hi blog, been a long time. again. I’m on leave till next year. Been a very long time since I’ve slept  at home for more than 5 days consecutively. The last time was probably during my BMT block leave . Feels great to be at home =)

The past few months had been hectic,  conducting one activity after another. Barely had the time to do other stuff. They say that as an officer, I’m in charge of my men’s training, morale and discipline. The past 6 months was pure training, I wanted to spend more time on other areas, but my workload doesn’t allow me to do that very often. But I believe I should be able to focus on the other areas now that their training phase is over.

The new batch of officers got commissioned recently. I heard that a few of them will be posted to our company. They are probably going through their orientation programme right now. Havent heard any news of whether my appointment would change or not. It would be a pity if I have to hand over my platoon to the new officer because my real job as a PC starts now. Section and platoon level trainings are going to start and that will be the time when I get to draw my rifle and fight side by side with my platoon.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind handing over the platoon to the new officer because no matter what, I will not be the one going through their summex with them (The next officer will be).  It would benefit the platoon as a whole to start training with their new PC at this early stage.

Ok la, I think I should stop speculating. I will know the results when I return to camp next year (yes! next year). No matter what the results are, I will still be happy – PC, Staff Officer, Coy 2IC, all sounds good to me =).

Its been a long time since I updated. Life’s been good, no longer a trainee. Went through Crescendo, got comissioned, posted to 38 as a PC.  Made lots of mistakes during my first few weeks, practised a few more times and got better.  My platoon is great, lots of motivated people, very cool bunch of people to hang out with.

I somehow feel that I learn more stuff as an officer than as a cadet. Being a PC isn’t as easy as I thought it was. A PC is like a commander, instructor, co-ordinator and clerk combined into one. I feel like a clerk most of the time ( PC -> Platoon Clerk) because of the endless admin work and planning that has to be done. When I need a break from my work in the office, I’ll just walk around and see what everyone else is doing, thats probably the time when most people think that I have nth better to do. I need a runner (and a  good break )!

I bought an IPod Touch with my first 2LT pay. Its the best purchase I’ve made in 2009. My life’s in it. I’ve never been so organized before. I can even plan a battalion level activity with it. A good tool to jot down notes quickly during meetings. My plans, ideas, thoughts, lists, expenses and schedule, its all in it. Its also my personal entertainment gadget – movies, songs, articles, facebook, games – enough to keep me entertained while I’m in camp. I got it for only $280 (8GB), comes with screen protector, socket charger, silicon protective casing. DAM WORTH IT!

Plans for the next few months?

• Get my guys through their training phase (without any more OOC)
• start planning for my biz
• get a laptop for uni
• pass my driving test (which happens to be on the day im conducting live-firing. )
• get a girlfriend
• go on a holiday =)

Having been in the army for almost a year, I’ve seen my share of good and bad commanders. The kind of leader that inspires me the most are those willing to stay on the ground to brave the storm with their man. Its inspiring to see a senior commander out in the rain doing the things we do. I’ll be comissioned in 2 months time and our instructors are starting to nag us to think of the kind of commander we wanna be after we comission.

I respect the warrant officers in AE alot. I respect them for their knowledge, patience and willingness to stay on the ground with us. Ever since our first day in AE, they’ve never punished or scolded us at all, even when we make mistakes or start to get sloppy, but we still respect them alot more than bad tempered commanders who flare up easily and try to micro manage us with fear. I find it easier to work with commanders like them.

Thats also the kind of commander I wanna be in the future. A commander willing to go through shit with his platoon, at the same time knowledgeable and patient.

I can smell the parade square.

It was a great night. The food was great, ah gua comedians who were really funny, great performances, very fun crowd

A video montage was played, showing the training we went throught and the funny things that happened. Some of us got quite emo after watching the video. The coolest part of the video was Wei Lun saying how much he love his GF while holding his rifle during Ex. Scorpion King. I think his GF must had been really touched after watching it. 

Really enjoyed myself that night

Tango Wing, Platoon 2, Section 1 (50%). These are the people I went through thick and thin with during service term.

From Left: LTA Ivan (our section instructor), Boh Wei (bunk mate), Ronald, Jia Junn, Wei Lun and me.

I’ll update this post with more pics

Theres this event that all service-term cadets (2 stripes) in OCS have to attend at the end of their Service Term, its called “Social Night”. Its some kind of event to celebrate the end of service term and our promotion to Pro Term (3 stripes).

AND

all cadets have to bring a date for this event. T_T

Its a REQUIREMENT. Cadets who fail to bring a date will have to sign 7 extras (extra weekend duties). Till now, I still don’t understand why they are so serious about this.

If any of you girls out there is free on 19th December (its a friday), got nothing to do and feel in a mood to do a good deed (like save me from extras). Than just send me an sms or call me at 90058393 =) 

Don’t worry, its not some kind of military parade. Its just a nice evening for cadets (and their dates) to celebrate and let loose after 3 months of insane training. Its gonna be quite a fun night. The cadets and officers in my wing are really fun people, lots of young, fit and handsome officers (and future-officers) gonna be there.

Life is OCS is pretty fun although training is very tough. Everyone started to open up to one another and interact more. I am glad to be in the platoon I am in now. Lots of funny people as usual. Theres always lots of funny people in the army. I think its probably because we are each other’s only source of entertainment (I know it sounds wrong), that is why we always find things to joke and crap about to lighten the atmosphere when training gets tough. We eat, sleep, shit, bathe, train and go through all the shit together, its the kind of camadarie you can only experience in the army.

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Just read up lots of stuff about OCS online. OCS is very tough, but the end result is really impressive. The training is said to improve one’s physical and mental fitness, organizational skills, discipline and leadership skills. Saw lots of pictures of comissioning parades.

Imagine being a Sword of Honour recipient (Only the best cadet gets it). Standing in front of the president, your family, your friends, your dog, cat, goldfish and hamster. Coolness..

OMGWTFBBQ..

I’m in OCS.

Just passed out from BMTC yesterday. My parents attended my POP. I’m happy that they came. Especially my mum, I was surprised when I heard that she was coming. She came all the way to Tekong with my dad even though she was busy. I really appreciate that. Thanks mum!

Pictures taken by my cool parents :

Yankee Coy

the march in

Me and my dad

Medals

School 1

Pictures taken by my platoon mates:
Im feeling emo coz I was seperated from my platoon after the parade,  so I’m not in the photos below

My greatest section mates. The most zai section in BMTC.
Clockwise: Alex, QS, Sergeant Hafiz, (our section commander), Arvind, Jia Jie, Li Sheng, Darian, Sze Lie (my army buddy), Ying Liang, Prashant, Dennis and Adrian

Yankee Platoon 4. The best platoon ever.