Encounter 2: During OCS (Jan 1998) Paula Tekong
I remembered I was in my service term just fresh into OCS. We went to Pulau Tekong for an overnight exercise. It was to train us in topology to prepare us for Jungle Training in 2 months time. The exercise was simple, each section of 7 men was to find their way around the island with a map and a compass. There were several checkpoints and each checkpoint has to be signed before we proceeded on to the next. There was a fixed route to take.
We proceeded on with the day session, everything went well from morning and we were progressing very well as a section. It was around 4pm and we were proceeding on to our last checkpoint for the day. I remembered it was checkpoint Delta (near a Heli Evac point) which was a deep forested area. As I was holding on to the signal set, I was tasked by my Section IC to stay put with another guy at a cross road while the others proceeded on to the checkpoint 1km away. I noticed the air around us was very still, no a single breeze, it was damp and eerie. As the area was forested, the afternoon sun and trees created a shadowy blanket over us. I was barely chatting with the other guy for 10mins when suddenly we heard someone screamed "Nah Beh!!!!!! ARRrrghhhh!!! Kan Ni Nah!!!". Then we saw our Section IC running towards us shouting vulgarities with the other 4 guys running after him. We just stood there as he ran past us...he looked spooked, lost, frightened. We asked one of the guys who stopped while the rest chased after him about what happened, he said the IC tore up our map and ran after seeing the checkpoint (which was an old tree). Shit, we were in deep shit because he had torn a RESTICTED MAP which was supposed to be returned. Losing that map or destroying that resulted in the whole team having to serve extra.
We decided to give chase for less than 300m when we noticed the whole group surround the IC. The section IC had fainted. I radio-ed for help and we waited until the safety officer arrived to bring him back to Tekong Camp Sick Bay. The rest of us were told to continue with a new map and to re-group before 2000hrs at the camp site.
This guy called Kang who was the 2IC led us to find the night checkpoint. It was already in the evening and Tekong was dark. Kang led us to this road with 2 paths, 1 path was open and the other path was blocked by branches and creepers. Any logical guy would have taken the 1st path (anyone using this road to place a checkpoint would have disturbed the branches and creepers, the 2nd path looked undisturbed), Kang took his parang and started bashing. It was getting dark and we lit our salem stick and poured the liquid into straws to place behind our helmets before we proceeded in. By the time we prepared to move into the path, dark fell and we visibility was very bad. We were each guided by the salem straw on the helmet of the person infront of us. We bashed in and grumbled why Kang chose this bloody path.
We have been bashing for 20mins when suddenly Kang started to shout our names loudly in the forest. (It was taboo to call someone's name at night especially in the forest and we made an agreement to call each other by numbers). I remembered I was the 2nd last guy from the back and the guy behind me was holding tightly to my radio set. Kang shouted numbered off (we were supposed to make sure everyone is hear so we called out our numbers starting from the last guy). I felt a tug at my radio as the guy behind me shouted '7', I followed by shouting '6'. Then guy 7 whispered to me that he heard someone behind him whispering '8'. I felt my hair stand....why all this suay things was happening to our section.
I tried to ignore and continued following the others infront. We reached an open area finally and everyone was basically pissed at Kang for leading us into this creepy path. We walked as a section along this open area when I noticed at the corner of my eyes that there were dark shadows or silhouettes of people squatting beside our path. I thought the others noticed so I told myself it might be "commandos" who were conducting training. I told the guy infront of me if he had seen because I was sure there was more than 2 sections of these "commandos" not squatting beside us as we walked past them. He replied..."will you shut up you chee bye, I never see anything so stop telling me". I was freaked out.....if he hasn't seen it, then what the hell did I see then?
By the time we found the checkpoint and reach the camp site, we were the last section to arrive. All of us were shagged out. I asked my instructor if there were any other units training today and he replied.."yes". I was relieved and thought nothing of my encounter.
2 weeks after the training one night during the night snack, my instructor revealed to us that there were no units training there. What we experienced was nothing new as other previous batches of trainees have had their encounter. The reason why he didn't mention to us was that he didn't want us spooked.
For once, I appreciated, We all appreciated, what he did.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Real Ghostly Encounters in NS
Well, I remember all ghostly encounters very clear and I'am glad I'am still in one piece. Over my past 2.5 years I've had quite a few. But after NS, I am happy to say that all these encounters have stopped. Probably NS was a time when I was at the lowest point of my life when it comes to physical and mental condition. Which was why there is a tendancy that we are proned to having that kind of experience with the 3rd kind.
Encounter 1: During BMT (Aug'97)
I was under-going my 2nd month, having failed IPPT again and again, I was one of the few guys who had to continue to stay in camp while some of those who passed could take a 1 week break. I remembered there were only 4 guys in my bunk during a Thursday night. It was also the start of the Hungry Ghost festival or 7th month. We were already quite spooked by all the ghost stories which were told to us by those who were booking out (bunch of assholes wanted to make life more miserable while they have a good time with their families).
