Lights Out!! Leo's one and only blog

After 10 days in Brunei I did not come back empty handed. I came back with a scar on my forehead! Topoing in the jungle is really a good way to improve a soldier's or the occasional adventurer's nav skills. But the tiring part is climbing up near 90 degree slopes that never seem to end... And my team did that many a time! The worse part is doing it when your shoulders feel like giving way due to carrying the full pack with so much trash and your 3 day combat ration.The field pack is light but the combat rations are HEAVY, even worse is when the field pack is wet from your walking in the stream that starts at ankle level and soon goes to knee and waist level and you falling when you slip on a rock in the bed of the stream. Whoever said that the water in Brunei is terrible must really be knocked in the head, the stream waters are crystal clear! But adding the water purifiers make them taste like chlorine. The water that made me hesitate drinking them was the river water because it is murky and leeches live in them. I was afraid that I'll swallow a leech while drinking the water so I used my teeth while drinking as a "filter". In any case, water is really a B**** when it makes you wet and adds weight to your load. Must make a mental note when I go back there for JCC: never walk in the stream nor try to bash in the hopes of saving time by climbing up a bloody slope that will require you to use the toggle rope to climb up and lastly, the azimuth will just waste your time when taking the direction, just use the general direction when reading the compass and fly off to the next checkpoint. The brunean jungle really tests your combat fitness man! It's really good training ground with all the ups and downs. I discovered that I'm not as combat fit as I thought I was and I really respect the signaller! Carrying the bloody signal set on flat ground is really a challenge but carrying it and walking up and down knolls is no joke especially when you're carrying it for a whole day! Must find the time to train my combat fitness man. And how was sleeping in the jungle? Shiok man! Because we tied hammocks! At first you wouldn't think the hammock would support your weight because the strings don't look strong. Just wait till you sit in the middle and swing on it that you find that it's THAT strong! A hammock is the adventurer's best friend, get one.

Last part of the outfield was climbing up biang and why they call it biang is while climbing up the mountain you'll look up just to see how high up before you reach the summit and you'll say: "Wah biang". The fatigue is made worse when you're suffering from heat rash. More neverending steep slopes and knolls but while you're ascending the mountain, you'll feel you're nearing the top as you feel the drop in temperature and when you finally reach the top of the mounatin, you'll feel that sense of accomplishment, and relief that the climb is finally over but only for a night because while you're climbing up there, you'll be thinking:"I'll give anything to be off this mounatin" and that very same thought kept visiting us while we were descending biang. Anyway, while we were at the top, we tried to finish whatever combat rations we had to lighten our load. Little did we know that the expected length of time we expected to come down the mountain was times 2 so in the end, we reached the foot with hunger. Coming down biang was like going fantasy island but a muddy one at that. We were sliding down mud because the slope was too steep and muddy so no choice have to slide down with our butts. Luckily there were no hidden rocks embedded into the ground or else........ "LI!" But the most dangerous part of being a "slider" is sliding too fast and getting entangled in the thorn plants, because those who went first identified them and when the next few guys started coming down, the guys who went first had to shout over: "Beware!! Torn plants!". And torn plants are really sharp! It tore a bit of flesh from my thumb and the thumb still has the wound there. Careful!

But where did I get that scar on my forehead? It was a dumbass accident lah. Imagine coming back from the mountain and your commanders force you to stay awake for the following 2 days while warning us that if we were caught sleeping we'll be given extras. Bo pian, while the guys from the other arms were sleeping, relaxing or loboing(idling), we were doing all sorts of unnecessary nonsense(endless stanbys, getting pumped and cleaning of weapons). So when we went for our R&R, while I was at one of the shopping centres, I was walking to this store and since I was feeling very grogy, everything didn't look clear and I walked into a glass panel! That was THE cock thing to do! So I checked my nose first because I was afraid it broke, ok no pain but I still felt pain somewhere but didn't know where due to the concussion. It didn't take long before some people gathered around me and looked at me with alot of concern but I thought, "look, I just walked into the glass panel, no big issue. I just feel abit dazed. Give me a moment to gather myself" but that ws not the case, everyone was looking at me and I was getting irate till one of my fellow cadets said out to me: "you're bleeding!" So I checked my nose again, no ddeformity, no blood. "I'm not bleeding wat" I thought, so I replied "No blood wat". but when he pointed at my head, checked my forehead and my palm was full of blood! Shite! Luckily my friend, Washington was there so he accompanied me to the toilet to wash the wound. The sales girl there was also very nice because she offered me a tissue but I declined, nice people them bruneans. For the rest of my time there, my good friend Ci Wen accompanied me around. Luckily the cut was not a big one but it was really deep! 2 weeks and it's still there and the pain is still there when I touch it.

