It all began with a hug between my father and I at the Pasir Ris bus interchange, a rare gesture that bids my dad farewell until I see him again months later. At least my mother, brother, Aussie cousin and lovely aunt were willing to follow me into Pulau Tekong for my enlistment day. The moment I stepped into the Penguin ferry at the SAF Ferry Terminal, it was goodbye Singapore mainland for an entire 18 days.
I won’t go into the details of the enlistment day, it will probably bore readers to sleep pretty soon. However, one thing that was interesting was how easy I gave my pink Singaporean IC (identity card) for a Pizza Hut voucher. It was only until a week later that I realised “Oh snap, I’ll not see my pink IC ever again until I ORD (operationally ready date; the day you are free from NS). Isn’t that 2 years from now?” You guys probably only see your identity card in your wallet as a simple proof of identity. For us NSmen, the pink IC has transformed into a symbol of freedom and joy, more of a proof of service rather than a proof of identity.
I was enlisted into BMTC 3 Ulysses, and henceforth its shout “We Are Ulysses, Awoo” was drilled into our heads. Everything we shout out had to involve our company name: “Ulysses, Ulysses, all the way”, “Who are we? ULYSSES…Platoon 3" Speaking of which, everyone of us was also given a 4D number, something like prisoners, and mine was U3307. U for Ulysses Company, platoon 3, section 3, bed 07. Yes, that number is literally your identity for my month in Tekong, your name is not known to your superiors. “U3307, 3308, 3309, fall in at coy line now.”, “U3307 reporting, sergeant.” The only reminder of your name was the name tag on your uniform, that’s it, and of course once new friends were made, your name will be known amongst the recruits.
It was difficult to learn the commands at first, having absolutely no grasp of Malay at all. Simple commands were first “Kiri, kenang, kiri kenang kiri” [left, right, left right left], “Sedi-a, senang di-ri” [attention, at ease], followed by progressively harder phrases, “Hentak kaki cepat hentak” [march quickly on the spot]. And how can I forget the one command that I absolutely hated the most: “semula” [go back] (guess why?). After much sweat, frustrations and even more ‘semulas’, we were able to understand most of the commands and execute them after countless foot and arm drills (arm drills are simply drills with our rifles). Having one bang of feet from an entire company gave me a great sense of achievement; it was just that epic. No wonder the every army engages in drills, the sound of one bang is absolutely awesome (a way overused word, I know, I apologise).
And how can an army march without the lovely songs sung by its soldiers. My particular company had many recoursees (those who had to retry their BMT), so experience was plentiful. They were treated like veterans amongst the enlistees, and their insights were pretty valuable (including the corner cutting tricks and chao keng ways). Songs always started with one shouting out “Echo after me ah…” and everyone simply echoed along. They ranged across many different messages; some filled with propaganda…
Training to be soldiers; fight for our land…
Once in a life; two years of our time….
Have you ever wondered?; why must we serve?
Because we love our land; and we want it to be free, to be free….ya!…
Others filled with messages of denial…
They say that in the army; the food is very nice…
You ask for curry chicken; they give you chao da rice…
I don’t want to live an army life ah…
I just want to live a simple life ah…
And most a reminder of booking out
3 more days to book out day and we are so happy ah…
We are from Ulysses, Ulysses Company ah…
Lastly, how can a song list be complete without edited jests
A is for attend C (attend C = unfit for duty, you go home)
<verse end> (the real version of the song can be found easily, just look up for NS airborne song)
I have to admit though, almost all the songs boosted morale during marching, and it lifted our souls a little bit especially during our confinement period. It simply added a little bit of fun to our mundane marches.
Well I think you’ve heard enough of the little things at Tekong, and everyone should probably be going “where’s the good stuff?” Don’t worry my fellow readers, let’s pause a little right here and do me a simple favor. Get up and drink 500 ml of water in a single gulp. For us in Tekong, it’s called a water parade where we have to drink half a litre of water all together as a company. Oh yeah, and we do it around 7-8 times a day too, so Mom and Dad, don’t worry about your son being dehydrated. I worry about myself being too hydrated.
