graduate next Tuesday in the POP (Passing-Out-Parade).

Monday
IPPT – One of my best results attained in BMT. Below are my following results:

Sit-Up – 41 (Score: 5)
Standing Board Jump – 239 (4)
Chin-Up – 10 (4)
Shuttle Run – 10.1 (5)
2.4KM Run – 9:48 (5)
Awarded Silver

The most heart-broken station is 2.4KM. 3 seconds off from my timing, I would have attained Gold. But nevertheless, it was a huge improvement from my personal best of 10:13.

Tuesday
Live hand grenade throw, drills & marching. We had drills and marching for the whole morning by the sergeant major. In the afternoon, we had our live hand grenade throw. In total we had 2 types of throw. The first is the practice throws which will produce a loud sound only. Next is the live grenade throw. They mentioned that it was only once in a lifetime throw. The sound produced was much louder than the firing of rounds from the M16. U can even feel the blast of the live grenade. It was great!

Wednesday
Had graduation parade rehearsal in the morning. But the most grueling event of the day is SOC (Standard Obstacle Course). The pressure is on the timing itself. We must complete the whole course under 10:30. Low rope and the low wall were the one that posed the most problem for me. 700m run from the start, 200m obstacle and 600m run down to the end. In the end I achieved 9:37 for the course. Yeah!

Thursday
Recruit Night in the evening also known as Party @ the Square. We had performance from the recruits as well as people from the SAF Dance & Music Company. DJs from the Dongli 88.3 also entertain us with 5 babes that participate in the Beauty contest. F10 lool the most mature and had the sporty look. After that, it was dancing in the moonlight for everyone in the parade square.


Friday
24km Graduation Road March for the whole of BMTC School 2. The weather was bad in the early afternoon. The weather change at 1600hrs and we begin the school level warm-up. After that, it was off to the 24km road march. Every 2km, we had a short rest & every 4km we had a extended break. By 12km end point, the sky had turn dark and it was 1900hrs. We had a 1 hr break and had dinner before we carry on with our road march. By 20km end point, we had reached the entrance of SISPEC (School of Infantry Specialists). Our spirit and morale were extremely high as 4 more click and it will be over. During the road march, we sang mandarin and English songs compared to other company, which stick to the army songs. By 2330hrs, we had completed the road march and were cheering for our company slogan. Had lots of back, shoulder aches as well as blisters in both of my feet.

The grand finale is on 6 September where we will be tossing our cap high into the air in front of the PM Lee. Celebration Time!

3 More days to (POP) Passing-Out-Parade…

Cheers!


Requirement to passed BMT
1) Live Firing (Passed)
2) Field camp (Completed)
3) IPPT (Passed)
4) SOC (Passed)