What makes the commando formation special?

It has always been a great source of pain for me that I missed out on being with 2^nd coy through the days at para wing and ATEC (two of the most significant periods in the collective memory of the company); so when I thought about what story I could contribute to this blog, this particular one stood out as something that most of you probably have never heard before. It is a story about two great warrant officers and the huge impact they made on me within my first week back at battalion after OCS. This story also made me reflect on what makes our formation special, and I hope I won’t bore you with some of my thoughts below.

The first warrant officer made his impact mere seconds after I stepped into Hendon Camp for the first time after OCS. I still remember it clearly. I had just clumsily forced myself through the rotating gates with my huge black duffel bag on my shoulder. I had taken a mere two steps in to the camp when I heard a very rough, manly voice saying “Gd’ morning sir!” It took me half a second to realise that the voice was addressing me (I was still not used to the fact that I was an “occifer”), and another half a second to glance up and register the only thing that my stressed-out brain could at that moment: NAVY SEAL BADGE!!! Here was this warrant officer with a navy seal badge saluting me on my first day in camp! I threw out the quickest, most precise salute I could muster (dredging up muscle memory from my NCC days) and quickly strode past. It was a week later that I learned that the guy that had given me the first and only spontaneous salute of my NSF life was the freakin’ RSM!!! This memory impressed upon me how great this man was. For someone who has achieved so much in life, endured horrors that I can only imagine, to have such dignity and respect for protocol and decorum as to be willing to salute a fresh-faced second left’ on his first day through the battalion gates was something that I will never forget. Looking back, he probably intended to shock me. I’m sure he saw the duffel bag and the just-bought-from-emart-looking rank insignia and decided to shock-and-awe me on my first day. If that was his intention: mission accomplished.

The second warrant officer made his impact within the first week back. All the COCC guys had been summoned to the battalion auditorium for some ceremony (I can’t remember what it was now. I only remember what this guy said before it). Before the ceremony started, Warrant Ger walked in! He greeted us like a grandfather greeting his grandsons after they had returned from a long holiday away from home. That already reminded all of us of the guy that “sorted out” the BCCT instructors for us back in BMT. It seemed that he could do nothing else to raise himself further in our esteem. I was wrong. His next few words will stay with me forever. I don’t remember it word for word, but this is basically what he said:

“There have been a few people in the battalion that have complained about your batch guys. They say that they are not trained well enough...That’s bullshit...Don’t listen to these people, they don’t know what they are talking about. I know your batch...They are good guys...Take care of your guys.”

I know it doesn’t sound like much reading it off a computer screen, but listening to him say those words with earnestness, with his one-hand-on-hip, one-hand-shaking-in-front gesture that he used when he said he would “sort out” the BCCT instructors, made me swell with pride and affection for this man. It was one of those moments when you knew that if he yelled “charge!” in a battlefield, you would charge.

It is at this point that I return to the subject of my post: what makes the commando formation special? What sets us out from the rest? I’m sure most of you have asked or have been asked this question before. Here are my two cents worth. I don’t think it’s anything that we NSF’s bring that makes the formation special. We spend too little time in the formation to have really become anything special, anything different from the rest of the thousands of NSF’s who enlist every year. Instead, I think it’s because of the Greatness that surrounds us every day. More than in any other unit in the SAF, we NSF commandoes get to see, hear and be touched by Greatness every day of our camp life. Greatness in men like Warrants Ger and Jeffrey Wong, Greatness in people who have passed ranger course and selection, Greatness in people like Wong Teng Leong, who can climb the low rope from a sitting position!!!