Now please head along to your pantries and pour a large cup of water for yourself…
Back with the water? Now recite these exact words before you drink up: The SAF eight core values are: loyalty to country, leadership, discipline, professionalism, fighting spirit, ethics, care for soldiers, safety. Drink up.
Great, you’ve just experienced a water parade in the army, something we do countless times already. Note: it is interesting that care for soldiers did not include safety…hmm…
Two weeks into my BMT, we already had our first high key event, the hand grenade throw. It is not as straightforward as simply going into the bay and throwing the frag. There were many barriers and gates (metaphorically) to cross before you were cleared to throw the real frag in the bay.
- A lecture involving the mechanism and safety features of the grenade
- A drill session involving throwing the safety practice grenade (it was blue)
- A test for the safety mechanisms of the grenade
- Another drill session throwing the drill grenade, for safety of course (a lighter blue grenade that made a loud crack to simulate explosion)
- A safety drill to make sure you know what you’re doing if you accidentally drop the grenade or throw it backwards (no seriously, there are drills for throwing the grenade behind you)
- Finally, you are clear to go down to the bay and throw the frag.
(By the way, did you realize how much safety is involved in this?…it’s insane)
The entire process lasted almost 5 days until I finally got a glimpse of the power of a frag grenade as an observer (you can’t see your own grenade, gotta take cover or you blow your face off). However, it was the sound it produced that was etched into my memory. Even from 200-300m away, the boom of the grenade can vibrate your insides. So those Counter-Strike players who think a grenade can’t be heard a few paces away, better get your earplugs ready.
The process was simple: simply go down to the bay, get the grenade from the sergeant-in-charge, check for any rust, dents and foreign objects, place it into your vest and wait for your turn. The wait was agonizing, like……………………………..that. Even though a hundred million people ensured its safety to us, an explosive weapon placed 2 cm from your body isn’t exactly a very comforting thought. Don’t worry, I didn’t piss my pants, if you guys were wondering.
Where was I?…oh yeah…after 20 minutes of waiting with a grenade in my pocket (literally), it was finally my turn to go up. The walk to the bay held mixed feelings: I was very excited to finally throw it after so much work, but there was still that risk involved. As they say: high risk, high reward.
And boy was the reward satisfying. Remember I said that the sound from 200m away was pretty loud, well from the bay 10m away from the point of explosion, the sound was nothing I had heard before. The magnitude of the sound was around 10-20 times more than if you were standing beside a jackhammer, I’m not bluffing you people. Along with the concussive impact of the explosion (the ground moved a little, like a tiny earthquake), it made for an experience of a lifetime. When we were all done, almost everyone shouted in unison “Sergeant, can go again?”
The next high key was the a 2 day 1 night field camp. Again, as you expected, lots of preparations were required before the actual camp was undertaken, taking up yet another week
1. A 2 day course about fieldcraft: putting on camo, scouting for targets, movement, building of the bashar tent etc. (not overnight)
2. Briefing after briefing after briefing
3. A lecture about how to pack your stuff, don’t laugh, it actually happened.
Ok fine, not as much as the grenade, but still. Anyhow, off we go into the woods for our field camp. First we had to put camo cream onto our faces and we couldn’t remove until we were back in bunk. For those wondering what camo cream is, it is just green and black cream made out of mineral oil, edible and magically makes your face invisible in plants and grass. It feels like a layer of make-up on your face, and for 50 hours we had to wear that invisible facemask.
Then the tent was built, a simple task of erecting the poles, stretching the ground sheet and kicking the tent pins into the dirt. The standard for building one with a pair of buddies for the entire platoon is 15 minutes, our platoon took a grand total of 80 minutes to line them up into neat rows and erect the bashars. Yeah, 80 minutes, who knows how many enemies would’ve seen us by then in an actual war.
