Count your blessings...

151208

2008-12-15T15:22:00.004+08:00

Long time since I last updated~ LOL!

OMG. So many things happened since the last update;
1. Passed SAF TP test long ago le. Next up will be civvy TP.
2. Went back to unit.
3. Unit life is so different now with new CO. More siong than last time.
4. Christmas coming soon!
5. Went to watch beautiful sunday ytd and met up with some nyco pals.

... the list goes on.

Anyway, saw this article on the online version of Pioneer magazine:

Experiencing life as an SAF combat engineer

Report and photos contributed by Bravo Coy, 35 SCE



Camp participants experiencing what it is like to be on an assault boat.



NCC cadets having fun during the campfire on the final night.

Close to 70 National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets from various secondary schools gathered at Seletar East Camp on 17 Nov to experience life as an SAF combat engineer.

During the four-day camp organised by the 35th Battalion Singapore Combat Engineers (35 SCE), the cadets were given the rare opportunity of trying out state-of-the-art equipment used by the combat engineers.

From using mine-detecting instruments, wearing chemical defence suits, to navigating in a fast moving craft, the cadets enjoyed themselves tremendously.

"It is extremely cool to experiment and play with all the new gadgets here," exclaimed Corporal (NCC) Ong Bo Han from Pei Hwa Secondary School. " I especially liked the Co-CBT (Co-operative Computer Based Training) element where I got to experience what it feels like to be a M3G (Military Float Bridge/Raft) driver!"

Echoed Staff Sergeant (NCC) Oh Ming Xuan from Victoria School: "I am amazed by the diverse responsibilities undertaken by combat engineers. It is a complete eye-opener for me. I now have a better understanding of what our National Servicemen from the Combat Engineers unit actually practise and do everyday to safeguard our nation."

To test the proficiency of the engineering skills that they had acquired over the past days, an Engineer Skills Challenge was organised.

The core values of professionalism, creativity and fighting spirit were all incorporated into the planning of the various stations, so cadets had to exhibit these values in order to complete the tasks set out for them.

"The stations were challenging, but no doubt achievable as long as we worked together as a team. Completing the stations at the end of it just brought an indescribable sense of satisfaction and fulfilment," said SSG (NCC) Ian Tan from Nan Chiau High, who was nominated as Best Cadet for the camp.

"This Engineer Skills Challenge was very well-planned. Not only did it encapsulate all that we were taught over the days, we were also given the chance to really practise and apply what we have learnt," he added.

Throughout the duration of the camp, the cadets were also totally immersed in life as a Full-Time National Serviceman. They stayed in bunks, ate food prepared at the cook house and even tried out the combat rations specially designed for outfield exercises and operations.

As a result, they all gained a greater awareness of what to expect when their time to serve the nation comes.

For their last night together, the cadets gathered around a campfire for a night of song and dance. Performing skits, sharing jokes and basking in their new-found friendships, smiles and laughter could be seen and heard everywhere.

"The campfire is the best way to cap off all the wonderful times we had in this camp. I will never forget the friends that I have made here. Overall, I enjoyed myself thoroughly and had an amazing time. This camp is just too short!" remarked Third Sergeant (NCC) Terence Lim from Bukit Panjang Government High.

As the organising committee saw how happy and appreciative the cadets were, they were glad that their weeks of preparation for the Engineers-NCC Camp had paid off.

"I feel a deep sense of fulfilment," commented Private Shem Leong, who was platoon in-charge of this camp.

He added: "It is extremely heart-warming to see everyone in the company working together to organise such a successful camp for the NCC cadets."

I'm sure it's a fun and eye opening experience for the NCC cadets. But it's lots of hard work and sai kang for people in my battalion. Our guys had to carry and launch the assault boat for them. And also wash and maintain the boats after they are done playing with it. And it took us weeks to plan the event covering safety and stuff.

"It is extremely cool to experiment and play with all the new gadgets here" - Fun to play but not fun to maintain! LOL!

