On my 3rd last day of Combined Arms Term, there was an award and certificate presentation for the course. My instructors from MPTS came down to set up and witness the presentation. Well, I would say it was another comfortable session because all the MPs were together finally after we were separated into syndicates and mixed with the other vocation for the past 7 days. I was glad to meet my section commander, my section mates and the rest of the course given the familiarity and no awkward moments which I faced constantly when at coyline. 

After the award and certificate presentation, the other highlight of the day presented itself. Postings. This time round, postings meant the unit that each individual would be posted to. The first round of postings was vocational postings. Now the second round of postings was unit postings. It can be said to be of particular importance because that would determine what exactly one would be doing till the end of his 2-year stint full-time NS. Two from different units can be of the same vocation but doing totally different things. 

I remember back then while at Professional Term, I expressed interest to be either a guard commander or an instructor. The probability of being a guard commander is way much higher than an instructor given the demands and supply required. I shall not go to the specifics but rather focus on my reasons for it.

 I was being practical when it came to me about being a guard commander because firstly, it's one of the real operations that a MP does and following that would meant greater flexibility of my own time. To my knowledge, there are guardrooms which work on shift basis which has 2 days of work and 2 days of off-duty. Having that extra time would meant more time to focus on things which I personally wanted to do, like studying or learning new stuff. 

However, the drawbacks were the mundane job scope that I would face everyday and having to be at the guardroom all day would mean less time for me to exercise and be out in the sun. I didn't want a NS life when I'm forced to be trapped in a room facing 4 walls all day having no time to go out under the sun, which would mean deteriorating physical fitness. Since enlistment, I have never been much fitter than before. I didn't want to be go back in the state that I used to be, unfit and unhealthy. As such, that kinda of set me back from becoming a guard commander.

Becoming an instructor was another possible choice which I would take up given the myriad of things that instructors do. An instructor's continually follows what the trainees do and that would mean different activities or training for each week. Furthermore, it seemed cool being an instructor given the freedom they had and responsibility over the trainees. Since BMT, I always felt that the instructional role was meaningful given that they passed on their knowledge to a new breed of soldiers and has the ability to empower and influence a large group of soldiers. It would be satisfying for another instructor to see his own batch of trainees graduate when he knows that all the effort he had put in bore fruit at the end. Lastly, I felt that it would really help to boost my confidence when addressing to large group of people which is really needed for work in the future. As such, the amount of life skills I would obtain would be way too much.

On the other hand, being an instructor is no easy feat. Back then during Professional Term, as I looked at my instructors and heard from them, the expectations of an instructor was really high. In MPTS, they chose the high performers from the course to be instructors. They needed the knowledge, physical fitness, application and leadership skills. Imagine an instructor who cannot meet expectations, such as physical fitness or skills. How would the trainees judge upon them? Even as a trainee, I would judge my instructors and it is definitely a norm for trainees to gather round and 'discuss' their instructors, who they liked, who they hated, etc. I felt that it would be real embarrassing had an instructor not know anything. As such, knowing my limits that I was not comparatively good at physical fitness, being an instructor was like a far reach. 

Towards end of Professional Term, I was given a chance for an interview to be an instructor. For my course, it was a tough competition I must say. There were like 7 of us vying for the 2 seats given for my batch to be an instructor. I gave my reasons why I think I should be an instructor on a piece of paper followed by an interview with the wing commander (the term given for OC back then in MPTS).

Now let me refer back to the announcement of postings in Combined Arms Term, which all of us were expecting much. One by one, name by name, we were each given our postings. It was no longer a choice on me to decide anymore whether it was guard commander or instructor. My fate was left to that piece of paper my course commander was reading from. Eventually, my posting was read out and I was given the instructional role at MPTS. That meant that for the next 1 year 2 months of my NS, I will be posted back to MPTS as an instructor to train new MPs-to-be like what my instructors did during my course.

Wow, I did rattled much on how my instructional role came to happen. I am sorry had I bore you with the details. I just felt that I should talk about my thoughts process back then before I was posted to become an instructor so reading back this in the future would let me recall what was going through my mind then.

As I knew that I would be going to be an instructor, there were several considerations I had. For instance, how would I carry myself as a 3SG and an instructor in MPTS? How can I become a good section commander? How can I hone on my skills so that given my current standards back then, I would be able to meet the expectations required when I have my own trainees under me? How should I handle those men which are a tad more difficult to handle and how can I earn the respect of a 3SG? There were many questions that I have yet to find an answer with and much more challenges ahead for me as a 3SG, which I believe my peers in other units also had. Ultimately, these questions were answered one by one through time and reflection which made me really learnt so much not just as a Specialist, but also as a person.

