The Chronicles of PES C BMT!! (Part 1)

*Sorry for the lack of or no pictures!!*
*MUST READ for people going army soon!!*

Days before Enlistment:

As a matter of fact, I was really not feeling any anxiety or worrying about what might happen in camp. Perhaps I was busy preparing the stuff for army, spending time with family(extremely important) and taking a last look at NH Dance before I go in.

Parents being parents, they will occasionally pop the questions on whether I am worried, whether I am afraid of life in army. And sons being sons, even if they are afraid/worried/nervous/not feeling well, they will just say everything is OK.

With a mentality that things inside might get a little tough, I, subsequently everybody, bought more than enough stuff to bring into camp in case we will need it. Certain stuff will be elaborated on later on.

The point is to spend ample time with your family because the 2 weeks of confinement adjustment period, when you do not get to book out for a weekend, is quite draining for some of my friends in army. They are simply too attached. Not to say that being too attached is wrong. Moreover, the first inspiring quote I see is:

BMT
It's not what you left behind,

It's what you gain in the days ahead.

Enlistment Day (25/1/2008):

Everything seems especially slow that day. Wake up slow, movement also slow. Lucky I already got everything packed into my Crumpler the day before. And my Crumpler almost exploded on the way there due to the amount of things I bought. HAHA. NONONO. I think its due to the smallness of the the Crumpler space. And I am not the worst. There are people who brought luggages, some with the mentality of going to a chalet. Anyway, things were loaded onto my Dad's lorry and we set off.

I did get more anxious regarding the army on the way there because no matter how much you have prepared yourself for it, there is still an uncertainty. It is something like us going to our kindergarten/Primary school. You dunno what is going to happen there. Anyway, there was just silence between my parents and I. Perhaps, all 3 of us were worried. HAHA!

Reached the familiar SAF Ferry Terminal at Changi area. It's familiar because my juniors and I cycled past it just last month. Past the security check and sat down there waiting for the ferry to come. Things start to turn for the better when I saw people like Kester Ng (primary school classmates and super duper good friend), Sun A Yong (NH friend) etcetc at the Terminal.

Boarded the ferry and the trip to the island named Pulau Tekong was unusually slow. Everybody did have a big bag. HAHA. So I am saved, because the rule to having a smooth BMT is not to be the first or the last. But the thing is, my alarm clock rang on the ferry! I was flustered at that time because I thought having an alarm clock was an exaggeration. Luckily the clock was buried deep inside my bag and not everybody heard the ring.

The snaily ferry reached Tekong and I was separated with my parents almost immediately. LOL. And the first item that was taken away from me was the PINK NRIC! AND IT MEANS THAT I AM NOW A NSF!! Sat down with everybody on the ferry and waited quite long for instructions. In the end received a GREEN IC, dogtag and the notification of my company. Then we were taken to another place to sit and be briefed by a person who was funny to me. He was later known to my company CSM (Company Sergeant Major) MSG Kelvin Wee.

WHY was he funny? We were all standing up, practising the oath with him. So we need to read sentence by sentence after him. He read super loudly and seriously and he was very proud to shout GOVERNMENT (pronouced by him as GAR-DER-MENT). The combination of his expression and the mispronunciation was hilarious. But I was in the front row and had no choice by to CONTROL!!

Soon, we were brought into the Auditorium, sat down and watched our parents streaming in. PARENTS! Never ever go in and walk around trying to find your child and after finding him, you laugh hysterically. It is really dumb and lame. I am really lucky that my parents are experienced people so they knew what not to do.

Then we were brought to lunch! Before we could reach cookhouse, we need to walk through the company buildings which are klike a maze because all the buildings looks the same! Walked and walked until we reached the crowded cookhouse. The first taste of cookhouse food is always the best! I still remember that lunch was chicken rice and its really better than some of the ones outside! It is not as bad as some of you think. And the best of it. THE FOOD IS FREE!

Good times dun last. And its time to be separated with my parents for 2 weeks. They left Tekong and we were brought to our company building to leave my civilian stuff in our room. OMFG! THEN, I SAW MY FIRST GHOST IN TEKONG!!

to be continued...




ANYWAY, I have received my posting!!

I have been posted to the Signals Institute to be trained as a Signal Operator aka Signaller! My new camp is the Stagmont Camp at Chua Chu Kang! So I guess it will be like going to PJC from my house. Heard its quite near Lot 1! HAHA! Plus it is a stay-in course. So I will get to save money involuntarily! Just hope everything will be fine. Though I need to bring everything I had in Tekong back to Stagmont. LOL!