However, I was surprised how comfortable the bashar is in the middle of the woods, cooling and not stuffy at all. Whoever came up with the idea of a bashar has my gratitude. The night was uneventful except for the fact that everyone had to do 1 hour of guard duty, thank the gods mine was from 11 pm — 12 am, so I had a 5-hour rest period. Others weren’t so lucky, we did not have a lot of people participating (meaning a lot of my company mates keng-ed), and so some had to do 2 shifts. This was also the first night I got to sleep with my “wife”, my beloved SAR-21 rifle. Anyhow, the night came and went, and there we were, dirty and grimy, tired and cranky.
Other things we learnt at the field camp included how to move at night without light, how to quickly turn and aim with the rifle, proning and aiming, kneeling and aiming, standing and aiming etc. Those little details that quickly drain energy, but are supposedly important when fighting on the frontlines, supposedly. Overall, the 2 day field camp was a nice experience for me, but it is those experiences that you really don’t want to do again, like jumping from a plane, for example (apologies for insulting any parajumpers here). So I thought, if my 2 day field camp is so draining for me, I can’t imagine going through a 6 day field camp. PES A and B recruits, I respectfully salute you guys, you people are way up there.
And finally, the last high key was the live firing of our “wife”, the SR-21 rifle. Once again, a whole week was dedicated on preparations and briefings before we can finally pull the trigger.
1. Lectures on mechanism and safety
2. A live demonstration of the firing by sergeants
3. Technical handling: stripping and assembly of rifle (time limit of course)
4. Safety drills in case your rifle f—-ks up
5. A simulated firing appropriately called ‘Individual Marksmanship Training’
6. Another check on your safety drills
7. And finally the live firing
I’ll just skip the details and head for the summary, this entry is getting too damn long.
Unfortunately I didn’t get the marksman title, I got a 23/32 when it needed at least 26 (I blame my scope, it had scratches that created many more reticules than intended). But what struck me the most was the feel of the rifle when the trigger was pulled. It sounded much louder than I thought, even with earplugs on it stings the eardrums for a while (but your ears adapt quickly). The smell of gunpowder was also a new smell for me, one that I probably won’t smell anytime in my life anymore, smells like power and carbon. It was a brand new experience, and for once I thought I was immersed in Battlefield 4 firing the SAR-21 (which by the way, the game actually depicts the sound of the SAR-21 pretty accurate).
There was a day shoot and a night shoot. I didn’t do so well in the day shoot (see para. above), but I fared much better in the night shoot because we got to use the laser to aim, which I might add is so awesome (yes I used the word again). You can actually see the laser trail at night, and for a moment I felt like a special ops soldier executing a night operation. Come on; laugh at me for being so lame…
And in the blink of an eye, my time in Pulau Tekong was over. It was a pretty emotional moment when we had to say goodbye to the sergeants and our recoursee mates (they return to their units). We marched into the ferry terminal with the farewells behind us and rode the bus to the Supply and Transport Center for the next phase of our military journey.
Wait….don’t go yet, how about my life outside of Tekong, when I booked out. Well, I stay in a very nice flat at Ang Mo Kio, along with my buddies from SIS(HK). Without a domestic helper, we had to do everything ourselves: clean the toilet, wash our monumental amount of laundry, mop the floor and all the things that you ask your maid to do. It is a good life, one of independence and freedom (well, what little freedom we have), and I urge my parents who will most definitely be reading this not to worry. I have food to eat, MINDEF gives me money to spend and I have a nice bed to sleep on. Mom and Dad, I really hope to visit you guys pretty soon, I always have Hong Kong and Heng Fa Chuen in my heart.
Well, that’s about it for my first month in NS, at least what I can remember. Next up on my monthly updates, my training as a service medic in Supply and Transport Center in Sembawang. Yeah, I got service medic as a vocation, pretty surprising since I didn’t take a hint of biology for the past 6 years, and have absolutely no interest in being a doctor in the future. However, the skills learnt may help me in my life, I just hope I can aim the needles properly…I hope…you can’t ‘semula’ that…
Thanks for reading my first entry of around 2,700 words, I’ll promise the next monthly entry will be just as fruitful.
Credits to BMTC Facebook page for all the photos in this entry.
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