You’re probably expecting me to start waxing lyrical about how their Greatness inspires us and spurs us on to achieve it ourselves, but I’m not going to. Anyone who has gone through NS knows that’s bullshit. You don’t feel inspiration when you’re lugging a 30kg alice pack on your back. There’s no feeling of greatness when you’re waist deep in mud, trying to bash through thorn bushes in Brunei, no emotional music swelling when you walk through the finish line of the 72k route march. The most you get is an order to “Charlie Mike” or a cockroach in your ear for your troubles (sorry Yong!). No, that’s not what makes the formation win best unit year after year. The role that this Greatness – and the concomitant fear of letting it down – plays in the overall scheme is the simple role of acting as the driver for us to do the small, yet surprisingly difficult, act of saying “yes”. Yes, I will carry this ridiculous load on my back because otherwise my buddies will have to. Yes, I will continue walking the last 5km, even though you said it was “the last 5km” 20km ago. Yes, I will get up and do this fast march even though it’s 2am and we just finished our navex and I’m covered in mud and sweat. At the end of the day, this is what sets us apart. Not something inherent quality we have, not some magic imbued in us by the CDO TI, but the many small decisions we made every day. All the way from waking up in the morning and resisting the urge to report sick to carrying an MG and navigating for your detachment at the same time (a certain TKT did that).

And personally, I don’t think there’s any shame in saying that we did not possess any greatness ourselves, but we did great acts because we had great men asking us to do them.

A crappy apology.

During navex in Brunei, our team consisting of people from bunk 2 came to rest on a hill. This hill was along a popular navex route and was a popular ground for soldiers to set up camp for the night.

So it is with our most sincere thoughts that the other bunks accept our heartfelt apologies - for having a corporate shit at the top, along the ridge and covering our offending evidences with a leaf. Yes, a single leaf...

Still, couldn't help laughing when one person from another team told me that they had settled on the most foul-smelling hill during their expedition.

Haha!

More number of abs than situps.

"WHAT!! Only 4 situps!?" 2WO Mathi screamed. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

To be fair, it was ridiculous. We were already into our 2nd month of BMT and due to the grueling fitness regime, were regarded to be quite fit. Most, if not all of us, were already sporting bigger biceps and a minimum of 4, if not 6, visible set of abs.

And here Raphael was, lying on the floor, overcome by the exertion of doing 4 situps in 60 seconds.

Ridiculous and completely out of whack.

Four. Even my baby nephew does more...

PS: Raphael has put his tragic past behind him and has progressed and developed into a fine young man with a whole bunk under his wing. However, it is still not known, even now, if he can muster anything more than 4 situps.

Sensitivity of blog.

Just to be sure, it is extremely important that even in the midst of jotting down memories, blog contributors (in the forms of posts or comments) need to be aware and sensitized of the fact that we shouldn't disclose any information that is pertinent and specific to our line of work.

However, I reckon that references to information that can be easily and readily found on Youtube such as 'Every Singaporean Son' or issues that are faced by every single corporate or government entity in existence (people slacking on the job) should be permissible.

Those people in law, if you see anything that might cause any issues, please do inform the people who posted them and if possible, help remove it. Administrator access is available upon request! Also, if you feel inclined to enlighten us on laws in place regarding censorship, please do so!

On a lighter note, please contribute guys! I'm sure you'll get sick reading only my experiences and those of platoon 4's or Bunk 5!

Who cock my rifle?

The ATEC evaluation is not one to be taken lightly. We go through months of preparation, weeks of planning and many hours of lost sleep to ensure that we are ready for it. It is the culmination of all our hard work and results in the encapsulation of our pride. Stage 2 of ATEC was held in Kanchanaburi, Thailand and was probably one of our most memorable overseas trips.

It was probably Mission Two of our evaluation and we were all pretty psyched up for it even though we were all suffering from a lack of sleep. Mission One had gone smoothly and we knew the completion of this mission would mean we were nearing the end of the 'xiong' phase. We were all gathered at the bottom of our lodge house and were ready to board the tonners to move off. As preparation, we had loaded the blanks into our magazines and would only properly ready the weapon once we near our targets.

Sitting down on one of the stone slabs was Sgt. More Good (not his name.). Now, Sgt. More Good was one of the elite and he knew it. He was fitter, faster and stronger than most of us and had a mean-looking tattoo to supplement his street cred. In addition, he was higher-ranked and had tons of experience under his long belt - all 38 inches of it.

"Real soldiers don't wait until the last minute before they engage...we are ever ready!" Sgt. More Good thought to himself. And so, he cocked his rifle.

"Real soldiers cock twice to be doubly-sure!" Sgt. More Good reckoned. And so, he cocked it again.

