101/15 OCS: CLM - Train to Fight, Fight to Win!

Entered SAFTI MI grounds on 5th Oct, got posted to Hotel Wing and received my first white bar as Freshman Cadet. Things are much more different now, all the girls are split up and now I find myself the minority in my platoon. There were only 4 girls in Platoon 1 and most of the time we stuck together.

I thought CLM should be OKAY since there were only technically 2 high keys - Tower Run and Confidence Jump. But again I have some problem against all the damn physical elements. We had circuit exercises, route march 3km, endurance run 4km, etc. First of all, the route march was ONLY 3km, but people fail to realise that the girls were practically running all the way for the route march cause our short legs cant stride as far as the guys. They didn't allow the girls to be at the front to "control" the speed. So we had to not only keep up with the guys speed, but also close up the gaps that tend to form cause people dont keep tight. Positive note, guess it's good training to run with load?After reaching back wing line, I thought finally all this torture can stop. BUT NO, we had to HENTAK KAKI until everyone lifted their knees 90 degrees. It lasted for about 10mins.

Other types of "Tekan" that we kenna:
- Holding our full water bottle, arms 90 degrees for 6mins. My arms were burning.
- 150 push-ups everyday to train for ippt, we did it on super rough floor so the girls have abrasions on their knees since we do female push ups.
- whole wing form a circle and do push ups in a wave. Think of Kallang wave.
- alot of random knock it down, crunches change, which seemed endless..

Another annoying fact was that all the girls had to stay elsewhere cause there were no female bunks at Hotel. Army girls stayed at Sierra, Navy girls at Mids Wing and Air Force Girls at Air Wing. Navy and Airforce girls got it lucky cause our accommodations were in the same cluster as Hotel but the Army girls had to walk quite far just to go back to bunk. Imagine after our physical training, they give us about 15 mins to change to smart 4, the girls already take 5mins to go back to Sierra and another 5mins to come back to Hotel, left with 5 mins to change to smart 4.

STILL, I really miss Hotel, especially my platoon and the instructors. It's through all the shit that strong bonds are forged and memories made. And I also feel much stronger now physically! It was quite sad that we couldn't be initiated to junior cadets together. On the last day of CLM, we had to say our good byes and be separated to service term wings. Although it's been a short 2 weeks in Hotel and I was really looking forward to Air Wing, good byes were definitely hard to say. Didn't have much time to linger around cause we had to rush to practice the initiation ceremony in the evening. 4am on Saturday we got turned out by Delta Senior Cadets but most of the Air girls already woke up at 0330 to wash up and brush teeth, awaiting their "surprise." Did force prep, some push ups and stuff but it was okay. After that got initiated as Air Wing and got our 2 white bars signifying the transition from freshman to junior cadets. Met our loved ones at around 8am for OCS Family day.

Check In, Check Out. HOTEL!

BMT: POP LOH!

19 Sept: POP-ed and one step closer.

I guess time is on my side now to finally reflect and pen down some key things during my BMT experience. My thoughts are rather jumbled up so I'll do it in point form. They're random order:

• Don't as feel proud to POP cause I missed out the 24km route march. I didn't feel all the pain, tears and swearing everyone else went through. Bodies are hot they but they're shivering, palm-sized blisters on their feet, multiple abrasions, shoulder and hands numb, breathlessness, headaches, etc..
• Lucky to be in Section 3 cause they accepted me for the crazy and sometimes weird me.
• Thankful for my buddy, we worked well and helped each other when the time came.
• Lost 5 kg. I'm 48 kg now. A SAR 21 weights 3.82kg.
• Expected to perform better and not complain cause I'm a regular. Yes, I chose this path but it doesn't mean I can't express the pain. Can't I cry? Oh I forgot, I'm a soldier now and we're not to shed tears.
• Couldn't cock the SAR 21 (with 1 hand) in the early days. Happy that now I can!
• Got stuck at the top of Apex ladder and cried. I told myself, "One, Two, Three, MOVE!" Nope, my leg just wouldn't move. Frozen. Cramped. Ugh. 
• Cried for ALL my route marches. I really think my breaking point is lower than most people. 
• Bunk on level 5 is no joke.
• Covered the latrine shit-hole during field camp. Just imagine 5 days worth of human shit and army of flies. 
• Thankful there wasn't any rain during field camp. At least our uniforms were dry and not muddy. 
• A random fellow recruit from another formation/company asked me, "You got leopard crawl in field camp? Here and there?", "Got crawl until abrasion in BIC?" (shows me his elbow scab). I showed him mine. He shut up.

