Enlistment
- "We will preserve and protect the honour and independence of our country with our lives"
- The first meal I had in Tekong was the western food from School 2's Cookhouse. The portion was fulfilling (I can't finish it though), accompanied with fruits and dessert.
- Dragging up the huge duffel bag, field pack and my own civilian bag up to my bunk. Fortunately my bunk was located at the 2nd storey.
- Not knowing that my company is spelt as K-E-S-T-R-E-L during the first week.
Physical Training
- Walking round the cluster during Aerobic Conditioning, then progress to brisk walking and finally jogging.
- And how can I forget the OCPT after every AC. Conducted by the best OC in BMTC (or perhaps in the whole wide world) - CPT Erzwin Yem. We've done umpteen counts of push-ups, crunches, OC jumping jacks, etc.
- Aqua Jogging in the swimming pool during sunset, watching airplanes land at Changi Airport just across the sea.
- Skin was sunburnt badly, so much that I had to visit the MO.
H1N1 Outbreak
- Yup, it did spread across the sea to Tekong.
- Visited the Medical Center hours before the victim of the first case visited the MO.
- Out ration for weeks, missed the cordial drinks, desserts and soup.
- Intensive area cleaning and bunk inspection.
Rifle Presentation and Live Range
- Woken up at 4am in the morning by my sergeants and changing into Long 4 in 5 minutes.
- Being the Advance Party a.k.a. Sai Kang Warriors during the live range. Had to wake up at 5am, load all the necessary stuff into the tonner, and travel to the live range site before the first light in the morning. After that, had to prepare the targets, load up the magazines and issue them to the shooters. And special mentions to the bobo shooters for drawing extra-ordinary amounts of arms. Ended everything at 2am after picking up all the rounds (Around 7000 rounds had to be retrieved and manually counted).
- The 'Ninja Uncle' driving his lorry selling tidbits to everyone. Till now I still have no idea why people address him as the Ninja Uncle.
- Definitely not forgetting myself shooting with my rifle. The adrenaline feeling before shooting was subsequently dissipated when the recoil wasn't as much as I had imagined. Yes, you felt almost nothing except for the loud noise.
Urban Operations and Field Camp
- Our dear 1404 fell down upon storming the room during the UO mission, perhaps one of the funniest laughs I had.
- Shooting at the target boards just like how it was done in counter strike.
- Watching flash bang and smoke grenade puffing off.
- Digging the shell scrape was like looking for a piece of missing treasure in the wilderness.
- Watching thousands of fireflies flying around the trees and the starry night sky was breathtaking.
- Leopard crawling through the 100m BAC course with bullets flying above and sand penetrating into my uniform.
SITEST
- Repelling down the bridge using only the toggle rope. And that rope was tied to my waist all by myself.
- Someone from Bronco Company saw a crab crawling onto the LBV and alarmed everyone. Another brave soul speared the crab using the bayonet.
Grenade Throw
- Watching a live grenade being tossed from my hand, exploding with a massive impact and a loud 'BOOM'.
24km Route March
- Keep walking and walking, even though it's the middle of the night, everything is dark and we're walking like zombies due to the lack of sleep.
Graduation Parade
- Rehearsing under the hot sun on 3 occasions.
- *POM POM*: the signal to move off.
- Throwing of my jockey cap shouting "POP LOH".
