Thats.Just.Life.
Saturday, January 28, 2006 @ 3:08 PM
Its over!
Its over!

And EX SWALLOW came to an end after 4 days of gruelling planning, deployment, gettin whacked around by our instructors and surviving on virtually no sleep. In fact, me and my friends pretty much calculated we went about 56 hours without sleep! (well excluding the times we stole nits and pieces of naps) It was a test of both physical and mental capabilties..

But its over now..

We deployed in 3 different sites in S'pore, 2 of which had grounds that were really screwed up in my opinion. Imagine a deplyment ground filled with messed up soil and mud, vehicles and equipment just get stuck should they hit one of these dumb spots. In any case, this severely limited our deployable locations, which posed a lot of problems in planning. We had to plan route of movement for an entire convoy of vehicles, recce the various sites, as well as work under very tight timings. The places we deployed are totally alien to me can? Damn scared I get lost or plan the wrong route.

Deployment was done night and day.. Therefore, we were pretty much constantly on the move throughout the 4 days, except the few times we had to defend the area during stand-to timings. This was the worst. We had to take up prone positions covering our various sectors, then the enemy was the deadly Z monster. It was pretty much invincible can? I succummbed to it on the first day, losing my rifle + bayonet to my instructors as a result. Lol i was told I was dead as a dog. Sigh didn't even mean to sleep lor.. I just lost the battle..

But its over now..

And I'm damn happy. The worst of the course is over, and I eagerly await the day I recieve my sword and brevet, which is just a few weeks away! And not frogettin my chocolate bar! Thanks to all who encouraged me and my coursemates that stuck with each other though under immense pressure. I think we have all become better men, And not forgetting God, who has been with us, giving us good weather and health. And of course Zel, who msged me throughout the 4 days..

Happy CNY guys!!

Can't tell u how much I missed u..

Saturday, January 21, 2006 @ 1:05 AM
Finale
Finale

Its nearing! The very last deployment of my trainee life.. Next up is a 4 day 4 night deployment in various undisclosed locations over Singapore, the final hurdle to cross before I can start feeling like a full-fledged officer. Once again, there ain't gonna be much sleep or any coffee *sob* but its definately gonna be the experience of a lifetime, the highlight of life as a gunner. I'm pretty much somewhere in the middle of anticipation and apprehension. Dunno which one is more lei..

Sigh.. Its finally coming and when its over, I can enjoy some well deserved rest from all the shit that we get and get more sleep in the process. Whats more, CNY is coming!! Haha drooling from the thoughts of all those ang pows! Really can't wait for SWALLOW to be over.. This is the last lap.. Next time will be approaching 1 black bar, which I have been aiming for over a year le..

Lol its been 1 yr 13 days since I stepped into Tekong as a "chao recruit". Guess I have gone quite a long way huh? I thank God for all the guidiance he has given me to bring me so far. Hope I do well during SWALLOW and show my worth, and we can all have an easier time during those few days.. To my fellow gunners: best of luck! Each one of us needs everyone else. It'll soon be over when we pass out with so much more pride than the rest! Gambatte! I'll throw the peak cap with you guys..

Sunday, January 15, 2006 @ 7:13 PM
Male Shopping
Male Shopping

2 grown up guys. One mission: to shop. Pretty wierd, but thats what me and Kelvin did (Kelvin Tan that is). In my opinion, I think we, or perhaps its just me for that matter, shopped like girls. Going from shop to shop, trying out random pieces of clothing, I thought it was kinda fun. We went from PS to Paragon to Isetan and even Queensway, heck IKEA too! Pretty much shopped for a total of 9 boggling hours! Its my personal record I believe XD

Now I like to shop. Haha I really think shopping is fun, even more so with girls tagging along. Ok I felt really wierd when it was 2 guys going shopping together, but it all turned out fine. I bought 2 pieces of clothing while he bought a miserable pair of jeans.. Zzz you need to do better than that man! Haha..

Sigh, one big regret of the day was this woolen long-sleeved thingy I found in Surf & Splash @ Isetan. Damn nice!! But the price tag of over a hundred bucks stopped me.. Thinking back, I think I really should have bought it.. *sob Was hoping to find a similar piece at Queensway..

Went to IKEA to do some mindless looking around too, haha and I suddenly got the urge to revamp my room! Lol gimme 2k and i'll build my room from scratch! Wahaha.. Met my buddy there. Thats 4 ppl whom I know at different points of my travels ^^

We took bus 61 to get back to Bt Batok but we got on the wrong direction! Ugh.. being the zombie I am, I woke up at Chinatown after being on the dumb bus for 40 over minutes.. Sigh really sucked lor.. We ended up taking the MRT back to West Mall..

