I just finished my two weeks confinment in OCS. Actually, the first part for all new cadets is called the "common leadership module"where it is basically a orientation period for all cadets. On the first day itself, I got my one white bar and formation tag. Pasting on the rank and formation badge honestly felt more scary than anything hahaha... didnt feel any pride at all lor was just thinking about the tekan sessions that lay ahead.
I was posted to Sierra wing! I was surpirsed to see that my platoon had a lot of girls, re-coursees and even some older people who already had children! Not like BMT at all where everyone just came from JC and were all guys. So we all just gathered at this place called the warriors hall, talk a bit and then went to shift our stuff over to our bunks...
Did I mention that in OCS the bunks are made only for two people? Again this was very different from BMT where 16 people shared a bunk. Some people were excited about it. But for me, I think I would like having the "communal" feeling where our whole section could just chill in our bunk and interact more with each other. Also, as all of us are now more separated in the different rooms, it makes spreading messages like a lot harder to do urgh. Ya lah so we just quickly put our stuff in our cupboards then start doing activities already. I was relieved they didnt do a "everything out" because I really brought like a ungodly amount of things into camp hahaha.
The whole scheduly was quite packed lah. The first week we started doing a lot of things already. We had like nearly daily ciruit trainings which were damn tiring but fun, one route march, a field camp and daaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn a lot of lectures on very random stuff. Got some lectures about singapore's relationship with malaysia and even one about public speaking hahaha I found it very random!
Oh but about the field camp, in the end it wasnt really a field camp hahaha. More of like a adventure camp or something. There were a few team building games and we had to make our section flag and cheers... didnt feel very army-like at all haha except for the fact that we had to eat army rations! We also ended up not sleeping in the field because there was a thunder storm so we just sat on the parade square gallery instead XD very funny hahaha.. oh ya the camp is also only two days and one night so it really didnt feel like anything much. Before that I was so worried about the camp for nothing haha. Oh. and on the morning of our field camp we also had our tower run and confidence jump which were both very shiok! the tower run was basically just running up the SAFTI tower. The run didnt feel very hard at all actually although the tower seemed very high... but the view on top was amazing and cannot be described. It was truly unforgettable haha. The confidence jump was also more fun than anything- we basically just needed to jump off a 5m tower into the swimming pool. For me it was easy cus I jumped down higher places before so it ended up just being a refreshing morning dip in the pool. But ofc, there were some people who had a fear of heights and took a longer time to make the leap... but in the end everyone made it so hurray!
Our second week was eveeeen more jam packed. We had our first two exam papers on map reading and safety regulations (yes, we have to actually study in OCS :( ), we also had our IPPT, Two freaking route marches, more lectures, a parade with rehearsals and on the last day we had our initiation ceremony plus our chemical defence.
For our initiation ceremony, we knew that there would be a tekan session prepared for us and they would probably turn us out. True enough at 3am in the morning, they started banging on all our doors hahaha was even earlier than my alarm which I had set at 3:30am just to prepare for the turnout! Ya then they asked us to change two times and finally we had to gather in our FBO with our field pack items and stuff at the parade square. At the parade square we did some 5BX, everything in and out etc.... It really isnt as hard as it sounds tho! But for me I forgotten to put on my rank and formation badge hahaha so had to do a bit of extra pushups sigh. Was quite sad also luh cus I thought I had prepared well for the turnout.
Ya after that we went into the ceremonial hall where we did a short parade thing before getting our second bar! Again, there was no sense of pride for me hahaha cus now it means that we had no more "immunity" to hardcore punishments and that our easy days were over. Haiz but I tried not to think of it as that day was our bookout day as well.
After that, we did our chemical defence exercise which was really nothing much. My mask actually didnt work and all the tear gas kept going inside it. But then again they used to little gas that it didnt really affect me anyway. Apparently they really toned it down for our year as my seniors said that it used to be so bad that they could feel their whole body tingling the moment they step inside the gas room! Ya and we had to wear this very burdensome suit and mask which made me feel super hot and stuffy urgh...
