Man! Its really been ages since i wrote anything here. haha... well it does'nt really matter right? i guess not many are even reading this .. haha.
Well here is the 3rd installment..........
18 years old is the coming of age for all teenagers. All kids can't wait to reach that age as it signifies growing up and maturity. In Singapore, 18 years old means a lot to the youths. It is the legal age whereby one is finally allowed to buy and consume alcohol and cigarettes in public. It is also THE AGE whereby all males are conscripted to serve the nation.
Prior to conscription, all enlistees are required to report for their health check, where everyone is categorised according to their physical fitness and general physical and psychological well being. It is also rumoured that it is during this health check where the SAF(Singapore Armed Forces) appointed psychologists segregates everyone to the various vocations (e.g Commando, Officers, Navy, Army, Airforce etc.). I was chosen for the Airforce selection (despite some problems with my vision) and went through various tests like Aircraft landing simulation and hand eye co-ordination tests. I think i must have done rather badly for all the tests as i did not even make it to the second round of tests where enlistees are tested for their anti-gravity reactions. haha....
Oh well, after that then came the day of enlistment. (The date was very interesting 22022001.... note the number of twos.... in Chinese the number 2 is read the same way as hungry.... hmmm... an omen? or? i dunno. haha...) That was the day where all parents of the would be soldiers brought their children to an offshore island (Naturally, SAF provided a ferry service) and 'hand over' their boy of 18 years for the SAF to transform into a man. (Well, that is what the SAF claims. Dun ask me why, its so cliche. hahaha..) It is also on that day where you will get to see parents tearing for ya in a very solemn swearing in ceremony where all enlistees are required to take an oath to remain loyal to the nation. Why is tearing necessary? Or what is there to tear for? Maybe i'll know that only when my child is enlisted in the distant future. hahaha....
The initial training phase was horrendously tough! (It was understandable as i was physically very weak when i was enlisted, all thanks to my sickly and lazy self. haha...). For the first 6 to 7 weeks, it was pure fitness conditioning and very little technical training. After all that, we went through the second phase, where more "technical" kind of training was conducted. Things like the SOC (Standard Obstacle Course) and arms training was conducted. All went well for around 10 weeks. Then all hell broke loose........
That day was my second attempt at the SOC training grounds and the first time where we had to don our rifle and SBO (skeletal/standard battle order - a strappy device for soldiers to put their grenades and rifle magazines). We had to go through the whole course which consisted of quite a few obstacles like the low wall, ramp, Jacob's ladder etc. Everything went fine with me clearing all the obstacles until the last obstacle which was the ramp. The ramp is basically a slope linked to a wall, about 2 to 3 metres high, where one is supposed to run up the slope and jump off and land in a sand pit. I did exactly that and landed on the sand pit. Before i realised what happened, something hit me from the back of my head and an excruciating pain shot through my entire body. Then blackness.... Then someone shouted "water"... Blackness... Water was poured from my head down... Blackness... Am suddenly in the medical centre sitting up with someone poking my head... Blackness... On a fastcraft, vomitting... Blackness... Dunno where, vomitting... Blackness... Emergency room of some hospital, in a hospital gown, with a drip, blood on my gown, vomit... Blackness... In a hospital ward, with police trying to talk to me, ignored them(naturally i was not in a condition to talk just kept alternating between darkness and vomitting)... Very sore feeling concentrated on the head and extremely cold and extremely nauseaous.(guess that is how death feels... comments?) Told by nurse to rest, but rest was quite impossible due to dull pain and soreness on the head. Parents came crying and screaming. Few changes of blood soaked pillows and finally the operating room. Then was put to sleep by nitrogen dioxide gas (not sure, but should be haha...) and operated and was warded for 10 days and went home for a 6 month MC. It was only way after the accident where i found out from an official report that it was a rifle from another trainee who jumped off the ramp too fast, that hit me on the head and i suffered a left depressed skull fracture leaving me skulless and hairless on a small area on my head (size of a singaporean 50 cent coin) for the rest of my life.
Life after the accident gradually turned better. I was posted to a Training School where i got my 3rd seargent rank and where i was to teach new enlistees how to be a qualified CQMS (Company Quarter Master Seargent, or overall in charge of an army store). Met many fellow instructors and trainees who i keep in touch with till today.
The whole term of conscription lasted for 2.5 years and after that i was posted to Nanyang Technological University to pursue my degree in Materials Engineering.
PS: Finally i have caught up with my life. Am currently doing my degree at NTU. hahaha. So from now onwards anything u read will be about my current life. My little trilogy of reminiscing has come to an end. But may be revisited in the near future. To all who bothered to through this crappy article. Thanks and cheers! See ya!
