Orh!! Finally back from outfield!! After close to 1 year of doing administrative work, I finally had the chance to go for a 5 day outfield exercise.. not that I want to of course.. learnt a lot during this outfield, not all good of course.. will elaborate as I go on..
So, I booked in last Sunday and prepped my MOT Tonner with all the field equipment.. since the entire Manpower section of my CSS cell only consists of me and Daniel, we had to prep the entire vehicle.. so many stuff to put in lah.. in the end we took like 4 hours to finish prepping the entire vehicle.. after which we were already tired, sweaty and wet (it was raining.. in fact it rained all 5 days.. more abt that later)
We moved out at 4pm exactly.. pretty late actually, cause we were told it would move out at 10am... hahah.. made us rush so much for nothing..
When I reached the place, I was quite awed by the massiveness of the entire structure... one main tentage (made up of 4 tentages and 4 tanks) that's the size of like 2 of my house and like 3 or 4 smaller tentages.. all surrounded by concertina wires and guarded by the MPs and RPs.. wah its like a mini village lah.. the scale was so huge.. so exciting!! But also got bad point lah.. it was built in the middle of the forest.. so there were a lot of trees and stuff.. super dirty lah..
Anyway, for the next few days we were all there (except Sunday nite where I got to go back to camp).. and for all the days we were there, it rained super heavily.. it got so bad that the exercise had to cease for a while cause all the desktops and notebooks were getting drenched in rain.. someone told me that while rescuing the electronics, he saw a signaller tilt the CPU and rainwater actually gushed out.. a lot of electronics were destroyed in the exercise.. and the rain got so bad that our area actually flooded to slightly below knee length.. can imagine how bad it was lah.. we were all drenched and cold and trying to dismantle the entire 'village' (remember the large scale?).. took us hours to complete... I felt like I was walking in a fish tank, cause there was so much water in my boots.. water just gushed out of my boots when I tilt them.. and after the rain (finally), I felt something tickling my stomach and so I reached underneath my clothes and swept it out... IT WAS A 15 CM LONG RED AND BLACK CENTIPETE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! Everyone near me was astonished... I was shocked beyond words.. OMG!! It was so huge and big and disgusting and each of its 100 legs was the size of like 4 ants!! So its equivalent to 400 ants all over my body! Not including the main body of the centipete!! OMG!! Can't even imagine how it got onto my stomach!! OMG!!
Anyway, after the terrible incident, we made our way to another area to continue on the exercise.. we travelled (still wet) half an hour to the land of a thousand spiders.. the entire ground was covered with spiders.. many many brown and black spiders.. all scurrying around.. it was so disgusting.. we built up our village there again.. and how nice.. just as we started, it started to pour again.. we were all wet on top of being already wet.. wah-ow!! After a long day, we finally finished our task and could return back to this huge grassland with super tall grass and rested for like 4 hours before we had to leave again.. when I woke up, my face was covered with mosquito bites.. horrible!!!!! And my feet were so wet and itchy and my entire body was itchy and my face was itchy and I was cold and tired and hungry and thirsty.. I din noe how I managed to survive..
And so, we made our way back to the land of a thousand spiders.. surprisingly the ground was not so infested when we got back.. think they all hid under the mud waiting to attack me when I sleep or wad.. anyway it was like 2 in the morning and we were all trying to set up the lights and fans and computers and the tanks and landrovers and tonners were moving in.. wad a scene!! Hahah.. finally by 6am we were done.. caught some sleep (like half an hour).. and when I woke up, I felt something tickling my neck.. I brushed it off and it was a milipede.. HELP!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe my luck lah.. all the insects like decided they all wanted to attack me lah!! Stupid milipede.. so big lah.. OMG OMG OMG OMG!!
And so, the next few days were spent trying to fend off insects, eating practically nothing, catching as much sleep as I can (which is not alot), chatting with Jelvin, and submitting my reports every 3 to 4 hrs a day..
And finally when the exercise ended, I was so happy lah.. I was like muddy from head to toe, my clothes all wet, my face covered in disgusting camo cream, and my boots were half submerged in the super thick and wet mud, and I smelt like rubbish. It was the worst feeling in the world.