I admit, generally SOME guys will think we females have it easier, they will want to compare. Yes, some aspects are easier, like for SOC we don't do with SBO, our IPPT and SOC timings are more generous. However for most parts, everything is the same. Same time limit to dig the shell-scrape, same route march distance, same load, same leopard crawl, same discipline and regimentation. I can simply ignore such comments and let it pass and say well, I signed up for it should just suck it up, but no. After going through all the shit and pain, just cause you were not there to witness it and then make a fleeting comment that "females have it easier", it just irks me.

Those comments are just going to spur me on cause I'm gonna prove to people like you that gender doesn't make a difference. Everyone can do it. With God's grace I will just push on. 

5th Oct I'll enter the grounds of SAFTI to start my long OCS journey. I'm just going to take one small step at a time, with 2 weeks of CLM first. I heard there'll be runs every day. Not forgetting the big jump off a 5 meter platform.. Okay literally ONE STEP (off the platform) at at time. 

Egg-cited! :D

BMT: Post Field Camp

Days have literally been flying past and cant believe that 6D5N field camp is over. Seems just like yesterday that I enlisted and entered Tekong. I'm not sure how I'm getting through the days cause it sure as hell is physically demanding for me. As much as I push myself to always challenge the limit, I know fully well that my personal strength is not physical strength. Adapting to the regimentation and sucking thumb to loads of questionable SOPs are fine with me. The 2 weeks adjustment (confinement) period was okay, except for all the physical training parts.

Route march has been my biggest hurdle of all time. I keep trying not to think about the load and just walk, but somehow I just cant walk as fast as everyone else. I heard a yell, "OPEN UP YOUR STRIDES! KEEP UP. DONT GIVE ME THAT SHAG FACE.". I tried stretching my legs as far ahead as I could, the load just pulls me down and I can feel my knees giving way. I start panting and gasping for air, I get light-headed, my hands starts getting swollen due to lack of blood flow and I start remembering only fragments of the arduous torture. I had to stay back on a Saturday to re route march to complete my 8km and yet I'm still behind the rest of the company, them having completed 12km. I honestly would dig shell scrape again or do another field camp in exchange for ALL future route marches. I shudder at the thought of another route march. 

BMT!!

After collecting my 11B at AFRC on 6th of July, reality more or less has sunken into me. There's no more "What ifs" or "Maybe". It's a 3 years bond and I'm gonna make it count starting right from Day 1, TODAY!!

BMT Briefing and equipment fitting (females only)

12th June: Reported in the morning at CMPB and it was a comforting feeling seeing there were so many other females too on this unconventional journey. I didn't feel so alone anymore. There were approximately 40-50 females across the 3 service (Army, Navy and Air Force)  but most were from Army. A chartered bus came to take us to Army Logistic Base for equipment fitting. Phones were locked up so no pictures of what happened. We took about 2 hours to try the different gears and finalise the sizes before we headed back to CMPB.

Had lunch at CMPB and then went for the BMT briefing. They handed to us the enlistment letters and also the list items to pack. There was a short talk conducted by a guy and I must say it was rather amusing session cause he seemed pretty stunned at the questions we asked him.


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GUY: "Please wear black spectacles."

GIRL 1: "Um my specs have abit of red colour, is it ok?"
GIRL 2: "Um my specs got silver colour thing at the sides, can?"
GIRL 3: "My specs frame quite big kind, can?"

GUY: "Err...  Just GENERALLY black specs."

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GUY: "No contact lenses allowed."

GIRLS: "HUUHHHH?!?!?!"

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GIRL: "Can we bring bobby pins?"

GUY: "What's a bobby pin?!?!"

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GIRL 1: "Does toiletries include sunblock and facial mask, toner etc?"

GUY: "I don't think you'll have time to do facial."

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GUY: "Please pack a dark coloured one piece swimming costume."

GIRL 1: "My one got abit of polka dots, can?"
GIRL 2: "Mine got stripes at the side can?"

GUY: "Err...  as long as the base colour is dark coloured."

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GUY: "No earrings or ear sticks allowed."

GIRLS: "HUUHHHH?!?!?! What if the ear hole close??"

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GIRL: "Can we buy pads at the e-mart?"

GUY: "NO! NO! NO! PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN."

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Well... Shit just got real man. Gonna start my new job soon :D