"Real soldiers squeeze once to be COCK SURE!" Sgt. More Good assured himself...

BANG!

So it was, that before we had even embarked on the mission, that we had our first misfire. In camp. With every single evaluator around.

Redcon 1 ---> Redcon 2A...Ho sey.

"Who cock my rifle!!!" He exclaimed. 

Luckily, probably coz since the actual mission hadn't start, therefore none of the evaluators bothered. Technically correct. Heng ah.

Sgt. More Good thus escaped with a mere tick off....and 3 extras.

I check already la...

Preparation for ATEC sucks. For one, we had to contend with the insanely bulky MATAS system that doesn't even remotely simulate battle conditions. What is even worse are the number of weekends burnt, which made book-outs all the more valuable.

So it was to our consternation one particular friday when we found out that we were missing one MATAS set and since the set itself is a restricted item, we were made to search high and low for it. What followed was a scene of pandemonium as all the bunks were activated to find this valuable piece of equipment, since only it was what stood between us and freedom.

Amidst the busyness of flipping our beds and cupboards and field equipment inside out, one man laid out, oblivious to it all...on his bed no less. That glowing example of a cool cat, even in the face of anxiety, was Benson.

Benson - the one soldier you can count on to remain calm and composed even in difficult times - knew that this was another one of 'those' moments where all you need to solve the problem, was a clear head...and a little nap.

"Oi, you check already anot?", Sai Kei asked.

"Aiya, confirm not with me la, no need check again, I check already la. I'm so cool...and by the way, all your girlfriends are ugly! ( That was basically Benson's view of all girlfriends at that time)", Benson replied.

And so it was, that we had already ran 3 hours past our supposed book-out timing and everyone was getting a little worn out and dejected when suddenly...

"Walao! I found it! Under Benson's bed!", someone yelled.

Benson woke up with a jolt. "What the...haha, paisei."

Needless to say, he was promptly given 3 extras and ridiculed for eternity. Just a reminder guys: anytime you look back on your life and wished you had an extra 3 hours to do something...be it study, having more time with a loved one or just wanting more time for yourself...remember, those are 3 hours you ain't gonna get back. =)

PS: I must reiterate that the purpose of this blog is not to stir shit or cause any internal strife, and any collateral damage caused or hurt you might feel...is because you're "xiao qi". Heh..

AngKorng What?

Well, aside from the NBA, I think the next vocation that has the most members with tattoos are people in the armed forces and who can blame them? These tattoos constitute a rite of passage where the boys transit into men and these passports of entry into the realm of manhood are permanently etched in ink (mostly from Far East Plaza).

Some of these are memorable, like the tattoos of the people from "Someone special" that resemble the wings of angels and serve to accentuate their bulging back muscles. Some are tacky, like Warrant Jega's soldier on his forearm (I'm sure he doesn't need a reminder of what job he's doing...)

Then there are those that...requires a good explanation: a marlin, a cheshire cat, a squashed spider... I'm quite sure that the owners have perfectly good reasons why they had these done, none more elegantly so than the story of the squashed spider, but I think it's better that these be left to the inked ones themselves to relive it.

However, sometimes, some tattoos become so popular that they are copied. Jery Lim's one is a good example. His sentiments for his tribal tattoo is similarly shared by someone in a much higher position and even the body part of which it was tattooed on was the same.

So, although oft repeated but never answered, I need to ask this question to Jery...

"How come you and S1 same tattoo ah?"

I expect a good reply, thanks.

Stop complaining, there's nothing I can do..

Ah.. Brunei - the mere mention of the country conjures up images of jungles, mud, swamps and huge cicadas. However, to some (or one), Brunei is a reminder to cover your ears while you sleep...

This is the true, unabridged story of how the courage and sacrifice of a cockroach managed to subdue one of Singapore's best.

It was another routine mission in the unforgiving jungles of Brunei and Yong (not his real name) was really upset. First of all, his fieldpack was really heavy and it didn't help that he was already drenched in his own sweat which only served to restrict movement through the harsh forest. Secondly, Yong (name concealed to protect identity) had a feeling that something, somewhere, was watching him and this brought a chill to his bones. The jungles of Brunei are home to a myriad of weird creatures and the belief of roaming jungle spirits are deeply rooted in the traditions and folklore of the locals.