I remembered we just finished a whole day of RT training (Remedial Physical Training) by the PTI (Physical Training Instructor) and we had an early night. The only entertainment we had was my portable hi-fi which we played Jacky Chueng's CD every night. It was my only CD which I brought in and we played this CD on repeat mode every night.
As usual, Jacky was crooning his songs when we fell asleep. That night, I was awoken by a very loud lady singing. I couldn't open my eyes wide but I was thinking to myself why did the radio station play such terrible music (half asleep, I cursed what lousy singer it was). The volume increased, I couldn't describe how awful the vocals sound but the lyrics did not make sense. It was like someone with tone-deaf singing in a language which consisted of "lau lau, wo wo, lau lau har lau wo wo laur waarr, haarr" it has lots of rrrrrr......and wwrrrrr...... whats more, the background music was so soft that you can only hear "bom tsk tsk, bom tsk tsk" which was the drums and cymbals. It continued for most of the night and though it irritated me, I was too tired to even wake up to switch to another station. It was loud though.....very loud. I feel into slumber...
When I woke up, some guys from the next bunk came and asked who was turning on the radio so loud last night. I remembered...the radio..hmm..I walked to my radio and checked, guess what? Jacky Chueng was still crooning in repeat-mode. Which means? Which means that noone touched the radio yesterday night, which means what we heard last night was..........
Silence.....we just looked at one another. How to explain what we heard? It was so close to our ears and so loud last night it was hard to imagine how a woman would be singing and if it's not the radio who could it be? We went to the other bunks to check, we found out that our bunk was the only bunk with a mini-compo.
When we re-composed ourselves, one guy from bunk 4 told us he saw 'something' last night...it was a lady with a child in her hands walking along the balcony. She was sighing and singing to the child while looking at the parade square. He saw her sigh loudly before throwing the kid down and then followed by jumping down. He looked really white when he told us.
It was spooky. After that incident, there were more stories from the other companies but maybe because we were the first ones to experience that, we were left alone. I don't remember I experienced anything else during my stay in Nee Soon.
Encounter 1: During BMT (Aug'97)
I was under-going my 2nd month, having failed IPPT again and again, I was one of the few guys who had to continue to stay in camp while some of those who passed could take a 1 week break. I remembered there were only 4 guys in my bunk during a Thursday night. It was also the start of the Hungry Ghost festival or 7th month. We were already quite spooked by all the ghost stories which were told to us by those who were booking out (bunch of assholes wanted to make life more miserable while they have a good time with their families).
I remembered we just finished a whole day of RT training (Remedial Physical Training) by the PTI (Physical Training Instructor) and we had an early night. The only entertainment we had was my portable hi-fi which we played Jacky Chueng's CD every night. It was my only CD which I brought in and we played this CD on repeat mode every night.
As usual, Jacky was crooning his songs when we fell asleep. That night, I was awoken by a very loud lady singing. I couldn't open my eyes wide but I was thinking to myself why did the radio station play such terrible music (half asleep, I cursed what lousy singer it was). The volume increased, I couldn't describe how awful the vocals sound but the lyrics did not make sense. It was like someone with tone-deaf singing in a language which consisted of "lau lau, wo wo, lau lau har lau wo wo laur waarr, haarr" it has lots of rrrrrr......and wwrrrrr...... whats more, the background music was so soft that you can only hear "bom tsk tsk, bom tsk tsk" which was the drums and cymbals. It continued for most of the night and though it irritated me, I was too tired to even wake up to switch to another station. It was loud though.....very loud. I feel into slumber...
When I woke up, some guys from the next bunk came and asked who was turning on the radio so loud last night. I remembered...the radio..hmm..I walked to my radio and checked, guess what? Jacky Chueng was still crooning in repeat-mode. Which means? Which means that noone touched the radio yesterday night, which means what we heard last night was..........
Silence.....we just looked at one another. How to explain what we heard? It was so close to our ears and so loud last night it was hard to imagine how a woman would be singing and if it's not the radio who could it be? We went to the other bunks to check, we found out that our bunk was the only bunk with a mini-compo.
When we re-composed ourselves, one guy from bunk 4 told us he saw 'something' last night...it was a lady with a child in her hands walking along the balcony. She was sighing and singing to the child while looking at the parade square. He saw her sigh loudly before throwing the kid down and then followed by jumping down. He looked really white when he told us.
It was spooky. After that incident, there were more stories from the other companies but maybe because we were the first ones to experience that, we were left alone. I don't remember I experienced anything else during my stay in Nee Soon.
BMT Mis-fits
Well let me tell you a few of those characters that I still remember.
Character No. 1: The Sotong
This particular species of recruit is one of the most dangerous. If you become his buddy his basic display of understand would cause not only his buddy but the whole platoon to get into trouble. Remeber the 'KOTEK' that I mentioned in my previous post? Well let's call him Sotong here.