To counter our not-so-good accomodations at Brunei we got to take to and fro SQ flights and I managed to catch "corpse bride" and parts from "the 40 year old virgin". Both solid shows! At the same time, I also got some play time with super mario and relieved some parts of my 7 year-old childhood. So we had some good times and many BAD times. When we finally touched down in singapore, everyone clapped because going there you actually realise how fortunate we are here in Singapore. We may find Orchard road boring, but coming back here I say "Hell no". Going to places not as developed as Singapore really makes you appreciate your lifestyle and way of life.

So when my long week end after the overseas training ended, I reluctantly returned to camp. Thinking of the shit we're going to go through and the endless samulas by one of our instructors nicknamed the "Samula KING" but seeing my good friends brightened my mood. But the unthinkable happened, we changed platoons and I was paired up with a person I totally didn't know... until I found out that he was a brudder I went with for my jungle compass course! Heng ah! A buddy on the same frequency as me because my good first buddy was posted to the air force on the second day and I wonder why I wasn't posted back to OCS as infantry! But the next day after I booked in, I found out that I was posted to Armour for training to be a tank commander in addition to my vocation. Life there is definitely much better. I'll be driving the All Terrain Tracked Carrier next week which is also an amphibious tank. We actually get to sleep and eat, even more so compared to when we were in OCS but I still miss OCS, I miss Alpha wing(really a home away from home), I miss the turnouts at Alpha wing, the tekan sessions(crawl from Alpha wing to Delta wing and back 4 times, FBO in 5 mins, change into whatever attire in 3 mins and fall in, fireman lift and squats, fieldpacks overheads while in high kneel, jumping jacks with fieldpacks, jumping jacks 100 counts of 8, running SOC 3 times continuously with minimal rest, 7-11, rifle overhead in the rain or any weather condition, hold your FBO and arms straightened, everything in and out in 1 min times infinity, half push-up and hold it there, leopard crawl like no tomorrow up the hill and on the rocky ground till our skin tear, basically doing them till the cadets at sierra wing don't get any sleep, Alpha wing is the one and only place to be). Today whild holding the M203, I realised how much I missed holding a weapon. I remembered what my favourite guardsman, Lta Haniff(his fav quote: "gentlemen, there must never be a time you do not meet your timing") taught us on how to turn around and engaged the enemy faster and I couldn't help but practice it but some foolish bull thought I was acting garang and tactlessly said: "you can don't act garang or not" I was like: "Fuck you understand! Combat is in my blood and no one, NO ONE can dilute it." but I just ignored that senseless git. I miss Major Ong Chew Meng(our commando) for all his inspiring and encouraging lectures(his fav quote: "I will not apologise for tough training, I'm here to train future officers. Not boy scouts, ncc or npcc" and he really meant what he said because whenever he led pt, he made us do navy seal pt as he was a navy seal), I miss Lta Lim Jit Keong for all his knowledge, leadership by example and tekaning sessions(his fav quote: "GOOD DAY!"), I miss Lta Khoo Zhongren for his encouragement and treating us more as his friends than as his trainees(his fav quote: "NOT CLEVER!"), I miss Lta Neo Hong Giap for driving me around(His mannerism: *TWITCHES HEAD*), haha. But as I type this, I realise how much my heart still belongs to OCS.