Jarhad's Junk Site

Yes that's right, the 2 years you have to serve in the military as a Singaporean.

Well for me it's 2 years 2 months - I enlisted on 31 Mar 04 and ORDed on 30 May 06.

I went through BMT at Jaguar Coy, then went to SISPEC under Foxtrot Coy.  I don't know whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, but these two were very shiong companies.  However I still think it's nothing as compared to when I was in NCC in school; my experience from then definitely helped me survive through my training phase of NS.  After that I made it through the PTI (Physical Training Instructor) selection and went for the 'gruelling' 11 week Basic Fitness Specialist Course at School of Physical Training (SPT) in Pasir Laba, enduring physical torture but finally excelled and passed out as a Fitness Specialist (FS), and got posted to KFCC (see next box below).

Actually NS isn't as bad as it seems if you make it as fun as you can and learn whatever you can from your experiences, and see what you can actually apply in life when you further your studies or even go to work...

Hmmm... I think I should tell me story of how I got posted to KFCC (it's in Khatib Camp).  After passing out from SPT, the entire course selected to go to FCCs have to report back to SPT and get transported to FCB where we get to meet our boss MAJ Lee.  That was when he looked through our particular sheets and decided whether we would go to Bedok, Maju or Khatib FCC, depending on where we live.  Everyone was more or less quite clear-cut, except for us Choa Chu Kang guys (Zaky, Yewei and me).  It seemed that there were 2 places left at Maju and one guy had to go to Khatib.  There was some discussion about AHM and stuff like that, but in the end MAJ Lee decided to 'draw lots'.  From the 3 sheets of paper he just pulled one out and it was mine; I was posted to Khatib.  Till today, I still don't know whether it's a good or bad thing.  But some things are already predetermined by our creator (heh I'm a freethinker).

Ok so KFCC isn't that bad.  It's relatively convenient to get to (as compared to MFCC, which would be closer in terms of absolute distance).  Anyway whichever FCC I go to, my main job is still to conduct IPPT and RT for NSmen, and our working hours were 2pm to 10pm on weekdays and we also had to work on weekends.  When I first arrived, the impression I got from the OC (then 1WO Ronald Wee) was that the place was very organized.  After a few days there I immediately got the hang of things and the entire working of the place.  There was a lot of politics involved (not surprising especially since PTSC our HQ was just opposite us), and accompanying that was lots of saikang for us on the ground.

Batch after batch of FS came, there was a change in OC and 2IC sometime in late November 2005.  In came MWO Vincent Yeo (from BFCC) and his iron-fist rule, as well as happy-go-lucky 2WO Roger Ho (from SISPEC).  The entire environment changed, you can tell the difference in morale and even the focus of our daily jobs, although the job scope never changed.  It's a good experience, but all I can say is, the new guys will miss out on a lot, but the worse hit will be the NSmen.  But what the heck, I just enjoyed myself in the last month or so, and finally ORD on 30 May 2006!

Hehe and I'm fortunate to be included in the NS FS scheme, which means for my reservist I'll just be going back to FCC to conduct IPPT and RT, and possibly IPT, but that's about it... good life!  I'm so looking forward to it...