loner's heaven

Time of our lives - Field Camp

Day 1 - 8 km Route March cum Basha Tent build up. Powder Bathe (Sleep in Basha)

Battalion on alert!
So pack your bags and go!
Oh! What a way to start the day ahead!
Hey ya!
Here we go~o~o~o!
Hey!
Here we go~o~o~o!
Hey!
Day and Night while you're sleeping, Whiskey warriors come and creeping round and round.
Hey! Round! Hey! Round! Hey Ya!

Yes, the 8 "click" route march is the entry pass to the field camp, those who cannot make it will have to be excused throughout the field camp. "Weakass! Fuckers! Those fuckers who cannot do the march will help us dig the shit holes!" yes. That's what my sergeant said. I don't know why, the 8 click route march seems to be heavier than before. Probably because of the way we pack our stuffs and the extra rations that we have in there. It's crazy.

The whole business, i think, weighs about 25kg, that's not including the LBV and the helmet, plus the rifle. I think in total, plus my body weight, it's about a 100kg walking for 8km.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make sure the groundsheets are tightened properly to the comscord. Then pull the tent pins to make it taut. Do the same for the other side diagonal to it. Insert the Basha sticks by the sides and erect the Basha sticks. Once you're done, loop the comscord from the top of the Basha sticks and pin it down to the ground. When you're done, dig a drainage system around the tent to anticipate the rain.

What you've just gone through, is the procedure to build a Basha tent. It's crazy, I tell you. It's nothing like pitching a tent back in Secondary School, but what I did back in KSJ was definitely a good preparation. At least I know the concept and how it works.

Our Platoon Sergeant was damn pissed off with us on the first day of the Field Camp and it was definitely a bad start. But anyway, I've already prepared to be Tekan by our Sergeants already.

I think there are some people who just cannot show a sense of urgency when it comes to doing this. Like walking while the platoon has already fall in. So naturally, our sergeants were pissed off. So we had to tear down our tents and frantically try to stuff everything back into our field pack. Damn sian. Everybody has done their stuffs and we're still dismantling and pitching. Hai~

So that was about it. Everything's tekan tekan and more tekan for the first day.



Day 2 - Lessons on IFC, Day Movement and Night Movement (Sleep in Basha)

Day movement - We basically re-capped the stuffs we learnt before the field camp, basically is movement of a group in the day, how to take cover, learn a bit of the field signals. haha.

There's one particular signal which is very funny, it's the "double up" signal. That's when you clench your fist in front of you and swing it up and down with your elbow as the pivoting point. Everyone laughed when the officer demonstrated it. Then the officer noticed it and shouted, "HEY! It's not PCC la!" haha.

Day 3 - Dismantle tents and area cleaning, 6 km Route March to reclaimed land (Sleep on Ground Sheet)

We dismantled our tents and we supposed to do a defence at the defence site, which is 6 km away. So we kept every single thing and did a mass area cleaning, to make sure we don't leave anything behind for the enemy to spot, before we marched off in the afternoon. The sun was up. The temperatures are rising. The bag seemed to be twice as heavy than it was when we originally came. But we still marched on.

Even as the camou on our face came dripping down with our sweat, as our ammo pouches are all covered with green and black sweat mixture, we pressed on. The country's depending on us and we cannot fall. We must go on.

It was already close to night time when we reached our defence site. OC sir said we'll rest for a night before we dig our shell scrape tomorrow. So we took out our ground sheets and slept.

Day 4 - Dig Shell Scrape & Rest (Sleep in "Grave")

The sand is flying into our shirts and is rubbing against our skin, but I carried on digging my shell scrape. It's basically a hole in the ground, which is large enough for us to put our field packs and for us to lie down inside. The idea is to have a hole deep enough that when we lie down, the enemies cannot see us from a distance away.

After 2 and a half hours of digging, my shell scrape is finally done. I sat by the side of the shell scrape and drank my last bit of water. The water in the fully-filled water bag has already gone dry. Whatever's left in my bottle is supposed to last me for another hour or so, before the supplies come again.

I helped my friends to dig their shell scrape. Time is running out. The enemies are approaching. There could be artillery bombing at any time.

By this time, the blisters on the hands have already bursted long ago and my engineering gloves have already been soaked in blood and sweat. The pain is immense. But I remember a saying I saw on CK's Blog. "Tough times don't last, Only Tough men do"

I was thinking to myself. How true. However tough it is, I'm going to be tougher than the challenge in front of me.

Day 5 - Tests. "Kill" enemies (Sleep in "Grave") Woke up with thunder bang. (Group Battle Course) 2 km route, run for the last 500 m. like the last scene in Black Hawk Down.

I opened my eyes and saw a spark circling round, before it finally landed in front of my shell scrape. I heard a "ssssssss~~~~" sound before it blew up. If it were a real bomb, I would have died. Everyone scuffled for their helmets and rifles, before proning down to take cover.

So my morning was jump-started with a bombing from the enemies.

Reccee Troopers have been found doing their rounds near our defence site. OC Sir has given the orders for us to do patrol and engage enemies if we need to. So we did a 2km patrol around the site. Along the way, we were contacted by enemies twice. But they were not our match.

Easy take down. However, towards the last part we were ambushed by artillery fire. Once the arty was lifted, we started running back to our defence site. It was quite a long run and I was bogged down with my rifle, Helmet and LBV. When I turned back, I saw one of my friend who was about to collapse.

I had no choice. I dragged him by his LBV and started pulling him along. "Don't give up! We're almost there!"

"RUN~!" I shouted. Though all of us very totally shacked by the end of this, we managed to survive and conquered this together.

Day 6 - Thunder bang. Cover Shell Scrape, Load Field Pack onto Tonner, Walk to BIC Ground

We were once again bombed in the morning. The defence is falling. Everyone's morale is low.

The enemies are rolling in in large numbers. We have to abandon our defence site.

10 mins to cover up our shell scrape and run.

Load your field packs up the tonner. Get ready to march 2 km to the next enemy site. We're going to bring down those bastards today! Fight! If we must die, we'll die in glory.

after the 2 km route march to the enemy site, we were briefed of what we were supposed to do. The idea was to survive a steel rain of live rounds firing above your head, while you do a leopard crawl and back crawl under obstacles and on sand.

Even as the sand gets into our shirts and pants, once again rubbing against our skin, tearing it mercilessly and the blood goes like free-flow drinks at a buffet, we've pushed on. Once we reached our finishing points, we charged at the final enemy target in front and struck it.

The target goes down, marking the end of field camp.

Enemy is killed.

Mission is completed.

Everything's finally over.

posted by yang @ 7:22 PM