What can be worse (or more fun) than heli-rappelling? Read on...
Sunday
-Wonder why Sgt JiaWei advised us to slp early 2nite?
Monday
-Can't slp well 2nite..keep waking up every hour. An ominous feeling..In fact, I was rite. There was a turn-out at 4 am. Initially, i tot someone misfired..and was thinking.."That guy's a goner..confirm tio DB".
Then the shots continued, which is puzzling. And then i heard someone shouted..as if he was shot by a gun! "Ahhhh!" The next thing i knew..i heard more gun shots, bombings and a loud siren..and i tot bedok camp was under attack. I thought i'm a goner now..some pitiful soul that has to go for NS and killed in a stupid attack. As all these were happening..the commanders stormed in.
"Everyone, Full Battle Order now!"
And for a split second, i really tot i was gg to war. It was a scary tot. Sure die one.
Then i noticed sth weird. The commanders were already dressed in long 4. So i guess it may not be real..a mock up. But the thunderflash and smoke grenade made everything no less realistic. The explosions and smoke..*cough*! Can't even see what's in front of me on the ground floor due to smoke.
We endured some 100 counts of 4 jumping jacks and running ard the camp several times, with Clement on top of a strecher.
Then the CO gave his speech.
"From now on, wherever u go, u will have to bring ur field pack along, FBO in long 4!"
Holy shit! Oh well..
At least i heard the commanders are impressed with the scouts platoon, coz we ran 1 more round than the others. Or izzit? I can't really rmb..and doubt so.
We endured some long hours b4 we took the tonner to sembawang air base to prepare for the big day of the week -- Heli Live Descent (aka rappelling fr heli).
7 hrs of slp is a luxury only in BMT.
We reached there early in the morn (if u can consider 10am still early). Endured some basic instructions and guidelines to rappeling b4 we tie the C-sling. Oh man..my hips hurt! Went for a mock trial on a stationary SuperPuma on the ground. Then talk cock with Eugene during lunch.
Finally, the moment we were waiting for. We were transported to a grassland for the heli rappelling. The SP is damn cool when it hovers in the air..sorta lyk dragonfly, but xtra large.
I was a ropeman 1st. Oh man..the turbulence of the wind is insanely strong. U wldn't believe it. Even thou the chopper is 100m off the grd, it causes a mini-whirlwind that causes the grasses below it, a circle abt 100m in diameter, to be blown outwards like they will be uprooted anytime soon. I feel my face getting blown in2 a awkward pattern (sort of lyk the face of Jacky Chan in one of his movies..where his face gets distorted due to strong wind). If i were 30 pounds lighter, i probably will end up like a feather -- gone with the wind. I was suddenly reminded of my physics lesson. "Physics of fluid". Turbulence blah blah blah.
And it was really difficult trying to hold on to the rope..ensuring that the rappeller had enuf slack but not losing grip of it. When we were supposed to pull the rope taut to collect the rope after the rappeller descended, i tot i'd eventually get pulled away fr the grd. Mini-me.
Then it's my turn..to rappel! Abit scary at 1st. But i realized it's quite fun. The only difficult things is to form the L-shape. But luckily i didn't become spiderman..lol. It was really exciting! Trust me.. To see the ground coming up at u as if u were playing some 3D game. To quote one of the commanders "..this is better than orgasm!" I feel lyk i'm one of the actors in an action flick. Sidekick to Jacky Chan? Aha..
The 2nd try is with LBV. Basically it's almost the same. While sitting down and waiting for the 2nd trial, we saw a swarm of bees..(yes, a SWARM) flying past us and through the rappelling ground. They sort of look like baby bees who juz found their mother (SuperPuma chopper). Interesting.
We were dead tired on the trip home. Too bad we cld only have 2 tries. I mean, i could give up my internet to do another 100 tries. But i muz be glad that not everyone got the chance to do sth as exciting as heli-rappelling. (Only guardsmen and commandos have the chance!)
This sgt kept lying on my shoulder in the tonner. It's really annoying. Luckily he's not fr scouts.
Tuesday
-We went for 1.5km swim in the pool in Nee Soon camp 2dae. 30 laps. It'd be impossible for me in the past. Well..anything can happen now. Talk cock with our OC after we finished swimming. He showed us how he cld dived in2 the pool and swim across the width w/o coming up to breathe. Me, Thevandran, Christopher and Caron tried it, but to no avail. Did i mention Caron and i have a common friend? Lol. (Clue: that gal is tanned, and was once in my pw grp.)