And when I came back to camp, I had to clean up all the equipment and my weapon.. but I was happy, cause I could endure all these and not fall out.. I was part of the biggest and most gruelling local outfield exercise that the Brigade had experienced in recent years.. I felt like a Champion.. but not for long.. cause I was too tired already!!
Anyway, back to the learning experience.. I had a lot of bad encounters during the exercise.. and its not just the weather. I have realised a lot of stuff about people in the Brigade. I am extremely disappointed in some people, whom I thot were pretty nice people, but in fact were not at all.. I tried my best to cover duties of the rest and not once was assistance offered to me.. I did so much work and I was still reprimanded for my efficiency.. But did anyone see me wake up once every 2 hours every night to liaise with the other battalions for my report? And I was still awake in the day reminding the rest to submit the reports cause the rest din even want to remember the times they needed to submit the reports.. basically I was just doing everything. Wow.. and all I received was scoldings and more scoldings.. but I dun care anymore.. as Jelvin said, as long as I din disappoint myself, its alright.. I dun care anymore wad the Brigade thinks of me.. its fine if they think I am slack or if I sleep in the office in the afternoon or if they think I disappear all the time.. Why dun they question where I was or wad I was doing.. They dun see me going for all the outfield exercises, they dun see me running errands for like all the rest, they dun see me staying back to complete my work, they dun see me reminding the rest to do this and do that and worrying if they will complete their work and end up doing it for them.. they just shoot me with more tasks to do.. well thanks for all your arrows.. as long as I know that I am doing the right things, I do not care.
The Brigade has taught me something very important, that is I have to be an independant person. Cause no one will help you in times of need or trouble. Its best to rely on yourself and complete the task yourself. And no use comparing why I do so much work while the rest can take MCs and canteen breaks and book out early and watch movies in the office and sleep in the afternoon and surf the internet, cause I noe I will leave the army with a much stronger character that anyone of them and that I will get further in life than the rest of them when I step into the real world outside.
And to that Big Mouth Rubbish Dump that I happen to know of, your mouth is still so big.
So, I booked in last Sunday and prepped my MOT Tonner with all the field equipment.. since the entire Manpower section of my CSS cell only consists of me and Daniel, we had to prep the entire vehicle.. so many stuff to put in lah.. in the end we took like 4 hours to finish prepping the entire vehicle.. after which we were already tired, sweaty and wet (it was raining.. in fact it rained all 5 days.. more abt that later)
We moved out at 4pm exactly.. pretty late actually, cause we were told it would move out at 10am... hahah.. made us rush so much for nothing..
When I reached the place, I was quite awed by the massiveness of the entire structure... one main tentage (made up of 4 tentages and 4 tanks) that's the size of like 2 of my house and like 3 or 4 smaller tentages.. all surrounded by concertina wires and guarded by the MPs and RPs.. wah its like a mini village lah.. the scale was so huge.. so exciting!! But also got bad point lah.. it was built in the middle of the forest.. so there were a lot of trees and stuff.. super dirty lah..
Anyway, for the next few days we were all there (except Sunday nite where I got to go back to camp).. and for all the days we were there, it rained super heavily.. it got so bad that the exercise had to cease for a while cause all the desktops and notebooks were getting drenched in rain.. someone told me that while rescuing the electronics, he saw a signaller tilt the CPU and rainwater actually gushed out.. a lot of electronics were destroyed in the exercise.. and the rain got so bad that our area actually flooded to slightly below knee length.. can imagine how bad it was lah.. we were all drenched and cold and trying to dismantle the entire 'village' (remember the large scale?).. took us hours to complete... I felt like I was walking in a fish tank, cause there was so much water in my boots.. water just gushed out of my boots when I tilt them.. and after the rain (finally), I felt something tickling my stomach and so I reached underneath my clothes and swept it out... IT WAS A 15 CM LONG RED AND BLACK CENTIPETE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! Everyone near me was astonished... I was shocked beyond words.. OMG!! It was so huge and big and disgusting and each of its 100 legs was the size of like 4 ants!! So its equivalent to 400 ants all over my body! Not including the main body of the centipete!! OMG!! Can't even imagine how it got onto my stomach!! OMG!!
