Rantings of a BloggingBean v2: May 2008

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Field Experience

On a Side Note...
I'm back from a 6D5N stay at the lush and condensed forest of Pulau Tekong. In 1 day's time, I'll be going back in for a 3D2N SIT Test. Certainly sucks, but on a positive side, just this last and there will be no more nights spent in the jungle.

For my friends who haven't been though field camp yet, the following is how a typical PES A/B field camp training program will be like:

Day 1
- 8km route march to camp site in FBO attire
- Setting up of basha
- Urban operations training in Fighting In Built-Up Area (FIBUA)

Day 2
- Urban operations training in FIBUA
- Urban operations battle course
- Night walk

Day 3
- Dismantling of basha
- 6km tactical route march to 2nd camp site
- Setting up of basha
- Conventional jungle warfare training

Day 4
- Dismantling of basha
- Conventional jungle warfare training
- Digging of shell scrape

Day 5
- Group battle course
- Continuation of shell scrape

Day 6
- Covering up of shell scape
- Battle inoculation course

The 8km route march to our camp site was a test of mental strength. Typically a normal route march wouldn't pose much a problem, since we know that we will get to rest after it. The completion of this route march however, would mark the start of a 6 day stay in the jungle without the simple pleasures of bathing, eating fresh food, and sleeping on a bed.

Setting up the basha was surprisingly smooth-sailing even though we had just completed an exhausting route march. The remaining day (and day 2) was spent in FIBUA learning the techniques of urban warfare. The first 2 days were extremely tiring, as I was the platoon IC. That meant getting lesser rest than the others did.

This is how a basha looks like. It is very much of an open-concept tent. We have another layer of groundsheet on the floor, but that didn't help much when it rained anyway.

During the morning run on the 2nd day, one of my platoon-mate lost his rifle's blank attachment. We had to go look for it during our lunch break, which was a total drag. That particular recruit is often in the limelight, for all the negative reasons. Almost the entire company knows who he is. I can't stress enough on what an air-head he is. Once, he cut himself with his bayonet while grabbing his rifle. No one could figure out how that could actually happen.

I find great displeasure being near him, as there seem to be some kind of affinity between us. First I saved him when he suffered a deep gash caused by the bayonet. Secondly I had to group with him for the urban operations battle course AND group battle course as my group was short of 1 person and the only available person was him (all the other groups formed up quickly to avoid having him on their team). Enough of him already.

On the second night, it rained heavily for a short period of time. As there was a depression in the ground beneath my basha, I ended up sleeping in a pool of water. That wasn't a problem, since I've slept in a rain-filled tent during OBS before =P

During the 4th day when we dug our shellscrape, some of my platoon-mates received letters from their family members. It was an extremely emotional point for some of us, who were on the verge of giving up. When the few privileged guys read out their letters, the encouraging and touching words by their loved ones sent most of us into throes of tears. Some of the letters written were like words from you to me. After the letters, I found renewed energy to complete my shellscrape.

The digging of the shellscrape was a killer. We had to dig a hole that is deep enough to provide cover from enemy fire. After proning in the shellscrape, only our head was to be exposed. Being small sized has its advantages too. After 2 nights in the shellscrape, I was both happy and sad to cover it up. Happy to kiss that bloody hole goodbye, and sad to destroy my hours of blood and sweat.

When I was younger, my high metabolism rate kept me from putting on weight. Now that age has caused it to slow down, I've put on a few extra pounds. After going through my 2nd BMT and this field camp, I've slimmed down a little, which is excellent. Still, it seems as though my metabolism rate makes me a heat generator. During the digging of my shellscrape, my body temperature rose to 38.5 degree Celsius, which put me out of action for a while. I could continue digging and risk getting heat exhaustion, but hell no.

Crawling 80m across a simulated battlefield with live machine gun rounds being fired over our heads is not as daunting as it sounds like. That is what the battle inoculation course is about.

This book-out is a short one. I need to report back at 1740. Tomorrow, I'll be going back to the jungle again. As our company has 5 platoons, we are the unfortunate ones who have to be attached out to another company to take our SIT Test. While the 4 other platoons have 2 weeks to rest before their SIT Test, my platoon will be having ours tomorrow. Wish us luck and all the best.

Quote of the day

Tough times don't last.

But tough men do.

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