Description: Skinny, pimpled, Dark Black plastic glasses, Chinese as first language, No girlfriend, A-Star student during his pre-NS days.
I remember the relationship we had with Sotong was a love - hate relationship. We loved him for the wrong reasons. He was the source of entertainment during night snack because everyone would be asking him about his gf (even though we know he had none). He was alway the target of our instructors as well as the majority. He was the guy in charge of pouring rubbish, washing toilet, doing fatigue. The reason is that he basically screws up on most of the tasks to him and as a result gets more task as a form of punishment. He is also one of the greatest asset of a PS because he creates the opportunity for our PS to punish the whole platoon. Remember all for one and one for all? Well that is a stupid philosophy. This guy will always be late for fall-in, will turn the wrong way during a parade, will follow the wrong commands, will say the wrong things, basically LOSER. I guess we need people like this not even in the army but real life.
Character 2: The Hero
This species always seem to think he represents the whole group's thinking. You never ever want to be near the hero. He will volunteer for everything, He sucks up to the instructors and he spies around the platoon to see if anything wrongfully is committed.
Description: Ultra egoistic, Loud, Mr. Know it All, Mr. Have-seen-it, Chauvanistic arsehole
I believe every platoon has a few heros, these are the people who stand up who aspire to become an officer. To go to OCS and become future leaders. When ever they have a chance to be an IC, they throw their power, shout at their peers and have no humane feelings for their colleagues. This person can be seen most of the time at the company line office where he does admin work for the instructors as well as running to the canteen to buy curry-puff, kopi, nasi-lemak for the instructors. These people do make it to OCS (I shall cover these species when I write more about OCS - Officer Cadet School).
Character 3: The Kia-See King
This species basically is scared of every single thing. He makes sures that he does everything that the instructors tell him to not because he aspires to be THE HERO but he submits because of fear. Fear of punishment, Fear of rejection from his peers.
Description: Comes in different sizes and shapes. Have high tendancy to crack during intense training and conditions.
The Kia-See King is quite hard to spot because of his availability to blend in well with everyone and basically agreeing to the vast majority. However, once given a task which requires to lead or requires critical thinking - he cracks. This is evident when he uses qoutes others to get the job done. Popular quotes are 'because Sergent says so..' , 'I scared later I kenna.....', 'help leh.....', 'dun like that lah later Sergent.....'. When it comes to jungle training or section movement, this guy would shout for people to cover him but he will never cover you. Can be found hiding away from the action (but not to be confused with another species called the Shiam or Taiji King). Most dangerous during live firing or grenade live training. He usually cracks but is too scared to tell or show. Some Bo-bo shooters falls into the category (Bo-bo shooters are people who cannot aim and hit the target during firing of live rounds). Kia-See King usually have a chicken heart so during the midst of high activity or action, he gets lost and may have tendancy to commit suicide if not discovered at the right time. This guy usually will not want to hear ghost stories too. (I will share some personal experience when it comes to Ghost in my later posts).
Character 4: The Slacker - Shiam King
This species also stand up in the crowd. Most are untidy and look very sloppy. They are most vulnerable during 'turn-out' or 'stand-by bed'. They are extremely dangerous on these occasions because their behavior is uncontrollable. They have no disregard for policy or instructions, most of the time causing others to be punished together with them.
Description: Smart 4 sleeves being folded below the elbow. Boots unpolished. Wears the same underwear for 1 week. Un-washed No. 4. Have no proper hygine. Usually have no supply of toilet paper roll for the whole 5-months. May have Body Odour (BO).
The slacker or shiam king have a distinct habit of not following orders properly. Have dis-regard for timing. Can be found sleeping most of the time on his bed without taking off his uniform or boots. I remembered this guy spending 1 week out-field training and then coming back to camp, without bathing but falling asleep with that stinking attire on his bed. His bedsheets are usually yellow and it is unfortunate to be marching/sitting/sleeping/sharing a tent/bathing beside him. Ok, you may ask why bathing? Well this person will not even bother to buy his shampoo or soap but tends to borrow. But of course, being a slacker or shiam king does not necessary make him a bad guy. He just don't care about what others think.
Character 5: The Wa-yang King
This species is not easy to spot. Has exceptional ability to react, talk, counter, imitate - a talent who qualifies for star search. Can be dangerous or an asset to a platoon. Do not be confuse with the Shiam King. The Wa-yang King has high EQ and is versatile to changing physical and mental conditions. His survival is to change to avoid detection.
Description: N.A. You can only differentiate him from the rest after fine observation of his EQ.
Wa-yang King only volunteers for things when it can score big political points with the instructors. He will look out for projects or assignments which is visually obvious to the instructors and his peers of his efforts. Even simple assignments like being the song IC can score big political points because his voice is the loudest, he boost morale, he make sures the platoon marches in the right timing, he creates and he gets noticed. Most people knows him and appreciates his effort because music in the army sung by 50 men can be quite an up-lifting experience. I mean Wa-yang and Music comes together right?