Little did Yong know that he was to encounter something far, far more sinister than a roving spirit.

It was already late and our company decided to set up camp at a clearing. I recalled that we formed nuclear groups, huddled close together and prepared for a much-needed rest. Some of us started fires to keep warm and the overall mood was a dreary one.

In one small corner, Yong was already lying down and drifting off to sleep. Nothing separated his head from the cold, clammy substrate that was the forest ground. Normally, he would have laid out a groundsheet but his fatigue was too great and he settled for the status quo.

The night went on and soon morning arrived - bringing with it the horror of the sense of awareness.

When Yong woke, he immediately realized that something was amiss...someone had stolen his lemon tea sachet! Launching into a tirade of expletives, he packed his stuff and prepared for the trek ahead. The day was not starting well...

It was only halfway into the trek that he began to note a soft but incessant buzzing in his ear. Originally assuming it to be the buzz of excitement, he thought nothing of it and trudged on. However, it got to a point where he felt that in addition to the buzz, there was a flurry of movement - IN HIS EAR! Panicking, he surged to the front of the pack where our commander, 2LT Jega, was leading the group.

"Sir Sir! There's something in my ear!", Yong rhymed. "I'm pretty sure coz I can hear, a crazy buzzing, and I'm filled with fear!", he rhymed again. This promptly went on for the next hour and Jega had had enough.

"Stop complaining! There's nothing I can do!", Jega yelled in exasperation. It was then decided that Yong was to be offloaded at the next waypoint, to spare the team their ears. What irony...

Anyway, to cut the story short, Yong was extricated and sent to the Lakuin Medical Centre where it was diagnosed that he had a cockroach stuck in his ear. The little critter had to be cut up and taken out piece by piece. This sacrifice didn't go in vain and his valiant story continues to be told to generations of soldiers who go through the ranks of Lakuin camp - in the medical brief ('Dangers to look out for in the jungle', I think).

This ends the story of how one of Singapore's best was taken down, not by a bullet nor a slit to the throat, but by a plucky cockroach who risked it all to achieve immortality.

PS: Story might have been stylized or exaggerated for greater impact. Nonetheless, the general gist is there. It is also in the author's wish that any parties involved in the story not get angry at him and take it out on him the next ICT. Reminder that we still have 5 ICTs together and a convivial relationship would be good.

Extras extras! Read all about it!

My first taste of the dreaded army 'extras' came as a sergeant after we earned our berets. As they say, bad things come in threes and I found this to be true - the hard way.

As a cadet in BMT, I always thought that it would be a tedious task to clock up these 'extras' and constantly ridiculed my older friends who had managed this. Mr Karma was obviously having a field day when he decided to let me have a dose of the fine medicine known as Haha.

So we had just ended yet another outfield exercise and I was given the job of checking if the rifles were clear. "Easy enough," I thought. After all, most of us were pretty experienced at clearing our own weapons by then and it really was just a follow-through-motion thing.

Anyway, Teng Siang comes along and requests that I check his weapon and I, being the somewhat reluctant sergeant, have no choice but to agree. So he cocks the weapon and I stuff my finger into the hole and of course, my mouth was already trained to shout 'Clear!', and so I did. I think the psychologists call this 'muscle memory' while most of us know it as 'gey chua'. Whichever it is, our unit kinda excels in it. We tend to be professionals in everything....even stupid stuff.

What happened next was perhaps the most shocking thing that I have had ever experienced. BANGGG!! The stillness which followed was surreal and I swear that you could have heard a pin drop. It didn't help that our OC, Cpt Seah, was a metre away from me. He smiled and sorta gave me that you-know-what-to-do look, which to be fair to me, I didn't. Was it supposed to be "ok, we'll keep mum" or "sign extra"? How do you actually tell what Cpt Seah means when he smiles? I mean, he does that for everything!