BOOKOUT LOH! hahaha this was the moment we were all waiting for! There was a short programme planned out for all families to come down and visit the area and listen to some speeches! it was very nice to see my parents and brothers after 14 days :) We chit-chatted a bit and ate the buffet food before chioning out haha. I asked them if they wanted to tour around SAFTI but they were all also too lazy haha. So we just took a car and zoomed out looking forward to home sweet home! I really loved my family for coming down just for me hahaha
Yeap we had a long weekend due to labour day as well. Went out a loooooot during the long weekend until got headache hahaha. Even had a barbeque with my new section mates as well. Oh ya, many of us also felt quite sad as after the two weeks, many of our section mates would be leaving to join the Navy/ Airforce so it was really like seeing some of our good friends leave... but alas such is life hahaha. At least we would get to see each other in our last three months of cadet training during our Joint term.
hahaha okay I think thats about it bah. turned out even longer than my BMT re-cap hahaha. I think they next few weeks are going to be super tough... Im quite worried I cannot take it but I will try to Jia you okay! I want to prove to myself that I am stronger than I think I am and I also want to take home some stories to share with others in my time in OCS (cus I think my life also very boring so far haha). I will try my best not to go out of course and continue updating this blog with more adventures from OCS.I hope this would help anyone in the future who is worried about entering OCS :) Actually, I am going to book in later already so Im gonna go off to relac and sleep first hahaha so goodzbyez and see you again soon!
Saturday, 2 May 2015
And so the story starts...
Actually my story kinda started 3 months back already, but I'll just give a re-cap of everything that happened pre-OCS(currently going into my 3rd week now).
As usual, I served BMT in Tekong like everyone else.I was under this "Enhanced Leadership Batch" probably because I was from a JC and had good results. I dont really agree with how they discriminate between people with different results so openly, but I guess the good thing is that you will be grouped with people that you will more likely know. At least for me, many people knew each other already as we all came from JC and met each other through inter-school events previously!
Soooo... in BMT I was in 5th company! Had a reaaaaaaally great time there which was a lot better than I had expected. I think it is true that NS really became a lot easier than it was before. Before enlisting on 4 Feb 2015, I was srsly very worried cus of all the things that I had heard about NS and expected the worst. But eventually, it really wasnt as bad as I thought! The physical and mental stress was really very manageable. Yes I did get homesick at times but really it is very easy to get used to it! Of course, I could have been lucky to get platoon mates and commanders that I really liked...(but if you are worrying that you wont be with people that you like, I think just dont worry so much! I know it is easier said than done to just "stop worrying", but I just have to say that being forced to live, eat and sleep together does something that can make the worse of enemies become at least okay-ish friends hahaha)
But having said that, I did learn a lot of things from BMT as well. I never expected this as I thought that I would immediately hate NS and just go through the whole thing without using any brains! But I think in the end everyone knew we had grown one way or another. For me, I think the most important things I had learnt was how to treasure my family a loooooot more as well as how to control my emotions better i.e stop being so worried all the time and learn how to relac when got relac time so that you can rest up for the day ahead. Even now I am still continuing to learn a lot of personal qualities stuff!
Mmmmm.. maybe I will just share how my BMT was a bit different from the others in one aspect... THE FIELD CAMP!!!! Always thought of as the hardest part of BMT, I was very anxious about it but at the same time I wanted to go in and get over with it. Sure enough, I scraped through the first few days with my temperature averaging above 37.5 degrees constantly! Quite unlucky ah cus with that blardy helmet and ILBV vest on it makes me more prone than I already am to heat exhaution and my Company's field camp was one of the more "Xiong" ones already!
But then on the stupid shellscrape day once I was about done digging my shellscrape... BOOM! My temperature shot up to 39.5! Woa I could barely even walk straight... In the end I decided I had to tell my commanders lah. Unfortunately, although I thought I could just cool down and join back the training, they actually pulled me out of the whole field camp instead hahaha. I felt so numb inside at the point and just could not comprehend what happened hahaha... I felt like I had failed myself by not completing the five days of field camp. But worse off, I knew I probably had to re-do field camp with another company with people I dont know as completing field camp was a requirement for going into command school. So ya, this mixture of fear of doing everything again and dissapointment obviously didnt go down well.
In the end I really did field camp again with Dragon company! Okay luh but their field camp was a lot easier so I could go through it quite easily although I didnt have my section mates by my side! Overall the feeling still really sucked tho... One tip for people going into BMT is that even if you want to kheng right, kheng at the "right" trainings! If you miss all these high-key events they will probably just force you to join another company to redo the training like a "prostitute" as we called it and the feeling is really not nice.