Character No. 1: The Sotong
This particular species of recruit is one of the most dangerous. If you become his buddy his basic display of understand would cause not only his buddy but the whole platoon to get into trouble. Remeber the 'KOTEK' that I mentioned in my previous post? Well let's call him Sotong here.
Description: Skinny, pimpled, Dark Black plastic glasses, Chinese as first language, No girlfriend, A-Star student during his pre-NS days.
I remember the relationship we had with Sotong was a love - hate relationship. We loved him for the wrong reasons. He was the source of entertainment during night snack because everyone would be asking him about his gf (even though we know he had none). He was alway the target of our instructors as well as the majority. He was the guy in charge of pouring rubbish, washing toilet, doing fatigue. The reason is that he basically screws up on most of the tasks to him and as a result gets more task as a form of punishment. He is also one of the greatest asset of a PS because he creates the opportunity for our PS to punish the whole platoon. Remember all for one and one for all? Well that is a stupid philosophy. This guy will always be late for fall-in, will turn the wrong way during a parade, will follow the wrong commands, will say the wrong things, basically LOSER. I guess we need people like this not even in the army but real life.
Character 2: The Hero
This species always seem to think he represents the whole group's thinking. You never ever want to be near the hero. He will volunteer for everything, He sucks up to the instructors and he spies around the platoon to see if anything wrongfully is committed.
Description: Ultra egoistic, Loud, Mr. Know it All, Mr. Have-seen-it, Chauvanistic arsehole
I believe every platoon has a few heros, these are the people who stand up who aspire to become an officer. To go to OCS and become future leaders. When ever they have a chance to be an IC, they throw their power, shout at their peers and have no humane feelings for their colleagues. This person can be seen most of the time at the company line office where he does admin work for the instructors as well as running to the canteen to buy curry-puff, kopi, nasi-lemak for the instructors. These people do make it to OCS (I shall cover these species when I write more about OCS - Officer Cadet School).
Character 3: The Kia-See King
This species basically is scared of every single thing. He makes sures that he does everything that the instructors tell him to not because he aspires to be THE HERO but he submits because of fear. Fear of punishment, Fear of rejection from his peers.
Description: Comes in different sizes and shapes. Have high tendancy to crack during intense training and conditions.
The Kia-See King is quite hard to spot because of his availability to blend in well with everyone and basically agreeing to the vast majority. However, once given a task which requires to lead or requires critical thinking - he cracks. This is evident when he uses qoutes others to get the job done. Popular quotes are 'because Sergent says so..' , 'I scared later I kenna.....', 'help leh.....', 'dun like that lah later Sergent.....'. When it comes to jungle training or section movement, this guy would shout for people to cover him but he will never cover you. Can be found hiding away from the action (but not to be confused with another species called the Shiam or Taiji King). Most dangerous during live firing or grenade live training. He usually cracks but is too scared to tell or show. Some Bo-bo shooters falls into the category (Bo-bo shooters are people who cannot aim and hit the target during firing of live rounds). Kia-See King usually have a chicken heart so during the midst of high activity or action, he gets lost and may have tendancy to commit suicide if not discovered at the right time. This guy usually will not want to hear ghost stories too. (I will share some personal experience when it comes to Ghost in my later posts).
Character 4: The Slacker - Shiam King
This species also stand up in the crowd. Most are untidy and look very sloppy. They are most vulnerable during 'turn-out' or 'stand-by bed'. They are extremely dangerous on these occasions because their behavior is uncontrollable. They have no disregard for policy or instructions, most of the time causing others to be punished together with them.
Description: Smart 4 sleeves being folded below the elbow. Boots unpolished. Wears the same underwear for 1 week. Un-washed No. 4. Have no proper hygine. Usually have no supply of toilet paper roll for the whole 5-months. May have Body Odour (BO).
The slacker or shiam king have a distinct habit of not following orders properly. Have dis-regard for timing. Can be found sleeping most of the time on his bed without taking off his uniform or boots. I remembered this guy spending 1 week out-field training and then coming back to camp, without bathing but falling asleep with that stinking attire on his bed. His bedsheets are usually yellow and it is unfortunate to be marching/sitting/sleeping/sharing a tent/bathing beside him. Ok, you may ask why bathing? Well this person will not even bother to buy his shampoo or soap but tends to borrow. But of course, being a slacker or shiam king does not necessary make him a bad guy. He just don't care about what others think.
Character 5: The Wa-yang King
This species is not easy to spot. Has exceptional ability to react, talk, counter, imitate - a talent who qualifies for star search. Can be dangerous or an asset to a platoon. Do not be confuse with the Shiam King. The Wa-yang King has high EQ and is versatile to changing physical and mental conditions. His survival is to change to avoid detection.
Description: N.A. You can only differentiate him from the rest after fine observation of his EQ.