~End of Part 4~

Well, I'm back here again to continue recalling about my time in NS. I was really tempted to watch How I Met Your Mother before coming here, but I reminded myself that I shall not procrastinate this any further. So here I shall begin.

Remember I told you about the training system in SCS? After my 8 weeks of Foundation Term in SCS, my section mates and I got our postings for our next phase of training. Postings, I must say, is really one important part of any Singaporean Son's NS life, since it would ultimately determine what one would do for the rest of his NS life including reservist. Furthermore, it also determine what role one would play in doing his part for his country, whether one is a frontline soldier in terms of war or play a supporting role instead. That role is also termed as a vocation in the army. Every vocation has its unique job scope and expectations. Every vocation is a specialisation of its own and ultimately, the whole combination of various vocations would make an army.

Nearer to the end of Foundation Term, everyone were thinking about their postings and what vocation would we end up in eventually. We don't choose our postings, we are selected instead, similar to how the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter Series chooses which House each student enrolled in Hogwarts goes to. Well, some vocation postings require special physical demands or cognitive abilities, thus interviews and tests were held. I got selected for an interview to become an Air Crew Specialist in the Air Force. The feeling of having an selection interview was awesome, because not everyone has a chance to do. Some people had 2-3 interviews, while the not so lucky ones had none. 

Honestly, I really didn't know what being an Air Crew Specialist meant. As the title speaks for itself, it probably meant that you belong the group that is in the airplane or helicopter but not controlling it. But what does it really mean? All that was answered when 2 Warrant Officers from the Air Force came down during the interview session. It's actually kind of a sacred job because one role of the Air Crew Specialist includes search and rescue mission during times of disaster. In a way, it was about saving lives which I felt was meaningful actually. I didn't want to be in vocation where I do work for the sake of doing it. I wanted a sense of purpose in it and I realised that being an Air Crew Specialist wasn't that bad though it would be tough. With that little hope in my eyes, it instantly dashed when I was informed that it required personnel to be able to swim well. I hadn't be able to swim properly since primary school (till this day I'm still struggling with it). So having not been able to swim meant that my chances of becoming an Air Crew Specialist was minimal. Plus, the selection was like 1 or 2 guys out of the 10 selected for the interview? After the interview back at company line, I didn't put much hope into that. I always desired to be able to be in the Air Force as a soldier but it looks like I don't have that luxury to be one.

Finally, the last day of Foundation Term came and our postings were announced. It was really an intense moment for all of us, feelings are likened to be release of National Exam Results. Well, I guess in everyone's heart, everyone hoped for any other posting except to be posted to Infantry. Being posted to Infantry meant that our lives would be a repeat of Foundation Term, and worse. Yes, Foundation Term was a very good learning experience but having to continue doing it for the rest of my NS life? Honestly no. I do agree that Infantry is a very good vocation to be in because of all the knowledge you have by being an infantier, but at that point of time I just so sick of it and I knew that I would continue to suffer more given the lack in depth of knowledge at that point of time. So the names came, one by one, for the first group of vocation. My name was not in the list during the first announcement. Finally, my Officer Commanding (OC) announced that the group was posted to infantry, meaning another 12 weeks of training in SCS. I wouldn't forget that moment when those who were not posted to infantry were rejoicing. It was a heavy load off my heart but after that it also meant another question: Which vocation would I be posted to?

At the end of the day, all vocation postings were read out. I wanted to go Artillery since it seemed cool to be in Artillery handling those enormous and complicated machinery. Termed as King of the Battlefield, Artillery seemed an interesting vocation when we went for exhibition by various vocations. Turns out, Artillery didn't had my name in the list so I had to relinquish that thought too. I was in the last group of which the vocation is yet to be announced. On top of my head at that point in time, I couldn't figure out what vocation is left and was really puzzled. Eventually, my OC announced "MP Command!" All of us were stunned and in the next moment we jumped in joy! I forgot that the vocation existed and didn't expect to be in the list since it was really rare to see MPs, especially MP Specialist around.

Having posted to MP Command meant a change of camp location. Rumours of MP was about regimentation and discipline, and it was when I first stepped into camp. The feeling of isolation, hostile and cold environment was intimidating, especially when the Specialist donned in No. 3 came to bring us to the auditorium. The perception of the place was filled with uncertainty given all this surrounding features. With that, my time in Military Police Training School (MPTS)starts.