In any case, I duly got three extras for that and Teng Siang got one. That was my virgin experience with the whole 'extras' fad and since the floodgates were open, definitely not my last. In fact, I had gotten a total of 10 'extras' during my entire army career with an addition of a punishment of '40 good deeds'. Certainly nothing I was proud of but looking back, think it benefited me a little.

I now have a little street cred and am able to engage in discussions amongst people when they do talk about their 'extras'.

Those of ya'll who didn't serve any extras feeling left out now right?

Hey, is it good afternoon or good night ar?

As per SOP, all the BMT noobs will take turn to be the I/C of the platoon every week...and who will forget the day when NG KYU was the IC for the day and was preparing to report strength to our then terror looking SGT KAN...when the first words came out from NG KYU's mouth, we know its GG already.

As Quoted;
It was around 7/8pm if im not mistaken

NG KYU: "Good afternoon SGT!!!!"
SGT KAN: "Afternoon?!! Now what time already?"
NG KYU: "oh, GOOD NIGHT SGT!!!!!"


LOL

We welcome all posts by all platoons! (only 2nd coy!)

Hello guys, sorry for the so-far platoon 4 posts! But if you want to post about your own platoon or 2nd coy, let me know your email in the comments section and I will add you!

Look out for wild boars.

"My sergeant is a wild boar,
I want to be one toooo,
Kick my basha, kick my buddy's tooo--o!"

- Platoon 4 Song.

What a lame excuse...that our basha was smashed by a wild boar? It didn't take us long to figure out that it was indeed the 2 'wild boars' consisting of Haresh and Lui who were going around kicking down the bashas. And for what reason? None whatsoever.

And so these were the harsh realities of life in Platoon 4. We would always look over to the greener pastures of Platoon 5 and how they were sleeping at 9pm during outfield while we were made to clean our rifles by candlelight. To make it worse, we were all dirty from the insane crawling near shitholes we had to do an hour earlier (another story).

So yes, I'm extremely convinced that the wild boars of Singapore reside not only at the fringes of civilization in Ubin and Tekong, but also on the mainland and they come in a mix of various colours (Haresh & Lui) and sizes (Haresh and Lui, again.). However, the most peculiar sighting was the one that was spotted around our parade square on a hot Saturday evening, but that would make another story for later. =)

Who needs a microwave when you've got a washing machine?

So the tendency for one to try cheating a system comes after we have grown familiar with the mechanisms of it. There is hardly any difference even when faced with the de rigueurs of army life. After the first few weeks of BMT, our self-declared 'Best Bunk' decided that the army wasn't feeding us right and thus proceeded to commence our after-bedtime suppers.

The range of food was expansive and we kept all of it in this particular cupboard near the door. On hindsight, I think this seemingly foolish act stemmed from the Chinese saying, "The most dangerous place is the safest place." Also, thinking back, it never fails to amaze me how 12 smart chaps could, for a second, think that a metal cupboard was airtight.

So anyway, we decided one particular night that we were going to have cup noodles but as anyone knows, it wasn't going to be easy getting past the sharp-ears-eagle-eyes of our instructors. Of course, being month-old soldiers, we weren't that lousy either and established that we were well-trained enough to stage a blitzkrieg to the hot water dispenser...for hot water.

What ensued was a half-standing, half-crawling dash to the dispenser with some of us acting as lookouts for the rest. In all, it was a fairly successful mission and after a tenuous 5 min, we were all in our toilet haven waiting for our noodles to get cooked. You would have assumed that the worst was over, right?

WRONG!!

Suddenly, word was going round that a certain Sgt Haresh was out and about doing his rounds and a mad scurry to dump our goods followed. Some managed to throw the offending evidence into the bin and others down the toilet but some genius had the idea to "put it inside the washing machine so we could eat it later..."

That was brilliant and not wanting to let our precious civilian food go to waste, we proceeded to leave the still-cooking cups of noodles in the washing machine and galloped back (still in the silly half-crouch, half-crawl position) to our beds.

However, we didn't count on Sgt Haresh's determination to catch his weaselly subjects and he went on to conduct a very thorough sentry duty outside our rooms, so much so that we all fell asleep in the end.

Hopefully, this will shed some light on why some poor bugger with the innocent intention of washing his clothes, found instead several dehydrated and noxious smelling cup noodles the next day.

