Half-naked inventory check

The first day of being Recruit Tan was “interesting”. First of all, I had to go to this strange place where I got kitted out with the latest and greatest in army wear, then I had to go on a depressing boat ride with my fellow recruits to an island (and to add to the misery, it had to rain. Did I mention there was no shelter on the boat?). Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse…

After getting off the boat and the subsequent short trip on a green army truck, we were ushered to a parade square illuminated by a number of spotlights. All of us had to organise ourselves in neat rows and place our new army equipment in front of us. Then we had to perform an inventory check…

Everytime our army instructors raised an item, we had to verify that we had the item and that it could fit. So you can imagine that when they raised the camouflaged shirt and trousers, all of us recruits had to take off our clothes and get familiar with one another’s undies. There were a few sniggers going around as various types of underwear were revealed: “holey” underwear, undies in funky colours, funny boxers, etc.

Bird Kill

I killed a quail with my bare hands when I was serving my NS. It wasn’t some sadistic streak in me. I just had to do it as part of my training.

It was surprising how easily the head came off in my hands and how the heart could beat while I held the body upside waiting for the blood to drain out…

The lonely hero

Can still remember the day vividly. The day that I had to report for National Service. Woke up early and grabbed a croissant wich from BK before taking a bus down to CMPB all by myself. Didn’t inform any friends and also convinced my parents that I was ok to go by myself.

It was quite unreal because I knew I was probably going to be away from civilised life as I know it, and that I was going to be surrounded by strangers. As I trudged out to the parade square, I happened to see a familiar face in the stands. Turns out that Island was also there to send her friend off.

It was kind of comforting to see a familiar face before getting on the bus that took me (and a bunch of other guys) away from CMPB.

Morning PT at PT

One of the most demoralising events during my BMT was the morning run for our Physical Training. In fact, I think its probably the “lowlight” for most recruits in Pulau Tekong.

Imagine that you have just been uprooted from the comforts of your home and plonked into the strict regimentation of the army. Then imagine having to run near the coast of Pulau Tekong every morning with the lights of “mainland” Singapore twinkling silently in the far horizon.

So near but yet so far…

Western Food at OCS

Kinda miss the Western Food at OCS that some of us Air Wing cadets used to go in the evenings. It was nice to get something other than the food served at the cookhouse, not saying that the cookhouse food was inedible or anything.

Cadets from Navy and Army seemed to be always bewildered that the Air Wing cadets could patronise the Western Food stall so often since their movements were quite restricted. Guess that’s one of the privileges of being with the Air Force! 😉