~JcZw

For the typical JC student like myself (here I shall shamelessly brag), with ok results and an ok peer appraisal (there, I have done so), NS consists of 3 phases:

1. BMT

2. The Shiong phase i.e. command school i.e. OCS / SISPEC in which we'll get thoroughly tekan-ed for 5 - 9 months

3. The Sian phase once everyone's in their job and NS just becomes a day to day routine... But then I guess if one is posted to BMTC, then there's still quite a lot of stuff to do....

So having passed out, I am now in the block leave in between Phases 1 and 2 =)

POP was quite eventful, but everything went according to plan, except maybe the Infantry Song heh... i'll wait till my father's photos are developed then maybe put a few up here =) And watching his video, it looks like our drill was better than I was fearing haha...

Needless to say everyone was really high even though no one slept that much the night before...

But thank God, no more washing the toilet at least for one plus week!

I guess for my platoon, we only spent 8 plus weeks together, but our friendship was built so so fast to compensate for that. Its a kinda different friendship from the kind you get in JC... But its still a valuable one.... In army, you either have friends or you have nothing at all... And again, there are many incidents for my visual memory to remember maybe for life. BMT seemed to past so fast but I can still remember so many things, from the first day to field camp, from SIT test to hand grenade, the monotonous PT session, and the culmination of the parade.

All the more so for my section, with whom I spent 60 days in the same room with. With so many of us having come from uniform groups, and with so many enthusiastic people, the other sections once called us the "OCS section" haha.... though that was probably considerable flattery, but I wouldn't have enjoyed BMT as much if it weren't for them!! When I think of all the suan-ings, all the in-jokes that we shared... BMT was really the equivalent of the first three months in JC heh.

And of coruse, thanks to our commanders too... The warrant officers who had to place their lives in our hands literally during hand grenade, our platoon sergeant who was the first to meet us on the first day, and our section commanders who were always there to encourage and give tips (and in Sgt Khairul's case, to tell us ghost stories ahaha).

And I'm very proud and thankful to God that I managed to hold fast to what I determined to do on the first day.... Shannon said "the strongest word he'll use is 'idiot' " haha... That said, I'm sure my relationship with God has been strengthened. Cos sometimes at the end of certain days when everyone's too tired to joke around, or if you have problems in which you need someone closer to you to talk to, there's only God around. Just having the Bible and my EWJ went a long way to keeping me sane through BMT =) Hope it continues wherever I go.

Well in conclusion, my companions in BMT really did much to make it a much better experience than I imagined it to be.... Now its easy to say "that was fast", but it wouldn't have seemed to be so if it weren't for them....

And of course, to those back home, relative and friends who were also keeping me in prayers or encouraging me etc =)

Well, the last few days have already been quite eventful.... fencing right after POP, then St. John and a small class dinner after that... Its like a great breath of fresh air =) haha.... Oh yes... on a more interesting note, after dinner yesterday Alon and I had the dubious pleasure of getting hit by a car, fortunately with no serious injuries haha... The ironical thing was that it happened right outside St. John HQ -_-"'.... Blind driver...

Well, there's still one week plus which I intend to enjoy hugely (= Cheerio!