_just me_
_just me_
_just me_
_just me_
_just me_
_just me_
12:06 AM
What i like about blogging is that it is an avenue for me to 'say' whatever i wanted to, and i'm free to say pretty much about everything i want. People can choose to read or just get out. It's my choice to what i shall say and their choice to decide if they want to read on.
So i'm bringing on more boring army life stuff today.
Being appointed for the Leader Platoon Sergeant role after booking on last sunday, i could immediately forsee DOOMSDAY ahead. why? because we're embarking on the most difficult week in my opinion. We were going to have Chemical Defence at SAFTI and of course the gruesome Exercise NUTCRACKER.
Chemical Defence itself isnt tiring or physically demanding, it just requires u to learn the action drills during a chemical attack which took a full day to learn.. We all transformed from a infantry soldiers to Lara Croft instantly in the morning when we brought down the bags of IPE - Individual Protection Equipment. The suit was warm, the mask was preventing us from breathing as well as we wanted to. But we were pretty much enjoying the lesson as it was slacking time for us. Tuesday we left Tekong for SAFTI near tuas for the chemical defence confidence training. At SAFTI smoke trainer, i really understand how well the suit can save our lives during chemical warfare. In the trainer, cs(some kind of tear gas) pellets were placed in a heater and left to burnt. I didnt felt much effect of it, with the exception of some smell of the smoke due to the old face mask i was using. But when the time comes for us to take the mask off, and say some words before we were allowed to leave, i felt the full force of the CS smoke in my face. Thinking that it shldnt be too serious, i decided not to take a deep breath as instructed before i remove the mask. I instead took a deep breath after having the mask off.. and ended up almost choking.. My eyes got wet and my voice changed while i was saying out the statements. my face was burning. I guess i wont be messing around too much with tear gases next time..
I was a lucky person. Because the instructors had arranged for a change in LPS for exercise nutcracker, which i felt so relieved. Nutcracker was still a xiong event for us, and did i say that i was lucky? i take that back. I got one of the worst spots for our platoon. While others got relatively dry land considering the rain for the past days, i got a wet soil ground. that's not all. My shellscape had trees around it and their roots were wider than my forearm. The chopping of the roots took out all my energy. seriously. i felt giddy after finishing my shellscape. Just imagine that i took my ET stick, swung it at full force and the stick just bounces back off the tree root with a minor scrape only. And after the shellscape, it was time for the bigger and badder hole - the fire trench. i got quite dead and sick by 3am, and just fell flat on the pile of sand and sleep for 30 mins, until my sergeant came n shine his torch at me later. Me and my buddy dug till morning 11am before we could complete the fire trench. And we started our digging session at 8pm. The next night we couldnt sleep early too, because we had to cover up our fire trench. Which was easier than digging (duh.). The 3 hours of sleep before 6.30am where we had to be on Stand-To in our shellscape was good enough to relieve our tired minds and souls.
I guess a good piece of information came my way during the outfield too. My platoon sergeant ordered 5 of us to gather and told us that we're going for a talk-cock session with our OC. he didnt tell us much about what it was all about. One of my platoon mate, who was an ADF regular, went with his other ADF mates for the interview while the remaining 4 met the OC. From the interview,there was some hint that we could be in line for a crossover interview soon.. I aint keeping my hopes too high again.. had enough of disappointments.. But if i'm called up for it, I'd be very pleased because while the previous crossover and posting were predetermined during the computer test (according to everyone else) and decided by the manpower unit, this end of BSLC crossover would only be determined by our superiors directly above us. It would be a true recognition for us if we were to be selected for the next crossover interview.. But as i said, i'm not having high faith here.
After the Nutcracker we booked out and headed for The Chervons - the specialist clubhouse at Jurong East. We had automatic membership as a nsmen.. the place was quite decent.. with pool, lan shop, arcade, jackpot machines, swimming pool and such. Had our dinner buffet by the pool and then we had our performance. It was a mixture of singing , dancing by other platoons and for mine we held a manhunt show. We got Leslie aka Mr Beng, Kwan as kungfu master, Chew as the ga muscle man, and Kervin as Mr Lonely.. it totally rocks.. And Affandi under the influence of alcohol (did i mentioned free beers?) , extended the show by asking people to come on stage and challenge in the manhunt show.. and he got sergeant goh and alan lai up, with a few trainees , and even Warrent Eddie Tan got pulled on stage.. The contestants all did muscle flexing actions, and it was super comical.. And before we ended off, we threw out junrong under a towel as the ugliest man on earth. Jervis who 'volunteered' on stage fainted upon seeing his face. and then we invited our PC Warrant Teo to take a look. This time, the ugliest man fainted. LoL..
After the activity some of us went for an hour of lanning session and then me and xinghe joined leslie and rajan for a beer session with sergeant Goh. apparently there was still plenty of beer left and we had a hell of a time drinking free tigers. Sergeant Goh really opened up to us, telling us everything as an instructor and even his trainee days where he hit out at some guy and went into DB ( equivalent to jail). Then xh rj and sergeant goh and i explored the disco pub at the clubhouse before heading home..
Headed to NUS-FASS day today.. and i woke up at 10+ whereas i was supposed to meet mm yt and bk at 10 @ clementi.. *sorry hor* took a walk around the place, and i didnt really attend much talk or talk to anyone there about the courses available.. Meimei and Yanting got quite hooked up by the CNM course .. haha.. i guess CNM isnt really my cup of tea although it sounds interesting.. Me as a future PR officer or something? funny right... Econs sociology r still more suitable for me.. and of coz not forgetting business at NTU.. I'll brainwash myself this week and not be biased and make a real decision on my future school by next week. Glad that my sis had this book from nus sociology course where i can know what i'd be learning if i join up the course..
