Last Month of BMT

Back dated to 5 Mar 2005


It seemed like I've been at Tekong for years now. Just when I'm getting used to life there, the P.O.P date gets closer in sight with each passing day.

Our basic military training is reaching their final stages. During the last month of training the training schedule was simply packed with many activities.

We went for live range shoots after several sessions of IMT (virtual range training). It was the first time we recruits handled live rounds, and everyone was extra alert and careful to ensure that the range shoot went smoothly and safely. When it was not our turn to fire we were told to clean our rifles over and over again. One entire day of shooting meant that the rifle was simply black with soot inside. Zzzzz

We went for a grenade throwing range as well. We were told that it would be the only time in our NS life we would ever throw one. Grenade throwing is far more dangerous than the range shoot; the sergeants were practically angels to us, constantly advising us to relax, focus, and to follow their instructions closely. The grenade was smaller than I thought. Just about the size of a Yakult bottle; and arming the grenade was harder than it seemed. I gripped it extra tightly after arming it and threw it as hard as I could upon the command.
We also had to aim at the target board for about 2 sec before ducking. (When there is nothing we would have liked better than to duck immediately after the throw) The grenades exploded in about 7 secs after release.
There was really loud explosion, followed by a shock wave that shook us to the core and literally rattled our teeth. When I left the throwing range the target board was nowhere to be seen. A new one have to be replaced in between every throw. 0_0 woah.
Well at least my turn was over. Our PCs (platoon commanders) were explicitly relieved when the day ended without any injuries or problems. Warrant Harry must have smoked at least 2 packs of cigarettes that day to ease his stress.

We had a Battle Assault Courses, one where we had to charge forward down a lane and hit the dummy figures with the close combat techniques we have learned. We were to show our utmost aggression, and if the instructors found our attacks too weak or half hearted we would have to run the course all over again.

And then there is the Battle Inoculation Course. We had to crawl across a field with barbed wires set up over the area and tires placed around the ground simulating the 'mines' that we were supposed to avoid. The specs were also positioned on machine gun towers where they fired off blanks. This exercise was to simulate us crawling through a battle field with machine guns roaring overhead.
The barbed wire was exceptionally low at my lane at one point. It caught my field pack and tore a hole in it. Other than getting scrapped knees and elbows the exercise was over without a problem.

The Standard Obstacle course and the 16km route march I had missed due to another bout of fever. While I did not have to redo the SOC, I had to attend a make up session for the route march that I had missed. We could not go for the 24km march if we had not completed the 16km one, so I had my 16km march while the rest of the platoon did their 24km one.

We also had a Sit. Test (Situational Test), where we formed teams with people from other platoons to go through a circuit where we take turns at playing different roles of leader, 2IC, navigator, sniper, medic, explosives infantry and missile infantry. A facilitator was attached to our teams to observe how proficient we were at each role. It was supposed to be a observation to determine our Unit and vocation posting.
My team was pretty bad at coordinating and solving problems, and we failed many of the missions. LoL. The facilitator said that our problem was that we JC educated people are taught to argue over how things should be done too much. In comparison he told us that Poly guys simply tried their hands on the task and found which methods were the best along the way.
Either way, my team did not seem very interested in straining themselves over the evaluation. Some other teams did take it too seriously though.
I heard that fights even nearly broke out in one team. It happened when some guy was the leader and the mission was failed. He blamed the team and shouted that if he could not make it to OCS (Officer Cadet School) it was all their fault.
I don't know about the others, but did not think that he had the right attitude to be an officer. I certainly hoped for the sake of others that he did not make it into the OCS.

Lastly, above all is the IPPT. (Individual Physical Proficiency Test). My stamina is simply terrible, I kept failing my 2.4km run, though my overall fitness has improved. I'll keep working on it ..

Still .. less than a month to go! I really look forward to the end of BMT. There's a nice, long two week break before I get my posting.


P.O.P, P.O.P!