Ah 1/2 of BMT is over..

Stepping off the dilapidated "fast"crafts that ferry us to and fro tekong, i stepped onto SAF ferry terminal metal floating platform at about 1920. I always wondered, we + duffle bags = overload? Why doesn't the boat sink? LOL.

It really is a bother carry things around in a large bag which makes it difficult for us to manuver around. But we have no choice do we? So much laundry, items to bring back and items to buy. This time i booked out in a duffle bag with a cargo of field pack and load bearing vest (LBV, the SBO replacement). These items are full of sand which i am so desperately trying to get rid of once i reach home to wash them.

Oh yar, sand comes from field camp. I just had field camp from 12/5/07(SAT) to 17/5/07(THUR).

FIELD CAMP
I was quite suprised that generally, field camp is quite slack. We generally sleep at 2300 and wake fall in at 0615. Of course, the guai me will wake earlier at abt 0530 to prepare my stuff. We sleep in the forest, where we set-up basha as tents. The first 3 nights we sleep in the basha, but the last 2 nights in a shellscrape. Camoflage is standard attire and it is on my face for 6 days. After field camp you no longer feel such a bother putting on the camo already.

What is shellscrape? It is basically a "grave" you dig for yourself, where you have to fit in a rather large fieldpack + you. Such that when you hide inside, they cannot see you from ground level. This reduces casulties by up to 60% during artillary strikes, thus it is important to DIG IT! Mind you, it is hell difficult to dig. With the small entrenching tool issued to us, it took me 2 hours to dig a usable 1 and 4 hours total to make it up to standard. They say that we can do it in 45mins? CRAZY!

Day 1
We march from our company line (basically our bunks), past old SISPEC and reach old BMTC sch 2. That compound was last used when policemen wore shorts... wow. Ok we reached there damn shagged after the 8km route march with the hell heaviest fieldpack we carried so far. After some rest, its time to start lessons and we started with urban training at the compound. It is generally quite slack, as our sergeant gave "sit down, helmets off" quite oftenly and we only practised for a short while.

Soon, it was lunch time and we opened our first field ration (green pack) to eat. Suprisingly, it does not taste all that bad. I will say from my experience, pasta and glutinous rice tastes the most edible. Weirdly, most of the flavours of pasta taste the same and it is similar for rice. So it must be the taste of food flavouring + chemical. We explored the filed rations and took our some powdered drinks to make drinks. Of course, we just pour the powder into our mouths and drink some water, mix it and swallow the water.

After lunch, its time to rush to the campsite, situated about 1km away from the old BMTC sch 2 on ROCKY HILL. We have to climb the bloody hill sia. Sian, u have to visualise about 20kg of shit on u and climb abt 70m vertically with about 200m inclined slope. It is hell tiring. Feeling ultimately shagged, we are now dispatched our campsite to set up our basha.

After setting up basha, its time for dinner + powder bath. Wats powder bath? Its when u dun bathe but pour powder on yourself from head to toe and i mean lots of it. It does make you more comfortable la, but u are still dirty.. ironical? Soon its nightfall and time for rountine orders and den sleep.

Day 2
Woke up feeling damn uncomfortable sleeping the the basha which is slightly damp thanks to morning dew. I woke up like 5-6 times last night and changed positions, the soil is quite hard to sleep on. Chiong outside in vest-slack to participate in the 5BX-2km run, which involves running down and UP the hill again. My leg muscles cursed at the stressful shit thrown at them.

Ok finished exercise and changed into long-4 + LBV + Helmet + AR-15 and we had breakfast. Milo 3-in-1 + dog biscuits. Then its time to march back to the old BMTC sch 2 for urban training. Today we try out in 3s to cross safely pass a door, window and how to secure a room. It involves the use of grenades... rapid movement and firing of rifles. And its break for lunch.

Now its the fun part, we were issued 50 blanks to firing in the afternoon, where we have a practical session to shoot targets placed in the room. BANG BANG BANG! So many rounds to fire. So are practically playing around. When i just finished my turn, A HEAVY DOWNPOUR! OMG MY BASHA! must be flooded.. Everyone is now very worried about the state of their basha.

When we get back to camp, i am suprised to see my basha standing with minimal damage. While others have collapsed and flooded bashas. How can i not feel happy that i am so lucky? =) The trees sure sheltered our bashas from the direct attack of nature. So i am able to sleep in dry uniform without any problem tonight.

