back/field camp

(looks at the third last post)

Hello Adam. Seeing as you're here, it looks like I've got to watch my apostrophes and do some more of those pinky-finger-SHIFT-key-lunges, eh?

By the by, "seeing as how" is tautological; surely you know that?

=)

rayner

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(see what happens when 2 grammar nazis meet)

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anyway... just a bit of fun. woah. heck-loads of stuff to post. all things considered, the last 10 days or so were pretty slack by any standards. our field camp was mild; we didn't have dumb things like sleep in muddy shell scrapes* or do artillery drills in the middle of the night, like cougar company (i heard they had to tear down their camp in 5 minutes in pitch-dark conditions at 10pm and run 5km to the next campsite to set up for the night; ask daniel or martin). our training was pretty exacting but not really physically demanding, at least not for long periods. and we had loads of free time, both inside field camp and out.

[*shell scrape: hole in the ground that's big enough for you to lie down in. supposed to protect you from gunfire and shit like that; in reality it just becomes a muddy swimming pool if it rains]

i won't give too many spoilers, and all my posts are way too long to be typed out in full (i think i've written a few thousand words - that shows how much free time we got), but field camp isn't actually that bad as long as you remember that it doesn't last forever. this sounds lame, i know, but it can and will be a real comfort that it's only 6 days. those with mild allergies will die though, as will those who sweat a lot, like me; i was drenched and sniffling throughout - the first three days from sweat, the last 3 from rain. (get this guys, it rained for half our field camp).

powder baths are actually more refreshing than they sound, especially since they're all you have to survive on; and get this, all of us DID survive pretty well on the screwed-up SAF-issued foot powder, despite all they say about prickly heat.

the fabled BIC at the end of field camp (battle innoculation course - crawling 100m under machine-gun fire and barbed-wire obstacles) isn't exactly that bad either, considering that it's, after all, only 100m, and the gunfire is at least 2m above the ground and therefore is unlikely to put the fear of God into you.

i guess the worst part of field camp was the toilets. the lack of toilets. basically they have a designated toilet area with holes for poo and a tape behind which you stand to pee, and this passes for a loo. the poo area is a danger zone, especially at night, for reasons that would be otiose to mention. and i got lost trying to get back from the toilet at 3am on the last day; it was dark, the oil palms are planted diagonally (inexplicably; maybe to foil invading malaysians or aliens trying to make crop circles or sth lah), and i basically wandered off in the wrong direction and into a swamp full of bullfrogs mating loudly and throatily; spent half an hour retracing my steps to reach the campsite -.- hell of a time. it's funny, but i prayed after i got back lol - no atheists in foxholes.

well yeah, those were the highlights, more or less; mud, dirt, soil, sand, sweat, rain and piss on your uniform, basically, for 6 days, and that's it. [i should explain the piss part: some exercises/drills involve you lying down in the grass - the same grass that idiots wee in cos they can't hold their bladders or can't be bothered to go deeper into the vegetation]

good luck to all you guys going in for field camp after CNY; I hope you don't have to dig shell scrapes in our covered poo holes haha.

we had another IPPT the day after field camp; i died at 5 pull-ups cos too tired after the thing (excuses, excuses... but the body is weak even though the mind is willing). according to peck i did a sub-10:30 2.4km which is (i quote him) "freaking fast lah" =) i'm going for 9:45 even though i know i definitely won't be able to get an IPPT gold; it's less than 45 seconds away, I can do it.

what else... SOC; I was, as the warrant officers like to put it, "too shack to think", and i basically stepped into a barbed wire obstacle instead of jumping over like any right-thinking idiot would do. miraculously even as i was stepping directly into it i subconsciously was careful enough to avoid the main shit and ended up with only one minor cut on my right hand. crazy.

well then, there'll be more posts tmrw. NS life, angsting about platoon-mates/section-mates/the dismal state of swearing in BMT/how my brain is rotting away, that sort of stuff. i'm kinda stoned, sleepy and all (woke up 3:38 this morning).

glad to be back, anyway.

Rayner