Anyway, after the terrible incident, we made our way to another area to continue on the exercise.. we travelled (still wet) half an hour to the land of a thousand spiders.. the entire ground was covered with spiders.. many many brown and black spiders.. all scurrying around.. it was so disgusting.. we built up our village there again.. and how nice.. just as we started, it started to pour again.. we were all wet on top of being already wet.. wah-ow!! After a long day, we finally finished our task and could return back to this huge grassland with super tall grass and rested for like 4 hours before we had to leave again.. when I woke up, my face was covered with mosquito bites.. horrible!!!!! And my feet were so wet and itchy and my entire body was itchy and my face was itchy and I was cold and tired and hungry and thirsty.. I din noe how I managed to survive..
And so, we made our way back to the land of a thousand spiders.. surprisingly the ground was not so infested when we got back.. think they all hid under the mud waiting to attack me when I sleep or wad.. anyway it was like 2 in the morning and we were all trying to set up the lights and fans and computers and the tanks and landrovers and tonners were moving in.. wad a scene!! Hahah.. finally by 6am we were done.. caught some sleep (like half an hour).. and when I woke up, I felt something tickling my neck.. I brushed it off and it was a milipede.. HELP!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe my luck lah.. all the insects like decided they all wanted to attack me lah!! Stupid milipede.. so big lah.. OMG OMG OMG OMG!!
And so, the next few days were spent trying to fend off insects, eating practically nothing, catching as much sleep as I can (which is not alot), chatting with Jelvin, and submitting my reports every 3 to 4 hrs a day..
And finally when the exercise ended, I was so happy lah.. I was like muddy from head to toe, my clothes all wet, my face covered in disgusting camo cream, and my boots were half submerged in the super thick and wet mud, and I smelt like rubbish. It was the worst feeling in the world.
And when I came back to camp, I had to clean up all the equipment and my weapon.. but I was happy, cause I could endure all these and not fall out.. I was part of the biggest and most gruelling local outfield exercise that the Brigade had experienced in recent years.. I felt like a Champion.. but not for long.. cause I was too tired already!!
Anyway, back to the learning experience.. I had a lot of bad encounters during the exercise.. and its not just the weather. I have realised a lot of stuff about people in the Brigade. I am extremely disappointed in some people, whom I thot were pretty nice people, but in fact were not at all.. I tried my best to cover duties of the rest and not once was assistance offered to me.. I did so much work and I was still reprimanded for my efficiency.. But did anyone see me wake up once every 2 hours every night to liaise with the other battalions for my report? And I was still awake in the day reminding the rest to submit the reports cause the rest din even want to remember the times they needed to submit the reports.. basically I was just doing everything. Wow.. and all I received was scoldings and more scoldings.. but I dun care anymore.. as Jelvin said, as long as I din disappoint myself, its alright.. I dun care anymore wad the Brigade thinks of me.. its fine if they think I am slack or if I sleep in the office in the afternoon or if they think I disappear all the time.. Why dun they question where I was or wad I was doing.. They dun see me going for all the outfield exercises, they dun see me running errands for like all the rest, they dun see me staying back to complete my work, they dun see me reminding the rest to do this and do that and worrying if they will complete their work and end up doing it for them.. they just shoot me with more tasks to do.. well thanks for all your arrows.. as long as I know that I am doing the right things, I do not care.
The Brigade has taught me something very important, that is I have to be an independant person. Cause no one will help you in times of need or trouble. Its best to rely on yourself and complete the task yourself. And no use comparing why I do so much work while the rest can take MCs and canteen breaks and book out early and watch movies in the office and sleep in the afternoon and surf the internet, cause I noe I will leave the army with a much stronger character that anyone of them and that I will get further in life than the rest of them when I step into the real world outside.
And to that Big Mouth Rubbish Dump that I happen to know of, your mouth is still so big.
posted by seth at
9:31 AM
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