Yarp, so after three months here I am and managed to get into OCS. 3 months ago I was thinking of just becoming a man and just go under the radar. I dunno why I changed my attitude and I am still trying to figure out what I really want from NS, but as you can see, a short time in BMT can really change some1.
I think this post is probably a bit long but its cus it is meant to be a re-cap of everything that has happened so far... But okay luh BMT got nothing much to re-cap oso. I am being serious when I say that BMT is a honeymoon period- no responsibilities and got a lot of regulations to protect you from being abused hahaha. Once you go vocation or command school then I think things really start to become a bit more "Fun"hahaha *cries in a corner*.
And on to my next phase...
As usual, I served BMT in Tekong like everyone else.I was under this "Enhanced Leadership Batch" probably because I was from a JC and had good results. I dont really agree with how they discriminate between people with different results so openly, but I guess the good thing is that you will be grouped with people that you will more likely know. At least for me, many people knew each other already as we all came from JC and met each other through inter-school events previously!
Soooo... in BMT I was in 5th company! Had a reaaaaaaally great time there which was a lot better than I had expected. I think it is true that NS really became a lot easier than it was before. Before enlisting on 4 Feb 2015, I was srsly very worried cus of all the things that I had heard about NS and expected the worst. But eventually, it really wasnt as bad as I thought! The physical and mental stress was really very manageable. Yes I did get homesick at times but really it is very easy to get used to it! Of course, I could have been lucky to get platoon mates and commanders that I really liked...(but if you are worrying that you wont be with people that you like, I think just dont worry so much! I know it is easier said than done to just "stop worrying", but I just have to say that being forced to live, eat and sleep together does something that can make the worse of enemies become at least okay-ish friends hahaha)
But having said that, I did learn a lot of things from BMT as well. I never expected this as I thought that I would immediately hate NS and just go through the whole thing without using any brains! But I think in the end everyone knew we had grown one way or another. For me, I think the most important things I had learnt was how to treasure my family a loooooot more as well as how to control my emotions better i.e stop being so worried all the time and learn how to relac when got relac time so that you can rest up for the day ahead. Even now I am still continuing to learn a lot of personal qualities stuff!
Mmmmm.. maybe I will just share how my BMT was a bit different from the others in one aspect... THE FIELD CAMP!!!! Always thought of as the hardest part of BMT, I was very anxious about it but at the same time I wanted to go in and get over with it. Sure enough, I scraped through the first few days with my temperature averaging above 37.5 degrees constantly! Quite unlucky ah cus with that blardy helmet and ILBV vest on it makes me more prone than I already am to heat exhaution and my Company's field camp was one of the more "Xiong" ones already!
But then on the stupid shellscrape day once I was about done digging my shellscrape... BOOM! My temperature shot up to 39.5! Woa I could barely even walk straight... In the end I decided I had to tell my commanders lah. Unfortunately, although I thought I could just cool down and join back the training, they actually pulled me out of the whole field camp instead hahaha. I felt so numb inside at the point and just could not comprehend what happened hahaha... I felt like I had failed myself by not completing the five days of field camp. But worse off, I knew I probably had to re-do field camp with another company with people I dont know as completing field camp was a requirement for going into command school. So ya, this mixture of fear of doing everything again and dissapointment obviously didnt go down well.
In the end I really did field camp again with Dragon company! Okay luh but their field camp was a lot easier so I could go through it quite easily although I didnt have my section mates by my side! Overall the feeling still really sucked tho... One tip for people going into BMT is that even if you want to kheng right, kheng at the "right" trainings! If you miss all these high-key events they will probably just force you to join another company to redo the training like a "prostitute" as we called it and the feeling is really not nice.
Yarp, so after three months here I am and managed to get into OCS. 3 months ago I was thinking of just becoming a man and just go under the radar. I dunno why I changed my attitude and I am still trying to figure out what I really want from NS, but as you can see, a short time in BMT can really change some1.
I think this post is probably a bit long but its cus it is meant to be a re-cap of everything that has happened so far... But okay luh BMT got nothing much to re-cap oso. I am being serious when I say that BMT is a honeymoon period- no responsibilities and got a lot of regulations to protect you from being abused hahaha. Once you go vocation or command school then I think things really start to become a bit more "Fun"hahaha *cries in a corner*.
And on to my next phase...
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