TB030 Gathering at Sushi-Tei

Last week's field camp was a terrible experience. I endured an endless spree of deployments and ceasefires for 2 days and 1 night with only 1 hour of sleep. Everyone's a walking zombie after the exercise.

The worse is not over, a 4 days 3 nights field camp coming this week.

Turn up for last week's class gathering at Sushi-Tei was great. After dinner, we chilled at Pacific Coffee Company, reminds me of the good ol' days back in polytechnic. Something worth mentioning, now we have a few teachers amongst us in TB030. :)

Here are some photos we took from the gathering.

Dinner at Sushi-Tei


Chill' out at Pacific Coffee Company, Vivo

The month of May is going to be packed, celebrating Mother's Day, Passing Out Ceremony (yah, not a trainee anymore!), catching Phantom of the Opera and lastly, the IT fair at the end of the month. Quite looking forward to the upcoming events. :)

A serene Sunday ..

Today is one of those days where I can sit in front of my desk, free of worries, going through mundane tasks. For the past few weeks, I have been reading up my trainee's manual like a bible, preparing for the almost weekly tests and finally, the final exam last week.

So settling down comfortably, I started clearing my mailbox. It's quite interesting looking through the email conversations I had, email exchanges between members of various project groups I had in Polytechnic, querying worryingly on my National Education graduation requirement which I did not met and much more issues that are part and parcel of tertiary life.

In that afternoon, I cleared 50 over emails.

Eve of Labour Day will be attending a mini gathering organised by Yi Quan at Vivocity's Sushi-Tei. Looking forward to seeing everyone there. :)

Technorati Tags: Tertiary life

AFS Mid-course updates

Approaching the 5th week of my weapon phase training in AFS, learnt much and frankly speaking, I quite like the place I'm in now. Sadly, another 4 weeks more of training, I will be posted to my unit.

I was tempted and decided to sign up for M1 Broadband yesterday. The installation on my Powerbook is fuss-free, within minutes, the internet is up and running. I would not have signed up if the wireless internet in my camp isn't down for upgrading indefinitely. Having your laptop with internet connectivity is the best thing in life for NSFs like me. :)

Went for Yao Sheng's 21st birthday last week, nice catching up with people from my course, especially the TB030 gang. Here's photo 'stolen' from Sharon's blog. :)

A glimpse into my training schedule

I have completed my 2 weeks of basic flight training and next week is where all the real training starts in my weapon training phase. awww.

For the 2 weeks, this is how each day was spent,

0600 Hr - Reveille + Exercise
0630 Hr - Breakfast
0700 Hr - First Parade
0800 Hr - Lesson
1130 Hr - Lunch
1300 Hr - Lesson
1745 Hr - Self training at gym (5km run)
1830 Hr - Dinner
1900 Hr - TV / Study
2200 Hr - Lights off

Quite a luxury compared to before. :)

Moving to other aspect of my life, I have been reading up quite a bit on investment and was close to purchasing treasury bill when the stock market plunged. With the lowered yield interest in treasury bill, decided to park my fund in Standard Chartered's saving account while waiting for the stock market to recover. Also, I was offered Excel Banking, which I took up readily.

Graduation attire for Temasek Polytechnic graduates

An interesting piece of news I came across on the internet. For the first time in polytechnic history, Temasek Polytechnic's graduates will be donning graduation attire this year.

Michell, let's us know how's the graduation attire, okie? :)

Start of Training in Air Force School

Airman Orientation Programme would probably be the best thing in my life at Air Force School. 8-5 schedule, tea breaks in the morning and afternoon, chatting with new faces and learning the history of RSAF (Republic of Singapore Air Force).

Starting my training today and would be staying-in for the next 3 months (probably for the rest of national service). Home is just a few bus stops away, yet so far.

Interesting fact I discover, boozes are cheap in camps, $1.50 for a can of duty-free Tiger beer. Woah, 100% cheaper than the market price. Give the man a Tiger!

Don't worry, I am a social drinker, in fact, social would be an overstatement. :)

Bye Army, Hi Air Force.

I didn't know it is possible, but I did it. I completed the gruelling 28km road march (Comparative Figure: the travelling distance from Serangoon to Boon Lay is 29km) and earned my chevrons, proudly I would say.

After a motivational speech by the wing's commanding officer, 5 companies set off at 10pm and completed the march at 6am the next morning. After completing, I realized the march is more than just completing your course and moving on, it is proving your worth as a SISPEC trainee.

