POP LO!

On the 8 of april 2010... it was a day of celebration!!!!
POP!
Yup, i had my passing out parade or graduation parade as they call it now.
That marks the end of my 9 weeks of basic military training in pulau tekong bmtc school 2
NINJA company platoon 4!
The end of my army life as a recruit, i am now a private!
Haha.

Anyway, here are some reflections after serving NS for 9 weeks.
Army turned out way much better that i thought.
I was expecting the worst and was preparing myself to go through hell.
However, the trainings turned out to be rather manageable.
Many things did not prove to be too much of an obstacle to me.
I went through field camp, soc, route marches(right up to 24km) and so on...i did it.
And u know what?
Before every one of these arduous events i have never dreamed that i would be able to clear them.
The weekend before field camp, every minute of mine was spend think how am i going to survive ninja's field camp.
Yet, i did it with realising.
Before every route march, 4km, 6km, 8km, 12km, 16km and even 24km.
I will be like " how the hell am i supposed to walk this crazy distance with my full-battle-order on?".
Yet, i did it once again.
SOC, when we went thru the individual stations(11 stations in total), i was shivering at the top of jacob's ladder for 5mins before i got so much help from my commanders and i struggled my way down clumsily.
During the real test, i didn't even feel a thing( other than exhaustion) when i cleared the obstacles one at a time.
I passed my soc in the end.
I am not saying that these are some big deal or what-so-ever, i am just proud that i am able the go through all these "previously impossible" stuff.
And i am proud to say i went through my entire BMT without ever reporting sick, i have zero status record and not once did i went to the medical centre.
I endured all the shit.....just like everyone else.

But other than just going through BMT whats more important is learning from it.
Bmt was really a great learning journey for me.
It taught me that many things that we thought that are impossible are actually mental barriers that we place on ourselves.
If we have to will to do it, nothing is impossible, but obviously we did all these crazy stuff cos we were forced to do so and working under pressure somehow creates wonders.
It also taught me that the physical limits of men can be stretched, far far far, way further that oneself could imagine.
Whats tried?, just keep moving, just keep pushing on.
Desperate times calls for desperate measures.
If it wasn't for army i will never never never have have camo cream on my face for 5 bloody days, crawl in the mud, not shower for 5 days and dig a hole to shit in the jungle(where all houseflys will swarm u as u shit).

And just like this, the 9weeks were over in a blink of an eye.
Enlistment seemed like only yesterday.
Bmt was a positive experience which going through once is enough, haha.
Doing hundreds of push-ups for punishment daily was not funny.
However, after being accustomed to army life, the sudden change back to civilian life somehow creates a void in my life.
Suddenly there seemed to be no orders to follow, no schedules to rush after, nothing to do....
and most significantly no bunkmates, no platoonmates around.
Those are what i would certainly miss, the people.
My commanders, and the great pal i made in the 9 weeks.
We went all that shit together!
We worked together for 9 whole weeks.
And now its suddenly over.

Well, all great things will have to come to an end eventually.
The end of bmt only marks a new beginning to a new phase of my NS life.
I have got my posting order and i am posted to Home Team Academy to be a Police OCT INSP.
I dont really know what that is though, but it seemed to be a dream vocation and everyone else was saying how lucky it was for me to get that posting.
Haha.
Well, lucky me then.
I get to be an officer yet not go through the devilish gates of ocs.
Everyone says police is much slacker,
but as my PC once told me on my 1st bmt interview, we shall see, we shall see.

So i'm out of army for good.
No more field camp, shell scrape, green uniform, Sar-21, full-battle-order, route marches etc etc.
I'll have to start everything anew and it feels like everything i have learned in the past 9 weeks was for nothing.
Hmm, what a posting huh.
It was supposed to be a dream posting yet i still have a little inclination towards army life.
Must have spent too much time in army and since i have been mentally preparing myself to be posted to scs(specialist cadet school), this came as a bit of a shock.
Anyway, not like i have a choice too.
Shall start things with a positive mindset and believe that this will be a dream posting like they say.
Since its considered to be a "slack" place, there will be a chance and i will try my best to be one of the best cadet here.
No point not giving my best.

Wish me luck.
For a bright future,
Scott signs off.