Mr Siao On

The incident remains surprisingly clear to me:

It was after lunch and we were all gathered at the grandstand beside the cookhouse. If I recall correctly, this was on the 3rd day of enlistment and we had all grown rather accustomed to each other by now. So here we were, sitting down, when Sergeant Kan shows us this new guy, still dressed in civilian.

"Hi, my name is Chun Guan and I look forward..." The first thought that flashed through my mind was "chaokeng man... 3 days still haven't go BMT." What transpired next was him introducing who he was and where he was from and how hard he was going to work but his chaokengness was all I could think of. Oh, and how he looks like that hongkong movie star, you know, the one who stars in all the police shows. Then suddenly...Sgt Kan says, "He will join bunk 2."

BANG! It hit me like a ton of bricks....that's my bunk! Ok, but it was alright since I knew he wouldn't be my buddy. I mean, no one really likes new people trespassing into their comfort zone right. Luckily I had Chethan Anil to block the bullet and take one for the team. So thus, it was decided then that Chun Guan was to become Chethan's partner. "Good luck to Chethan, haha!" was all I could think of.

First & foremost, he came across as weird. Perhaps it was due to his penchant for doing pushups at all times of the day, or maybe for loading Chethan's and his duffel bags with all kinds of stuff, and then proceeding to carry it GYM style. Hmm, nono, I think what perturbed me most was his love for doing situps on his clean bed, and sleeping straight after. I swear I have probably sat on everyone's bed but his.

So it should be clear by now where the title of this article stems from... guess what, the insanity doesn't end here. It has come to my attention recently that Mr Siao On has went on to top even himself and signed on. Yupp, SIGNED ON. Now that is friggin' crazy.

However, throughout my many years of knowing him and having him as a bunkmate through BMT and subsequently for Leaders' Course, I can safely say that I have never met anyone else who is as passionate and committed as Chun Guan when it comes to stuff pertaining to our unit. As such, I am in full support of his pursuit of this particular career path and am in no doubt that with him in it, I can rest assure that our unit will only go on to greater heights.

So thus, for Chun Guan, our only army regular representative of Platoon 4, I wish you all the best in your future endeavors and may you do us proud!

The Great Toilet Race

Alright, put together a group of angst-ridden, testosterone-filled group of guys in their prime and throw them in a unit where competition and excellence is encouraged, and what do you get?

THE GREAT TOILET RACE.

It all started when we realized we only had an hour of personal time to bathe and call our girlfriends so the incentive to bathe quickly was insanely important. With 50 people sharing just 4 cubicles, it isn't hard to see why. So what started as an innocent rush to the toilet soon evolved into a complex affair with people from bunks 1 and 2 trying to get a minor head start over the other bunks. This included the ridiculous act of leaving our clothes by the door and untying our shoelaces during briefings so we could undress and chiong to the cubicles without wasting time.

You knew it was becoming ludicrous when Raymond from bunk 1 was caught leaving his stuff INSIDE the cubicle beforehand. This, you can imagine, caused a minor uproar and the setting down of certain ground rules.

Anyway, during one eventful afternoon, the frenzy of who-bathed-first finally reached its peak when future best-cadet Yiwen and his BUNKMATE Kengyu raced to the toilet during a certain rest period. What ensued was a no-holds-barred, cutthroat skirmish that had Yiwen crashing into the windows and getting gashed on his forearm - thus getting a trophy and battle scar that he will always hold dear.

Of course, the toilet races didn't end here but you can be damn sure that we were a hell lot more careful after that.

Remembering the Changi Boys...

Hello All!

Just thought it would be cool to have a small blog, more of a diary to be exact, to sorta jot down all the little stories that we shared or encountered in army. These might be short, long, weird or just plain embarrassing but nonetheless I think they constitute a shared experience and would be good to profile for future years or generations to come.

Perhaps after awhile, might even be able to make a short book outta all these, haha!

So although it's now just people from Detachment 5, I will probably expand the writer base in near future to encompass more people la!

So please contribute ah...to start off, you all might wanna take a look at this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENv2ApfhYKM&feature=related