Day 3
Urban training is over, and field training in the forests have started. Today we came face to face with flora and fauna for the first time, instead of buildings. In the morning, we have 5BX + 2.5km run. It was hell shag man, we had not recovered from the march + physical activities.

We are issued more blanks to aid our training. We learn how to try and take over an enemy position. This day, we have to prone on the dirty forest floor. Move in 3s and move tatically in battle formation. They issue us so many blanks, that in the afternoon, each person have to finish up over 120 rounds. HAHA. So we just fired and have fun. The day ends quickly and slackly with some bearable traces of soil and dead matter on my uniform.

Day 4
Today, we collapse our basha and get ready to dig shellscrapes. Luckily no run today to add to the hell we going to get later. HOWEVER, there was a morning DOWNPOUR AGAIN. Now that we are wet and dirty all over.. we have to dig the shellscrape.

I gave up trying to keep myself and the LBV clean after my kind sergeants gave me some serious punishment. push-up.. crunches.. jumping jacks.. blar blar. AH HECK! just dig la, since whole body full of sand already. Most people dig quite fast. However, there must always be some people who have no motivation to dig fast and keep complaining.. sian to hear them talk so much and do nothing. ZZZ

Seriously, they had planned punishments la... after my platoon got punished, the other platoons also get the same punishments... same reasons... same amount. Wth, no need to get us dirty like that la.

Ok, fortunately it was re-sup day, and we got a clean set of uniform to change into. But the damage is done la, now we so dirty le, powder bath le still full of sand.

Day 5
Battle course! We had 5BX-Run again, and had battle course in the morning. It basically is we walk along the road and the sergeants will "spring" on us and tell us there are enemies. We are suppose to engage the "enemies" and clear them. This is the test of the stuff we learnt on day 3.

We fired even more blanks while going through the stations. By this time, we are feeling quite worried about the carbon build-up in the rifles due to shooting blanks. My team cleared the battle course without a trouble. Thats good, cuz its freaking tiring also.

We spend the afternoon touching up and digging our shellscrape. What the hell, field camp is really waste of time sia. We always spend time doing stupid useless stuff. The field camp is 6 days instead of 4 and we have 8 shit holes. It is GUARANTEED to overflow as the shitholes are not even enough for a 4 day camp. Of course, some people never cover the shit well and we all get 1xBIG TIME. And we go punished so seriously that some people cannot take it, almost faint, had asmatha and shortness of breath.

Day 6
It is FINALLY time to go back. Woke up early to cover up the shellscrape. Sergeant was pleased with how well we covered up our shellscrape actually, so we basically had very high morale. We loaded the field packs onto the tonner to bring back to camp and marched towards the BATTLE INNOCULATION COURSE (BIC).

We were given as mission by the CSM to reach the BIC ground as soon as possible so company will be the first to finish the BIC today. Of course, we made it and everyone prepared for BIC. During BIC our OC allowed us to remove most of the obstacles on the LBV. It was a relief for us, as some pouches are really very obstructive.

In the BIC we have to leopard crawl, back crawl under LIFE rounds, with electric thunderflash exploding around us. Somehow, the GPMGs keep getting IA and throughout the course, it was rather quiet actually. It was easier than i thought to clear the course, although my uniform was full of sand again from the crawl. I was physically worn out, but still i felt satisfied finishing it.

Now i have alot of sand inside my sleeves and believe me, it is damn uncomfortable. My elbows are sore from the crawlings + the abrasion caused by the sand on my skin almost made my elbows bleed. Well, no pain no gain, it is definitely an experience to remember... machine guns are cool to play with.. but not cool to carry.

After the BIC we have to "check clear" the rifles and declare that we have no ammunition left on us, be it accidental or deliberate. So.. I.. NRIC, RANK/NAME, HEREBY DECLARE THAT I DO NOT HAVE ANY BLANKS, AMMUNITION, THUNDERFLASH, AND OTHER FORMS OF PYROTECHNICS IN MY POSSESSION SIR! Den they check us. Ok its quite a dumb procedure which u can get away with easily, but y take the chance? So i being guai again, will not break the rules.

END OF FIELD CAMP!

We headed back to camp on a tonner driving F1, and we were thrown around like balls in the back of the truck. Back at camp, we have lots of washing to do. ESPECIALLY cleaning the stupid rifle which is now so full of carbon from the firing of blanks.

Overall, field camp is fun, BUT i will never want to do it again. Every field camp is definitely uncomfortable to me. I am not being a wuss, but i hate field camp not due to the program but the sleeping conditions and dirt.