This will be a long weekend till monday night. and of coz my night isnt over yet. Where shld i go? To edmund's hse for soccer watching or to chinablack with xinghe and steven? it's a tough decision to make, but i know i wont be alone tonight..
---------------------------
Lonely im so lonely,
I have nobody,
To call my owwnnn
Im so lonely, im mr. Lonely
I have nobody,
To call my owwnnn
Im so lonely,
3:42 AM
1 guy from each platoon can fire a Metador HEAT only. and i m somehow the chosen one. the 4 thousand dollar shot. sadly i made it more memorable than it should be..
was at the SAFTI area for some live firing including sub calibre for metador and grenade launching m203. had fun that day.. and then i was to fire off the expensive antitank weapon. there was 4 instructors before the 4 trainees called upon to fire. target range was at 200m mark.3 out of 4 instructor struck the target while the other fired over. then it was the trainees' turn. i was the 3rd firer amongst the trainee. the first struck the target, the second shot over, and then it was my turn.. i walked into the container, took up position, aimed at one of the target and fired off. the weapon gave out a damn loud blast and some shockwave and it was fully covered with smoke and dust. in the dusty mist i could see a ball of fire going off, and then it hit something. On target! so i gladly walked out of the container.. only to realised later that i was supposed to aim at lane 3 target, not at lane 1's.
sad huh? it was quite an embarassment.. coz supposedly it was a damn good shot.. struck right in the middle of target or so..
but of coz the week hasnt been too mean on me. Got a Gold for IPPT. full marks.. although for some stations i fared below expectation.
SBJ: wanted to hit 2.7m , which i did on a fault jump. zz.. in the end my distance was only 2.55m
SR: my sliding foot syndrome struck AS USUAL. which i would almost lose my footing.. timing only 9.7s. way way below my old time.
Sit-ups: actually did 50+, but due to my hastiness in going for the next one, supposedly my shoulder didnt touch the ground and got a number minused off.
exercise nutcracker coming right up next week. It's the most physically and mentally tormenting event in BSLC. most probably we'd be digging overnight without sleep. and it would be a 3d2n outfield camp. i wonder how a sleepyhead like me would pull through this. but i'd be looking forward to the end of exercise nutcracker.. coz we would be booking out on the last day of it and head for chervon ,the specialist clubhouse. and the long weekend ahead!
would be heading to NUS for the FASS openhouse. guess it's no harm understanding more about the courses there even though my heart is quite fixed on going NTU. at least i know that i would have hwijong and alex in there with me in 2007.. and maybe yanting as my 2yr senior. [ "-_- ]
corporal rank countdown.. 2 more weeks. 1st june.
8:09 PM
Booking in soon.. my most dreadful moments.. juz simply hate sunday evenings.
anyway was at ntu for the high tea session.. didnt see anyone tt i really know.. except maybe weijie from 10/03 who's an ooc at bravo coy.. and jagaganesh from ajc. the rest r unfamiliar faces.. the talk was okay, nothing very inspiring or so.. guess i will head down to nus on 21st .. anyone else got into FASS?
4:14 AM
training's been relaxed this week.. did ippt twice.. was quite pissed tt i missed the gold by a few seconds for 2.4km when i tot i went below 9.45.. with a stitch and a bad foot.. but nevermind 'bout tt. section 4 rox man.. we got the top 4 positions for both ippt run.. woohoo! and leslie came in 6th for both too.. r0x0r..
lots of canteen breaks this week.. almost everyday we're allowed to go actually. but i only went twice. all thanks to the snicker mama shop opened by mama teo.. had 8 snickers this week man.. no wonder i'm growing fat. guess it's time i RESTRAIN myself from food. Sadly, i'm known as the pig in my section coz i EAT and SLEEP everytime.
and even worst, getting people to come up and asking me "hey yonghao, ni zhe me da zhi hai pao ne me kuai, ke yi jiao wo zhe me pao ma?" (u so big size and still can run so fast, can teach me anot?" .... sad lar.. am i really that fat? i guess i'm just naturally wider in my shoulder width tt's all bah? "-_-
and to top off the week, i've got my NUS application too. And i got my first choice course as well! woohoo.. Faculty of Arts and Social Science. thought about doing economics there.. but i guess NTU Nanyang Business School will be my preferred choice. Got the high tea gathering coming up tomorrow. who would have thought someone with a really screwed up result can get all the first choice courses? i guess i'm really blessed.
Next week gotta be having live ranges. Hope i wont misfire. coz with misfire comes either 3-4 extras or even SOL (stoppages of leave). and then the real IPPT test on wednesday. Guess i'd really be going all out then. If i'm in a good condition (ie. my foot doesnt hurt).
watched kingdom of heaven with tzh, bernard, simon and boonkiat earlier. guess it's quite a nice show. hope tt i can book out earlier n watch more movies in the next few weeks. and more time to be a civilian.
6:14 AM
Ok i just took a template from blogskins.com n made some minor changes.. didnt have much time to do much anyway..
the 4½ day break is almost over.. time really flies when u r enjoying it..
i wonder who made it to ocs from my platoon.. today i shall find out back in the camp..
now i have only one objective in mind for my BSLC: to complete it. yeah.. for a simple reason.. i do not want to re-course.. if 'it' really will happen. and maybe also not to get any extras.. got a few scares here and there..
NTU high tea session on sunday. which is also mothers' day. and book-in day (provided i can book out). looking forward to the high tea session.. it's an opportunity for me to know more about the course and to ascertain myself if it is really the place for me..
30th apr.. 4 yrs. tot i saw u. i think i did. glad to see u smiling.
2:16 AM
ha0.+agb0ard*