"Overall, I enjoyed myself thoroughly and had an amazing time." and "they all gained a greater awareness of what to expect when their time to serve the nation comes" - I'm sure they would be totally abhorred and wouldn't want to remember the 'fun' they had if they were NSFs serving here. LOL. My first encounter with the assault boat wasn't that 'fun' and 'amazing'. I could still remember how siong it is to run around with the boats and being 'semula-ed' to launch and de-launch the boats within the time limit. Worst still, we were made to do push-ups in the sandy shoreline and made to scoop water using our helmet and pour over ourselves. It's sure fun to drive the boats but it ain't fun to have only 3 hours of sleep everyday and the drive boat for the rest of the day. LOL!

But again, come to think of it, it's quite an experience to be tekan-ed like that. hahaha. Good memories.

231108 - Had a bad week

2008-11-23T18:08:00.002+08:00

The economy is plunging into a recession. So I heard. Albeit experts say it may turn out to be the worst economic crisis ever since WW2, I guess it doesn't really make a difference to the gross happiness index of the singaporean society. As a Singaporean, I think we are too obsessed with growth and progression so much so that even when the economy is booming, we are still not satisfied with what we have.

Anyway, long time since I last blogged. Pretty much because life was rather mundane last few weeks. Last week was a rather cheerless week. Was supposed to take driving test on monday but didn't have the chance cause the tester stopped testing 2 guys before me in the queue. So there goes my off and stay out. Took the test on thursday instead but didnt pass due to some stupid mistakes. Was in pretty bad mood that day though.

Bought a PSP on saturday but no games! LOL. I find torrent slow and irritating. Guess I'll have to turn to other sources for games.

Cheers to a good week ahead!! Hopefully I'll pass the TP test by tuesday.

Pain is inevitable;
suffering is optional.
- Buddhist saying

021108

2008-11-02T19:00:00.003+08:00

Long time since I last updated. LOL. Nothing much interesting anyway since I do the same thing almost everyday for the driving course so I shall not write about all the mundane happenings. Will update when life becomes interesting again.

Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.
-Sutta Nipata

121008 - Driving course

2008-10-12T18:26:00.004+08:00

what a boring and long week~

A typical day's schedule:
Morning:
- Movement from SAF transport camp in sembawang to Kaki Bukit camp for driving
- Start driving. Quite an exhilarating experience! LOL. But the landrover is a bit pok pok.
Afternoon:
- Lunch
- Theory
Evening:
- Dinner
- Movement back to sembawang camp.

Book out on saturday 1pm. Book in on sunday 9pm at sembawang camp.
Seems like I was wrong to think that going for driving course is a good thing. Book out later than my usual timing in unit and book in so much earlier! LOL.

Hopefully I will pass the first test and go for my off and stay out then go back to unit!
Guess I'm missing my life and peeps back in seletar camp!

Well, at least this saturday's bookout wasn't that dull. Went to WH's place to celebrate his bdae then went to watch House Bunny. The dialogues in House Bunny were hysterically funny! Although the show is merely about dumb blondes, it does indeed highlight some of the perils of superficiality(which is the only meaningful part of the movie).

Cheers to a good week ahead!

270908: Funny signboards!

2008-09-27T23:17:00.009+08:00

Fighting fire with fire? Maybe you will die first cause that thing will explode! LOL.

Quite scary eh. can see people kena hanged outside while you're sleeping.

Fatty cow in the united states in dad in sand in? Simi Lai de?

Commit suicide?

be careful. somebody wants to steal you.

thanks to zhi xiong for sharing the link. all the pictures and the england damn laughter. can't help funny about it. LOL

260908: Long weekend~

2008-09-27T00:12:00.003+08:00

FINALLY! Got a long weekend. Booked out on wednesday cause of off and leave on thurs and fri. But it doesn't seem that long afterall. Today's FRIDAY!!! ARGH!!

Wanted to go uni-crashing but ended up nua-ing at home playing games, watching vids. Anyway, weihao suggested going to wai kit's hse to give him a surprise bdae visit today. So me, WH, kok and yuxi went to his house and surprisingly he wasn't at home! So we waited at his house. How ironic!? Where's the 'surprise'? LOL. Anw went to Kok hse and watched some stupid and funny video after that.