Man! Its really been ages since i wrote anything here. haha... well it does'nt really matter right? i guess not many are even reading this .. haha.
Well here is the 3rd installment..........
18 years old is the coming of age for all teenagers. All kids can't wait to reach that age as it signifies growing up and maturity. In Singapore, 18 years old means a lot to the youths. It is the legal age whereby one is finally allowed to buy and consume alcohol and cigarettes in public. It is also THE AGE whereby all males are conscripted to serve the nation.
Prior to conscription, all enlistees are required to report for their health check, where everyone is categorised according to their physical fitness and general physical and psychological well being. It is also rumoured that it is during this health check where the SAF(Singapore Armed Forces) appointed psychologists segregates everyone to the various vocations (e.g Commando, Officers, Navy, Army, Airforce etc.). I was chosen for the Airforce selection (despite some problems with my vision) and went through various tests like Aircraft landing simulation and hand eye co-ordination tests. I think i must have done rather badly for all the tests as i did not even make it to the second round of tests where enlistees are tested for their anti-gravity reactions. haha....
Oh well, after that then came the day of enlistment. (The date was very interesting 22022001.... note the number of twos.... in Chinese the number 2 is read the same way as hungry.... hmmm... an omen? or? i dunno. haha...) That was the day where all parents of the would be soldiers brought their children to an offshore island (Naturally, SAF provided a ferry service) and 'hand over' their boy of 18 years for the SAF to transform into a man. (Well, that is what the SAF claims. Dun ask me why, its so cliche. hahaha..) It is also on that day where you will get to see parents tearing for ya in a very solemn swearing in ceremony where all enlistees are required to take an oath to remain loyal to the nation. Why is tearing necessary? Or what is there to tear for? Maybe i'll know that only when my child is enlisted in the distant future. hahaha....
The initial training phase was horrendously tough! (It was understandable as i was physically very weak when i was enlisted, all thanks to my sickly and lazy self. haha...). For the first 6 to 7 weeks, it was pure fitness conditioning and very little technical training. After all that, we went through the second phase, where more "technical" kind of training was conducted. Things like the SOC (Standard Obstacle Course) and arms training was conducted. All went well for around 10 weeks. Then all hell broke loose........
That day was my second attempt at the SOC training grounds and the first time where we had to don our rifle and SBO (skeletal/standard battle order - a strappy device for soldiers to put their grenades and rifle magazines). We had to go through the whole course which consisted of quite a few obstacles like the low wall, ramp, Jacob's ladder etc. Everything went fine with me clearing all the obstacles until the last obstacle which was the ramp. The ramp is basically a slope linked to a wall, about 2 to 3 metres high, where one is supposed to run up the slope and jump off and land in a sand pit. I did exactly that and landed on the sand pit. Before i realised what happened, something hit me from the back of my head and an excruciating pain shot through my entire body. Then blackness.... Then someone shouted "water"... Blackness... Water was poured from my head down... Blackness... Am suddenly in the medical centre sitting up with someone poking my head... Blackness... On a fastcraft, vomitting... Blackness... Dunno where, vomitting... Blackness... Emergency room of some hospital, in a hospital gown, with a drip, blood on my gown, vomit... Blackness... In a hospital ward, with police trying to talk to me, ignored them(naturally i was not in a condition to talk just kept alternating between darkness and vomitting)... Very sore feeling concentrated on the head and extremely cold and extremely nauseaous.(guess that is how death feels... comments?) Told by nurse to rest, but rest was quite impossible due to dull pain and soreness on the head. Parents came crying and screaming. Few changes of blood soaked pillows and finally the operating room. Then was put to sleep by nitrogen dioxide gas (not sure, but should be haha...) and operated and was warded for 10 days and went home for a 6 month MC. It was only way after the accident where i found out from an official report that it was a rifle from another trainee who jumped off the ramp too fast, that hit me on the head and i suffered a left depressed skull fracture leaving me skulless and hairless on a small area on my head (size of a singaporean 50 cent coin) for the rest of my life.
Life after the accident gradually turned better. I was posted to a Training School where i got my 3rd seargent rank and where i was to teach new enlistees how to be a qualified CQMS (Company Quarter Master Seargent, or overall in charge of an army store). Met many fellow instructors and trainees who i keep in touch with till today.
The whole term of conscription lasted for 2.5 years and after that i was posted to Nanyang Technological University to pursue my degree in Materials Engineering.
PS: Finally i have caught up with my life. Am currently doing my degree at NTU. hahaha. So from now onwards anything u read will be about my current life. My little trilogy of reminiscing has come to an end. But may be revisited in the near future. To all who bothered to through this crappy article. Thanks and cheers! See ya!
-got milk?-
porkchops
Visit This Site!!!