Wa-yang King only volunteers for things when it can score big political points with the instructors. He will look out for projects or assignments which is visually obvious to the instructors and his peers of his efforts. Even simple assignments like being the song IC can score big political points because his voice is the loudest, he boost morale, he make sures the platoon marches in the right timing, he creates and he gets noticed. Most people knows him and appreciates his effort because music in the army sung by 50 men can be quite an up-lifting experience. I mean Wa-yang and Music comes together right?
Reflections from the Past: THE NS DAZE (1997-1999)
Motivated by my wife and time, I'am going to share my 2.5 years of National Service experiences.
The first 5-months (Basic Military Training)
I remembered the day I received my national service call up from a Government Registered letter from CMPB. First reaction 'Siao liao....'. I had to do my medical check at CMPB HQ. Tried my best to 'keng' even from taking the photograph (intentionally made myself look ultra-pathetic, I later regreted because my 11B 'NS IC' photo for 2 years made me look like a spastic IMH patient). It didn't help. I told the MO (Medical Officer) that I had duck feet but I merely got a PES B. With reality kicking in, I started my preparation for my June intake (directly after my graduation from NgeeAnn).
Being an overweight kid, I embarked on my journey of fear. I was in pre-training batch of 2months because I failed my IPPT. Those that passed their IPPT test would go directly to the 3-months. I had an advancement of 2 months. My other buddies who were classified under Obsese would start BMT at the later half of 1997. Being one of the first among my mates to start BMT in June, many were excited for me. I was the guinea pig who would be able to share my experience with the rest.
The night before NS, I had a nice family dinner together with my gf (now my wife). It was sad, reminded me of the last supper. My parents were saying it's only 2.5 years and it'll be over, my gf was upset because it means not seeing me for the first 4 weeks. Me? I was down in the dumps, leaving to a place of uncertainty and to be together with a bunch of new misfits in a similar situation like myself. My best buddies made an appointment to send me off at CMPB at 11am the next day, I guess they were more excited than me probably gleefully soaking in the atmosphere of seeing their friend the first to go to NS.
The next morning, I woke up, saw myself in the mirror and look sheepishly that I will lose my haircut. FYI- my parents and gf did not send me off because I requested them not to. I don't need my love ones there to make me feel even more demoralized than ever. I took my bag (just underwear, some clothes and my slipper) and off I went by cab.
When I arrived there, I met my friends who were darn happy to see me. It was like a carnival with people's families and gfs all crowded together. I was down. Very down. I registered myself and was told that in 20mins I will have to bid farewell and to take a bus. No explanation was given to where I was going. Time passed quickly and before I knew it I was loaded up into an air-con coach with the rest of the other guys. I guess everyone in the bus felt the same way. You could see the crowd waving (I don't know why the hell they look so happy, I think it was more of a mocking happiness to see the guys in the bus moving off to serve the nation and that they still had time to prepare for their own NS in months to come). I avoided eye-contact with my friends as I waved a final goodbye and looked to the next guy sitting beside me (he looked like his face was lang ga by car).
The bus ride took an 1hour before we arrived at Geat Hong camp. It was in Chua Chu Kang, I thought it was the camp in which we were going to spend our 5 months there. But was told by the sergant in the bus that we are headed to Ngee Soon after this stop. We went down from the bus and stood in line in front of a huge warehouse. There, we were shouted by some guys in vest and slacks to stand properly. We were issued our 'Ali-Baba' bag and were told to open up the bag widely for the rest of our army kit (most of the stuff issued will stay on with us for the next 2.5 years). I forgotten much about the contents but my army uniform, boots and a whole lot of junk was dumped into the bag as we moved along the queue. Took us 2 hours to get things sorted before we loaded up the bus again. Then it was another 1 hour ride to our final destination, Nee Soon Camp.
The first 5-months (Basic Military Training)
I remembered the day I received my national service call up from a Government Registered letter from CMPB. First reaction 'Siao liao....'. I had to do my medical check at CMPB HQ. Tried my best to 'keng' even from taking the photograph (intentionally made myself look ultra-pathetic, I later regreted because my 11B 'NS IC' photo for 2 years made me look like a spastic IMH patient). It didn't help. I told the MO (Medical Officer) that I had duck feet but I merely got a PES B. With reality kicking in, I started my preparation for my June intake (directly after my graduation from NgeeAnn).
Being an overweight kid, I embarked on my journey of fear. I was in pre-training batch of 2months because I failed my IPPT. Those that passed their IPPT test would go directly to the 3-months. I had an advancement of 2 months. My other buddies who were classified under Obsese would start BMT at the later half of 1997. Being one of the first among my mates to start BMT in June, many were excited for me. I was the guinea pig who would be able to share my experience with the rest.
The night before NS, I had a nice family dinner together with my gf (now my wife). It was sad, reminded me of the last supper. My parents were saying it's only 2.5 years and it'll be over, my gf was upset because it means not seeing me for the first 4 weeks. Me? I was down in the dumps, leaving to a place of uncertainty and to be together with a bunch of new misfits in a similar situation like myself. My best buddies made an appointment to send me off at CMPB at 11am the next day, I guess they were more excited than me probably gleefully soaking in the atmosphere of seeing their friend the first to go to NS.