Wednesday
-6km endurance run 2dae. Generally satisfied with the run..except that during the last lap, i was finally overtaken by 2 scouts, Kenneth Mak and Liang Teck. Woah..at least it's a wonderful feeling to run w/o a shirt on my back!
The most awaited activity for 2dae is...Nights Out! And it's our very 1st. Too bad i had no plans so i juz tagged ard. After shopping for stuff at EastWood Centre, went to Bedok Food Centre to eat with Elton, Christopher, Linus and Zhi Long. We had black carrot cake, fried oyster (hao2 jian1) and sambal stingray! This is really a food heaven man! I had never eaten such good stuff since i entered guards. This is food worth spending for. Money well spent.
Read the New Paper and was eagerly waiting for the new EPL season to start. Manchester United sets their eyes on the second Treble as Sir Alex Ferguson aims to employ a rotating squad. With the strengthening of his squad thru the addition of Owen Hargreaves, Nani and Anderson, and possibly Carlos Tevez, they really had the potential to sweep the league title, FA Cup and Champions League since 1999.
Thursday
-Had the most terrifying nitemare in camp. Somehow it's like the continuation of a nitemare i had once at home. Cldn't slp well again whole nite coz keep having dreams, probably due to all the junk i ate ytd nite. Feeling bloated.
We had a navigation exercise in Rambutan Hill at Pasir Laba (near Sispec/OCS). Didn't see anyone i knew, except for this wayang guy in Gryphon who has the same initials as me..LR! I never expected naviagation to be so tough. I got 3 out of 4 right in the day navigation. We made use of this prismatic compass to navigate our way to different stakes. It reminded me of my geography (compass and map reading) and physics (systematic error of compass) lessons in secondary sch. I was surprised that i rmb everything i learnt then. So what have i actually learnt in JC? Duh.
The most fearful part comes the night navigation. I was the last guy in. And i had the worst compass..+80 mils. (360 degrees = 6400 mils) I got my 1st stake right, thou i guessed the Azimuth. I knew i was a right drifter. But it was really dark and eerie inside. Sometimes u wonder why nobody was around u. When there was, u'll wonder whether they're humans or not. And sometimes u walked into an area wif white tap / red cylume sticks (indication of danger zones) while other times, u either walked straight into a dead log/ fallen trunk with circumference thicker than ur waists or encountered a very steep downhill slope where wat u cld see is a black hole at the bottom, or encounted an unbelievably steep uphill slope that seemed to lead to nowhere, or at least not one that i've seen in the day. Never had i thought navigation at night was that scary. I cld have chiong and heck care all the way, but i was very concerned abt my own safety. After the turn out and the rappeling, i told myself i muz get back alive this weekend. So i didn't take risks. Didn't complete since i lost the Azimuth of my 2nd stake and was overwhelmed by the pitch black. Generally, i had to grope my way individually in the dark..coz i'm a scout! (Pioneer, Mortar and ATGM get to work in grps.) Wonder how i'm gg to be a scout in the future when i go for Ex Crescendo at the end of the yr. Gotta eat more snake biles. In the end, i bailed out wif Wen Kai, Kenneth Ng and Christopher whom i met along the way to exit. If i were...
Didn't nap on the bus on the way back camp. Saw the colourful temporary water stadium for this yr's NDP beside the Esplanade. Wonder how it's lyk to be a support crew in NDP nxt yr? Hope it'll be fun.
Friday
-SOC in the morn. My left arm felt pain again after doing the swing trainer. Hope i won't injure my arm again..coz i already endured thru 3 wks of GCC, half of the course now, and wld be getting my khaki beret soon.
2km coastal swim in khatib camp -- Home of the gunners. Heard that it's damn slack as an arti personnel here, coz it's more prestigious than an OCS cadet and they attend lectures all the way. Even got 3 hrs of admin time and several nite outs. Why ain't i posted here? The pool is deeper here, with 1 end being 4m deep. And we have to swim wif life vests. I swam really slowly, coz i'm not used wif the vest and shirt on my back while swimming. Luckily, no timing is required.
Again, took a cab wif Wei Guang to Bishan b4 i took mrt home. Did i mention Elton, Weiguang, Darren (WeiMing) and Alvin Ong are all fr NJ?
It's a shag week..but nxt week gonna be shaggier. I will be back blogging if i survive the hell-like activities nxt wk..which includes the actual coastal swim, actual full-day navigation exercise, 7km endurance run and SOC. If i survive...
&its not what you think
3:23 pm