I shall post a video extract from kang xi lai le. Damn funny especially the xiao S part where she 拐到脚。真的是有点夸张！哈哈！

210908: Me, Sua ku.

2008-09-21T17:17:00.007+08:00

Woooo~ Finally the link and the chatbox is up. Thanks to James again for helping me do that. Really sua ku sia.

Anyway, last week was really busy to have time to update anything (actually quite lazy also. LOL). Went outfield for summary exercise with trainees and became damn chao ta. Exercise Ops M3G isnt too good for me. My OC wanted the commanders to dig shellscrape too. So I sucked my thumb and dug a shellscrape that I didn't really use as most of the time was spent either cooking noodles, talking cock or checking on the trainees. And I only manage to sleep a bit here and there throughout the exercise. A few close instances happened to me but better not discuss army stuff here. Thank goodness its over.

Weekends are really short nowadays. Pang seh-ed WeiHao's outing on sat afternoon cause I was shag-out after the speed and obstacle training on sat morning. Only thing I did was to go celebrate derek's bdae at night. I WANT BACK MY FRIDAY BOOKOUT! LOL~

Looking forward to my off and leave on thurday and friday. Probably will go uni crashing. woohoo~

is there a problem?

2008-08-31T19:24:00.003+08:00

" Seventeenth-century French Philosopher-mathematician Blaise Pascal once said, "All the troubles of man come from not knowing how to sit still."

I would add to this, "... and not knowing when to sit still."

In 1967, Israel was at war with Egypt, Syria and Jordan. In the midst of what became known as the six day war, a reporter asked former British prime minister Harold Macmillian what he thought about the problem in the middle east.

Without hesistation, the then elder statesman answered, "There is no problem in the middle east." The reporter was stunned.

"what do you mean, 'There is no problem in the middle east'?" The reporter demanded to know. "Don't you know that there's a vicious war going on? Don't you realise that as we are speaking, bombs are dropping from the sky, tanks are blowing each other up, and soldiers are being sprayed with bullets? Many people are dead orwoulded. what do you mean, 'there is no problem in the middle east'?"

The experienced statesman patiently explained: "Sir, a problem is something with a solution. There is no solution to the middle east. Therefore it can't be a problem"

How much time do we waste in our lives worrying about things that, at the time, have no solution, so aren't a problem? "

Something meaningful quoted from the book "Opening the door to your heart" written by a very funny and wise australian buddhist monk Ajahn Brahm. Isn't it very true that the things that we worry most about often have no solution? LoL

what a short weekend...

2008-08-31T18:45:00.007+08:00

Time seems to fly during bookouts. LoL. Especially yesterday and the coming saturday since I'll be booking out on saturday afternoon instead of Friday night. This weekend seems especially short. The only thing I did was to watch Wall-e at AMKhub on saturday evening and went to Bugis to makan Shokudo with SRSCO alumni peeps. Maybe the only meaningful thing I did was to watch Wall-e which is an animation that addresses issues way beyond the comprehension of its kiddy animation.

Life in Ops unit isn't as slack as what I expected. As specs, there are lots of duties like duty sergeant (DS), Coy orderly sergeant (COS), Evac Sergeant(ES), report sick sarge (RS), Guard Commander and Guard 2. All of which can lead to more duties if I make a minute mistake. Somemore there are many many small small details that we have to take note as instructors. Hehe. Last time I used to think that life as an instructor would be better but now I see that being an instructor does have its fair share of problems.

Cheers to a good week ahead!

310808

The first post;

2008-08-30T23:49:00.004+08:00

Firstly, thanks to james*momo* for doing this blog for me so that I can blog when I'm bored! Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with the updating of entries *ahem* I can be quite lazy, thats why until now then got blog. LOL. Actually ah gong james already did this thing for me on wednesday but the computer in camp can be quite laggy and my first week in 35SCE charlie as a sergeant is not as slack as i thought it would be. This week actually quite busy cause' gotta bring trainees outsea and out-field for training.

By the way, I find myself a bit sua ku! LoL. Dunno how to use blog sia!

Anyway, I'll update again soon.