The next morning, I woke up, saw myself in the mirror and look sheepishly that I will lose my haircut. FYI- my parents and gf did not send me off because I requested them not to. I don't need my love ones there to make me feel even more demoralized than ever. I took my bag (just underwear, some clothes and my slipper) and off I went by cab.
When I arrived there, I met my friends who were darn happy to see me. It was like a carnival with people's families and gfs all crowded together. I was down. Very down. I registered myself and was told that in 20mins I will have to bid farewell and to take a bus. No explanation was given to where I was going. Time passed quickly and before I knew it I was loaded up into an air-con coach with the rest of the other guys. I guess everyone in the bus felt the same way. You could see the crowd waving (I don't know why the hell they look so happy, I think it was more of a mocking happiness to see the guys in the bus moving off to serve the nation and that they still had time to prepare for their own NS in months to come). I avoided eye-contact with my friends as I waved a final goodbye and looked to the next guy sitting beside me (he looked like his face was lang ga by car).
The bus ride took an 1hour before we arrived at Geat Hong camp. It was in Chua Chu Kang, I thought it was the camp in which we were going to spend our 5 months there. But was told by the sergant in the bus that we are headed to Ngee Soon after this stop. We went down from the bus and stood in line in front of a huge warehouse. There, we were shouted by some guys in vest and slacks to stand properly. We were issued our 'Ali-Baba' bag and were told to open up the bag widely for the rest of our army kit (most of the stuff issued will stay on with us for the next 2.5 years). I forgotten much about the contents but my army uniform, boots and a whole lot of junk was dumped into the bag as we moved along the queue. Took us 2 hours to get things sorted before we loaded up the bus again. Then it was another 1 hour ride to our final destination, Nee Soon Camp.
We were lead infront of the Barber shop. Erm....I wouldn't even call it a barbershop. There were just 4 chairs, 4 shavers, 4 barbers in the canteen. We were lined up in 4 rows and then each got his special haircut. The authenic Ngee Soon BOTAK Recruit hairstyle.
I can't describe the haircut experience, but if you ever watched Discovery Channel and seen how they shave wool off the sheeps? Yes, the experience is similar except that the Sheeps were handled much better. My head was sore from the shaver. The barber had no emotions and his shaver was digging into my scalp. What an asshole. Anyway, after the haircut everyone looked the same. Yes, we looked all the same. Vunerable, naked, embaressed - we looked like a dickhead. Like a bunch of sotongs.
It was already 4pm plus, we were lead back to the company line (the mini parade square) where we met our sergents (or instructors) who would be responsible for the rest of our lives for 5months. I was allocated bunk 3 with 14 people. I can't remember much of their names except for Adrain, Kelvin, Kevin, Ronald. Ronald became my buddy.
We were told to assemble back down to the company line at 5pm in Smart No. 4. We took our time packing stuff into our locker and wearing our uniform. I was lost, I was not from the NCC and the army does not teach people how to wear their uniform, tie the shoelace and stuff. We relied on Kevin and Ronald who became our advisors since they were from NCC. I was glad and relieved that we had such people to guide us.
When it was time to assemble, someone shouted 'fall-in! fall-in!'. There was a state of panick, everyone just left the bunk, ran down and assembled at the company line. Damn...it was the most confusing and comical sight you ever seen. Some guys in slippers, some guys with army uniform and track shoes, some guys with singlet and slacks, some guys with power all over his body with no.4 but shorts. It was crazy...!! The platoon sergent (this guy would be the main instructor and father of all of us) told us to stand properly. He sat down by the company line while we stood. He said (his words firmly in my mind):' Gentlemen, welcome to Ngee Soon camp, Gryphon Company, Platoon 1. Today, I will teach you a few basic things you need to understand. Rule 1, greet people according to rank. Not uncle, brother, friend. They are not your buddy, they are your superior. You respect people according to their rank in the army. So, you will greet as sergent as sergent. Warrant Officers and Officers as SIR.' Understand anot?
We were silent. Someone shouted loudly 'yes sir!'. Platoon sergent replied...'see gentlemen, you guys don't understand english. I said when you greet, greet sergent by sergent. officer by Sir. you don't seem to understand right?'
This time everyone shouted 'yes, sergent!'. Platoon sergent seemed pleased and said ' ok, now that you understood english, I'll teach you some basic excercise you need. You see in army we believe in keeping people fighting fit for the nation. But before you fight you need to understand how to do the basic excercise. Have you guys done push-ups? Yes right?' He demonstrated by going on push up position and then while in that position he said ' when I say knock it down, it means to go down on this position'. When I say 'down, you do 1 push up, understand?' We said 'YES SERGENT!'. He then proceed to a sit-up position and said ' When I say change, you change to crunchers. When I say Up you do 1 sit-up, understand?' We replied 'YES SERGENT!'
