Brunei overseas training.
Although it has been more than 2 weeks ago since i came back from Brunei, the memories were still fresh in my mind. The endurance, the anxiety and the fear; there were times when these feelings were too immensed to handle; causing some of us to break down.
Sitting there quietly.
Just waiting for a miracle to happen.
Clueless of WHERE we were
and hoping.. just HOPING..
for someone to make that decision.
and carry on.
The 9 days i went through was the LONGEST 9 days i ever had.
With the limited supply of food (we were given only 48hrs of food ration), i had to resort, worse to worse, to eat a biscuit per meal everyday.
Some of the highlights i'll never forget:
- Ride on the Super Puma heli during mission.
- Resort to do the most gay-est hug at night just to keep each other warm.
- Killing a quail with my bare hands!
- A teammate of mine just broke down and cried when we got lost and in badly racing against time. (it caught me by suprise!)
- Another two of my teammates were stung by hornets.
- Combat swimming across Sungei Batu Apoi ( along with our field pack and rifle seyy)
- Getting leeches bites, sandflies, mosquitoes and bloodsuckers making my both hands swollen like Doraemon.
- Reaching the summit of Mount. Tegulong and Mount. Biang.
- Receieved a telegram from my family on the 8th day in the middle of the night and in the middle of the jungle sent by our instructor. ( many emo-ed that particular night by the fireplace)
- That FIRST step into our base camp at the end of the 9 days.
The experience i've gained throughout the JCC(Jungle Confidence Course) made me really REALLY treasure every single priviledges i have here in Singapore.
Imagine.. every single day you have to worry about the 3 basic things that a Man need to survive in the jungle; SHELTER, FOOD and FIRE. If it rains and your shelter is not up yet, you can just sleep in the rain for the next 12 hrs for the next daylight to come. Bcos of that.. u're cold and it need of warmth. But the ground is yet and the firewoods around u are wet too and so.. fire cannot be start. Considering food is limited, you have to think of ways to ration your food very wisely. And throughout the night, you have to start thinking about how to navigate to ur nxt checkpoint. In the midst of that, u're feeling very uncomfortable with the endless insects bites and the soaked uniform and socks inside your boots. And being alone, in the darkest region of the Brunei jungle doesn't help either.
Well, that's the WORSE CASE SENARIO i can think of, but thankfully, my situation was slightly better that that.
The experience was enough to make me lose 3kg. Others were better losing up to 12kg. But too bad i gained 5kg after feasting on the buffets during R&R. haha.
In the skytrain, just before i flew off for Brunei.
A week after we came back from Brunei, we had our Marksmanship Badge Test. I was optimistic but i knew this test is never been easy. But the thought of having the Marksmanship Badge on the no.1 spurred me on. With the additional $200 bonus, its worth every effort to hit the target.
AND alhamdullilah.. i achieved that. though i didn't get the $200 that i want. Bcos i achieved it on the 2nd try. only on the 1st try we can get the badge +$200. and come to think of it.. i missed by 1 shot during the first try! I can't believe that 1 shot worth $200 has just gone down the drain. just like that. on the LAST SHOT SOMEMORE. haha.
Last Saturday was the 71/08 Commisioning Parade and i was tasked to do ushering and crowd-control at the grandstand. And that's when the first time i donned on the no.1. The parade was something very special to the graduates who had spent a solid 9 months to eventually become a 2LT, 2nd Lieutenant. That moment of relief and joy, when they threw the peak caps high into the sky, gives me motivation to press on. Just 3 more months to go, and i will eventually be there too, standing in the middle of the parade square doing that same accomplished things, knowing i've done my parents proud. That's what i want. And that moment will stay inside my mind to motivate me.
Elroy and me preparing before the parade.
I'm currently on leave for this whole week, clearing my leave that is. Well i decided to spend the time with my family and we had our holiday overseas trip to KL and Genting. I've yet to receive the photos from my sis.. so i guess i'll talk about that the next time. What i can say is.. Genting was happening man! As what i've told some of you, the festive season mood, decorations and the cold 14degrees celcius temp. just make me feel as if im in Europe seyy. haha
K.. i'll stop here. Hopefully i can get some of the Brunei pics to be uploaded here. Other than that, see you guys soon! :)