But or fortunes turned when we met Kelvin's aunt at West Mall while trying to find an atm.. She bloody gave him a hundred bucks!! Grr wish I had a aunt I could milk like that.. haha would plan to meet her everyday sia! Lol u better thank me for that man..

Friday, January 13, 2006 @ 10:27 PM
Tryout
EX TRYOUT

And it just rained.. Over the few horrible days of our deployment exercise it just poured buckets.. While we never managed a full deployment, and the whole thing could be called a disaster, there were many take aways that I gained in the exercise. Skidding tonners, stuck tonners, horrendous waiting time, zero sleep, loads of harrassing from our commanders etc.. But it was really fun!

1. Inter-personal relationships

Working (or rather talking) with the men that were under me was really interesting. The drivers and operators all had their different views and idiosyncracies. We had much laughter and fun and I think we got to know each other pretty well.. We worked together just fine and I have a lot of respect for these men. They are now happily passed out while we are still dumb trainees btw..

2. Experience

The deployment was really an experience we can never forget as the mistakes and lapses in consideration cannot be forgotten. I believe that when SUMMEX comes we'll be much more prepared to take on the challenge. Being the detatchment commander for the FCE really opened up my eyes to the deployment on the whole. Drifting tonners,

3. Tolerance

After near zero sleep for the past 3 nights I think I'm going to get quite used to it. But the after exercise stoning is crazy.. The train ride back home was nothing but an unstoppable Z-monster.. SUMMEX will be worse..

4. I hate rain

The cause of it all.. The darn weather.. Due to the rain which poured like mad and never relented, we couldn't do anything and our deployment ground turned into a mudpool.. Somemore so cold.. I was really freezing!

But then again, finally reaching back to camp, I realized what made us feel human again.

1. A bath
2. Dry feet
3. A bed
4. Hot food
5. Sleep
6. Talking rot

2 more weeks and I'll finally be able to relax! 1 more month and I get my sword! muz push on..

Tuesday, January 10, 2006 @ 1:10 AM
Looming Shadows
Looming Shadows

Its coming.. EX TRYOUT is coming.. This will be the first real test of the 8 gunners. I'm not too enthusiastic about it actually, cos there are so many thing that could ruin the whole show. The horrible weather, the men under us, our inexperience, my good fren (haha) and so many others. I know this challenge is all part of the training, and I'm not about to shy away from it either..

Looking back at Tech Deployment, I still think we learnt anything really valuable in relation to TRYOUT. In Tech Deployment we were just fufilling our operator role, perhaps a little bit else, but the large proportion of details are shrouded in the shadows.. To say the truth, I hate uncertainties, cos I love to think about them. End up I only get a little worried about the outcome. Haven been able to think very positively about the coming exercises..

I pray really hard that it doesn't rain.. then won't only be the skies crying le..

These few days I've been really tired.. Nothing really seems to help, not even double espressos >< But then again, I'm really happy at the same time.. Cos I know theres someone there with me. Thanks so much..

I'll pull through!

Friday, January 06, 2006 @ 11:59 PM
Technical Deployment
Technical Deployment

Rawwr!! We had our first real deployment on Wed where we went through the procedures like loading of stores, sending out the convoy and guiding the vehicles into the deployment ground. It was not very easy as we were still not too sure of ourselves. Whats more, our CO was like watching us mere metres away lor! Stress..

When we finally moved the stores up the tonners (which weigh like dunno how much in total), we hooked up and moved off! Yup it was a nice feeling to be finally doing the real thing. But it was hard.. With just 8 of us deploying half a Fire Unit, it was madness!! Really tired out after all that.. Learning how to camo the equipment, build the different points ie. sentry point, learning how to emplace etc etc.. It was really hard and tiring.. The time we finished? 4 plus the next morning.. goodness.. eyes really closing.. the rain didnt help things at all lor..

We had our share of mistakes and funny moments (running after tonners lol) and I think we all learnt a lot this time.. But at the same time I got a feeling of dread. This deployment was 1 day.. Summex is 4! Think we will all be switched off by the 3rd day.. lol now we're speculating on whos the CPC for Tryout.. haha..

3 more weeks to the end of all our suffering! Gambatte!

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Reach my prismic soul.
Benjamin Chen
Born 24 Jun 1986
Reborn 24 Aug 2003
Perpetually in a zombified state. Liverpool fan.
Keming Pri > BPGHS > PJC > SMU
WSO(ADA)
Cancer

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