That evening, after packing up my stuff, my platoon gathered and waited eagerly for our posting. Names were called and a mixture of disappointment and joy could be seen from the crowd. To put it plainly, the disappointed ones are those posted to Advance Section Leader Course which for the rest of their national service, they remain in the infantry. I was one of the few lucky ones to be posted to Air Force to be trained as a specialist.

Right now I am undergoing Airman Orientation Programme, a 8am-5pm week long programme to 'tune' our army mindset. The Air Force School is unlike army camps, mess is opened to all ranks, modern 4-man bunks (privacy assured), swimming pool, gym, running track and library. The best part is, it's 5 days week in the Air Force, we 'book' out on friday instead of the Army's saturday.

Did I mention we get to wear Air Force No.3 uniform? I'm just glad to be out of the Army. :)

农历新年快乐！

Before I begin, let me wish everyone 农历新年快乐！

Basic Section Leader Course (BSLC) ending this week and I waiting eagerly for the weekend to approach. Already sewn my Corporal rank. :)

Much to say, but have to report back to camp in an hour time. Till then!

Ending, almost.

I can finally take a breather. Exercise Wanderer and Exercise Grandslam concluded last week and what's left on the training schedule are mostly lectures, few intensive physical training and the 28km graduation route march.

Some experience to share. Being a Section Assault Weapon (SAW) gunner has its pros and cons during the exercises. Given my small physique, It's cumbersome lugging this bulky weapon, especially when bashing through thick vegetation. But back at our temporary base, the SAW gunners had the privilege of defending the apexes, while the rest had to help out with the miscellaneous tasks. Quite a different experience compared to recruits' field camp.

I shall endure the coming 2 weeks before Chinese New Year. :)

End of BSLC: 3 more weeks

A lot has happened since my last entry. It has been a hectic schedule in camp for the past 2 weeks, was appointed Leader Section Commander, went through 2 exercises (Gypsy 1 and 2) and 2 field camps (skipped one due to shin injury).

Next week, tomorrow to be exact, will be going through Exercise Wanderer and Exercise Grand Slam. Will be back in Singapore on Thursday, hopefully.

The 2 exercises mentioned are the finale of my Basic Section Leader Course training, thereafter, it will be another 3 weeks more to the end of my course. I'm really looking forward to it.

Chinese New Year is just around the corner and likewise I'm looking forward to it too. Definitely going down to Chinatown at my next book-out.

To friends applying to local universities, admissions to NUS and NTU open next week (1 - 21 February 2007). Good luck!

AC's 21st Birthday Celebration / TB030 Meetup

Together with the TB030 people, namely, Sharon, Michell, 'Boss', James and Yao Sheng, we attended AC's 21st birthday celebration over at his place. After our last meet-up 8 months ago, it was nice meeting everyone again. We reminisced about our polytechnic life and we guys shared our life in camp serving national service.

After 3 weeks of gruesome training in SISPEC, I'm trying to take things in stride after realizing self-denial is not going to help. I just hope the next 7 weeks will be a breeze.

A New Year - Reflections and Resolutions

The beginning of a new year is often a time of reflection, for us to pause our hectic schedule and take stock of our actions over the past year, and form new resolutions for self-improvement.

I have never cultivate the habit of penning down my reflections but I shall attempt to do so starting from this new year onwards. This shall be my first resolution.

Academically, I have achieved what I aspired for, completing my tertiary education, getting good grades and a university placement to further my studies.

Enlistment for National Service is a step out of adolescence for me. I learn to appreciate every little single thing that I never pay attention to. Training is tough, especially now in School of Infantry Specialists, but the thought of loved ones and encouragement from buddies I made at Basic Military Training kept me going.

The last part of my reflection is something I hope I would never have to pen down or for it to happen. My miniature schnauzer of 13 years old, Rory, passed away on 1st December 2006. It happened when I was in camp and I didn't have the chance to be there with him. The house seems a little quiet and lifeless now without him around.

I will always remember the good memories I had with Rory.

Moving ahead, I intend to keep my resolutions for this year sweet and simple. Here goes,

1. To be more organised


2. To be more optimistic about National Service and try to enjoy it


3. To be thrifty


4. To spend more quality time with my family

Lastly, something to look forward to this year, another nephew to play with. :)