That started our first briefing or the basic form of punishment every NS guy would have had before. It writes a chapter of emotional and physical punishment that we have to go through for the first 1 year of our life as an army boy.
From now I will refer to Platoon Sergent as PS. PS then shouted..'Gentlemen, knock it down'. We looked at each other and then took our time to get into push up position. Some guys were sweeping stones and granite from the tar floor of the company line. PS said 'Very slow...recover'. We stood up. PS shouted 'Gentlemen this is the army you better move fast, knock it down!' We got down and up, I can't remember how many times. But it was too much for me to remember. Then we changed to sit-up positions and back to push-ups. PS said in a repetitive robotic tone 'Change, Change, Change' we became like a tortise flipping from push ups to sit ups position. Oh yes, we were so tired and mind you we had not even done 1 single full push up or sit up.
After 30mins, he said: ' Gentlemen, you guys are like a bunch of school girls, I give you 5mins. Change into No. 4 like what I'am wearing and make sure you look like a recruit. MOVE!'.
We went up and got properly dressed even though we were already in No.4, we were lucky to have those NCC guys explain in advance. We rushed down again and assembled. PS shouted 'Fall in' and then some idiots came again with No. 4 tucked into their pants. It was really funny and most of the people started laughing. PS then told the platoon 'knock it down 20'. Everyone did at their own time and it was un-coordinated. By the time all finished PS said again 'you guys don't know how to count, i count for you. Do it together!'. He proceeded to count from 1 - 20 in like 20mins. (*I will cut short about this because it's taking too long to even explain the trauma of mental and physical torture on our first day).
We proceeded to the cookhouse for dinner lined up with the other new recruits. We queued at the training shed beside the cookhouse and waited for our company's turn to get called. Once we got called by a COS (Company Order Sergent), we walked to the cookhouse to collect our trays. Back in the days of my BMT, the food was cooked by NS cooks. Which means we didn't have the luxury of eating from plates and food catered by Singapore Food Industries. We ate from metal trays and food served by NS Cooks (mostly ah bengs with tatoos who looked like gangsters). We had to hold out trays in both hands, and the cooks would scoop and slame it on your tray as if he owes you a living. Oh yes I remembered the first welcome dinner was Hainan Chicken Rice. Well I guess you must be thinking that Singapore's famous local delight would be served in the style of Boon Tong Kee. Please wake up your idea la, it was 2 small little drumsticks coated with gravy which is more oil (you could see the layer of oil 3cm thick over the chicken) and rice which basically taste hard. Oh yes, the trays after eating are washed by each recruit and yes, noone bothers to wash the trays that clean. So, it's a matter of luck if you get a clean tray or a dirty oily tray. If you have a dirty oily tray, just eat the top layer of rice and leave the bottom layer of rice or food untouched (that separates the dirty part from the clean part).
After dinner, we went back to our bunks and had some free time until 8pm. We were called to assemble in PT Kit (stands for Physical Training - Singlet and Shorts). It was time for night snack. There was milo and buns in a container and there was a chair for the PS to sit. We all sat in rows infront of him while he sat there. The topic for the night was introduction. About 40 guys for 1 platoon and 1 platoon had 4 sections which means each section had 10 guys). There was one guy who stood out, he was the one of the clowns who tucked in his no.4. PS gave him the name of 'KOTEK' I think it means dickhead or something in malay. I don't know there were so many malay names given to us by our sergents because majority were malays.
It was 9pm when we made our way back to our bunk (bunk is a place where we sleep). We did our bedsheets our own way, most of us slept because we had to wake up at 0600hrs the next day. I guess everyone was restless that night, I couldn't sleep. It was a sad night for me, I couldn't make phone calls to my parents and my gf. Noone could call their families that night because the public phone (there was only 1 public phone for the whole 50 guys). It was sad...we just getting to know one another. Anyway, it was just awkward. We had nothing in common except for being in the same boat. Before I knew, I was in my slumber thinking of what's to come.....
[I will cut short on day to day stuff but will continue on some particular experience I had while I under go my training in my new posting]
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
2 days MC...
Who invented this great piece of paper which empowers the doctor to provide relieve to the patient after his "3mins" diagnosis and then charge him a fee for medicine?
I think MC is one of the best things in life when you need get away from all that political and work related clutter from the office. Definately worth the visit to the doctor.
Well hell, I got mine for 2 days and the doc even wanted to offer me 3 days. Hmm.......let me calculate the ROI for MC.
Cost of MC: $30
No. of Days MC: 2 days
Cost of MC per day: $15
Pay of Work per day: Assuming $100
Pay of Work while on MC for 2 days: $100-15 = $85 (ROI)
So you see, it pays to take MC rather than Leave.
But seriously, I needed the rest. Office days have been like a freaking circus. Yes, we have clowns and monkeys as the main attraction. Well, let me tell you a story of a clown that aspires to manage people. Let's call him Bozo.
