[Mood: Great] [Mentally: Excellent] [Physically: Getting Stronger] [State of Mind: Strong]
It has been some time since I updated the blog, but leading an army life, there isn't really nothing new unless you're going outfield. I had my 7 days field camp last 3 weeks, and my 3 days SIT test last week. How did I find it? (Scorpion Platoon 4, echo with me!) WONDERFUL!
The Platoon Commanders said that the field camp was the toughest item in BMT. With that over, anything else, should be nothing. And well, I would say they're pretty correct. 7 days of no shower (actually Scorpion Company got to shower twice midway... Lolz.), 7 days of sleeping with boots on, 7 days of wearing our No. 4 (even when wet), and 7 days of combat rations. Okay, maybe the 7 days of combat rations wasn't really true. Since it was the fasting month, the Muslims get fresh rations every morning, and that is why when fresh rations were served during dinner on the 5th day of the camp, we were not really awed by it. Lolz.
Fasting during the camp was difficult, but I managed to get 3 days. The other 4 days which I didn't get, they were hectic ones. Especially trench digging. It was like digging our own grave. You can check out my shellscrape in my blog visuals. Mine was the best in Section 1. Ha ha. It turned out we were very lucky to get away with not digging the firing trench AND not sleeping in our shellscrape that day. Other people look at us and say, "Scorpion Company, welfare company sia." No, not welfare company. SAF Core Value No. 7: Care For Soldiers. =D
After field camp, most of us were pretty upbeat about going for SIT test. I got posted to Foxtrot, and I opted to specialise in Demolitions. It turned out to be very easy. There are 8 specializations altogether, Knots & Hitches, Mine Clearing, Signals, Demolitions, Navigation, Claymore, LAW (Light Anti-Tank Weapon), and Medic. If you wanna know which is the easiest, or which will be doing a lot of work, tag me.
I only became IC once, and it was a mission to defend a signals post. I wouldn't go into detail how many enemies were around, but there was one group of enemy commandos assigned to destroy the post. And the fun part was, they could come from any direction, at any time. Then suddenly, a tank came. LAW fired. Then the accessor (the external commander rating you) called out, "IC! IC! You have a man down, and your signals post is destroyed. What are you going to do now?" I was stunned for a second, because I have my men covering all angles, wide range of fire, and the imaginary commandos managed to break through. We evacuated the man down, and mission was over. It was crazy, but fun.
The day after SIT test, we had our live grenade throw. IT WAS A BLAST! The first time I heard the explosion, I was a bit scared. But since I was in the 11th detail, I would have heard almost 40 such explosions before I will throw mine, so I was already used to it. Almost managed to hit the target.
There are not many items left in BMT. SOC (Standard Obstacle Course), IPPT, and Live Range. For SOC, we have went through the whole couurse in clean fatigue (only No. 4), and I managed to pass that. Can't wait to see how I will do with standard battle order. Live Range, not yet, but we will be finishing our simulations this week, so most probably going for it next week.
IPPT test is coming up. This Tuesday, to be precise. Now, I haven't really been training up for it, but with the outfield marches carrying our (close to) 15kg field packs, I didn't think I will actually improve. Sit-up, standing broad jump and shuttle run, I have not done since the last test. 2.4km, haven been training my stamina, so I dunno how long I will clock this test. But chin-ups... A different story. Now I can do 7! A great improvement from my previous 4. But of course, the 7th one is like, almost dying. My mindset from aiming for a pass, has now changed to aiming for a silver. If my chin-ups improve over the next 2 weeks, then maybe, juz maybe... I'll try to aim for gold.
3 more weeks to Passing Out Parade. I will miss my bunk mates, I will miss Scorpion Company, but I will not miss Pulau Tekong.