I'll provide you a list of FABE nono.....it's not Features, Advantages, Benefits and Evidence but Features, Arsehole Behavior, Evidence. Bozo is a guy that is....
Lacking Self Confidence why? He is extremely uncomfortable when being asked his opinion or direction, has no clear idea what he wants and is not specific on his request. This results in arsehole behavior of avoiding issues and escaping meetings. Evidence is obvious in the way he plans other meetings that clashes with one another, then pick the easier meeting to attend to. Or simply say..."Sorry I'am busy".
Unable to Manage why? Ok let's say you have a group of people reporting to you, obviously all portfolio requires his attention and his direction. Managing people requires time to understand their needs and to create the proper environment in which they are able to complete their task within the specified deadline. Expectations have to be made clear to staff and also to provide support and advise when issues are too complicated for them to comprehend. But the sad truth is that he manages people by enforcing a schedule system where he tracks each member for the task that they set themselves. How in the world would new staff be able to do a schedule if they don't understand the fundamental process? Hello...we're talking about Marketing here not Production. Arsehole behavior again shows that it demoralizes and confuses the individual and with unclear goals and expectations, the team remains stagnanted. Evidence shows that whenever there is a problem he goes way back to "Schedule".
Lack of Leadership why? Imagine this scenario, you're an officer in the army responsible for a platoon of elite soldiers. The soldiers come from different background in expertise and the officer came directly from the officer school. Without real war exposire, the officer puts his men into lectures about warfare tactics. (Chinese saying: Talking war on paper...). The soliders or his men fear him because of his rank and he does not train together with them during peace time. When war comes, when soldiers are thrown into the battlefield, he shouts commands from behind the hill (mind you, he ain't even standing on the hill overlooking the action). What sort of leader is he? What a pussy. When his men returned with battle scars and fatigue he asks them to improve themselves and that he feels that they should have "done this" "done that". What's the rationale of saying so much when infact there is no leadership by example? In life we don't need people to manage us but we need leaders to inspire, motivate, inject passion into our lives.
Enough said. I'am still on MC so give me time to collect my thoughts properly.
I think MC is one of the best things in life when you need get away from all that political and work related clutter from the office. Definately worth the visit to the doctor.
Well hell, I got mine for 2 days and the doc even wanted to offer me 3 days. Hmm.......let me calculate the ROI for MC.
Cost of MC: $30
No. of Days MC: 2 days
Cost of MC per day: $15
Pay of Work per day: Assuming $100
Pay of Work while on MC for 2 days: $100-15 = $85 (ROI)
So you see, it pays to take MC rather than Leave.
But seriously, I needed the rest. Office days have been like a freaking circus. Yes, we have clowns and monkeys as the main attraction. Well, let me tell you a story of a clown that aspires to manage people. Let's call him Bozo.
I'll provide you a list of FABE nono.....it's not Features, Advantages, Benefits and Evidence but Features, Arsehole Behavior, Evidence. Bozo is a guy that is....
Lacking Self Confidence why? He is extremely uncomfortable when being asked his opinion or direction, has no clear idea what he wants and is not specific on his request. This results in arsehole behavior of avoiding issues and escaping meetings. Evidence is obvious in the way he plans other meetings that clashes with one another, then pick the easier meeting to attend to. Or simply say..."Sorry I'am busy".
Unable to Manage why? Ok let's say you have a group of people reporting to you, obviously all portfolio requires his attention and his direction. Managing people requires time to understand their needs and to create the proper environment in which they are able to complete their task within the specified deadline. Expectations have to be made clear to staff and also to provide support and advise when issues are too complicated for them to comprehend. But the sad truth is that he manages people by enforcing a schedule system where he tracks each member for the task that they set themselves. How in the world would new staff be able to do a schedule if they don't understand the fundamental process? Hello...we're talking about Marketing here not Production. Arsehole behavior again shows that it demoralizes and confuses the individual and with unclear goals and expectations, the team remains stagnanted. Evidence shows that whenever there is a problem he goes way back to "Schedule".
Lack of Leadership why? Imagine this scenario, you're an officer in the army responsible for a platoon of elite soldiers. The soldiers come from different background in expertise and the officer came directly from the officer school. Without real war exposire, the officer puts his men into lectures about warfare tactics. (Chinese saying: Talking war on paper...). The soliders or his men fear him because of his rank and he does not train together with them during peace time. When war comes, when soldiers are thrown into the battlefield, he shouts commands from behind the hill (mind you, he ain't even standing on the hill overlooking the action). What sort of leader is he? What a pussy. When his men returned with battle scars and fatigue he asks them to improve themselves and that he feels that they should have "done this" "done that". What's the rationale of saying so much when infact there is no leadership by example? In life we don't need people to manage us but we need leaders to inspire, motivate, inject passion into our lives.
Enough said. I'am still on MC so give me time to collect my thoughts properly.
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