My time in MPTS was a totally different experience from what I had so far. To sum up, I would say it was an eye-opener, comfortable and memorable experience. Again, I would explaining it as per the format in my last post to make everything more concise.

Eye-opener

Being in MPTS exposed me to a different side of the armed forces. Of all the training I've been through, much was about fighting tactics and fitness. It didn't occur to me that I would learn about the legislation structure that the armed forces have put in place, such as the legal constraints of soldiers, the authority they had, types of military offences and how punishments were carried out in the armed forces. Furthermore, the most interesting part was about the military offences that were related towards punishment of soldiers of lower ranks. What constituted to ill-treatment, what meant abuse of authority and it especially frustrating and yet interesting to know when we realised that our sergeants in BMT were actually only allowed to mete out punishments of 20 push-ups, instead of the 50 or 100 push-ups that we struggled to do back then. Because we were equipped with these knowledge, it also meant that training in MPTS was not as outrageous and unreasonable as it would be, given that everyone know the 'law'.

On top of that, training to be a MP also exposed to me towards more policing, such as search and arrest and close combat. It was a top-up of knowledge taught in BMT since those were done only in BMT and out of the training job scope during Foundation Term. Furthermore, after learning about the various job scope that a MP could do, I was really caught unexpected for that to exist.

I've also learnt about the real-time duties of MP in peacetime other than during war. That differentiated much from what I've been through so far (learning to fight in war) and I would say that characteristic of being a MP made me feel special and having that sense of purpose. Nevertheless, it also meant a level of risk involved when carrying out such duties.

Towards the end of the course, I was also exposed to the wartime operations of MP. Another deep learning point given my perspective of how a war is fought is widened, on a more marco-level rather than what I learnt during Foundation Term. Nevertheless, when my course mates and I were first exposed to that, it was just question marks on the screen and on everyone's face. We kinda of lost touch with much of wartime operations learnt during Foundation Term having not done any field training for like 10 weeks before learning it again. That meant that the learning during that period of time was a mad rush. Concepts taught in Foundation Term was totally different from what we've learnt during this period of time. It needed a lot of clarifications and clear understanding. Furthermore, we were section commanders-to-be. If we screw up big time during our summary exercise, it would be quite a huge blow to our course performance. I wouldn't forget the preparations that my course mates and I made on our own time during the weekends so that we wouldn't screw up much for our summary exercise.

Speaking about our summary exercise, it was really a peak of our Professional Term given that most of us held real appointments of Section Commander and Platoon Sergeants. All the planning were free-play according to what's taught, all done by us, instructions were given and we really had men under us to take charge of. As a form of training to be a Section Commander, I would say that it really helped a lot and I'm pretty glad for that!

Comfortable

Other than the technical run-through of the course, I would say the most interesting part of the course was the people I've met.

I was posted to Platoon 2 Section 1 during my course and my section was 14-men strong. I had 9 other section mates in my bunk and it was really an interesting time together with each of them and as a section with the rest in the other bunks.

A brief introduction in Bed order: Norman, See Ting, Joshua, Oliver(me), Saiful, Ami, Jun Jie (also known as JJ), Zhen Wei, Darren, Felix, Kiat Leong, Tony, Cedric and Yuanquan.

Having them as section mates were great because everyday something interesting or funny happens. I shall highlight a few of them here because there are just so many to list them out.

1. To start off, my section mate Ami liked the South Korean culture a lot and decided to call his bed or his territory as South Korea. Gradually, everyone else in the bunk decided to name himself after a country which is really stupid but I have no idea why we played along with it. We usually had like invasion which we termed as World War III, implying we would remove everything on the person's bed such as the boots, bedsheets and pillow cases or whatever that was available. It could be between 2 person in bunk or perhaps a group of us in the bunk. It was consistently a pile of mess. Boots was another highlight which I liked to next touch on whenever invasion took place.

2.As we were expected to have a high standard in our turnout and bearing, we spend a lot of time polishing our boots together in the morning after area cleaning. That meant our boots were really precious to us because had we got boots below par, it would look really bad on us during our standing parade, which the name speaks for itself to know about the details. We took pride in our boots really, which made me start to water-shine instead of brush-shine which I did since BMT till SCS. Polishing boots wasn't the main highlight but throwing each other's boots were. So during the invasion as stated in (1), I threw Ami's boots quite a few times, from the room all the way to the exit. I wouldn't forget ami's epic expression and scream whenever that happened. There was once I think JJ put powder into one of our boots making it a huge mess for the victim, but I just cannot remember who!

3. Singing random songs in bunk was what we did during the lunch break or nighttime. I remember once when Joshua brought his guitar in and we sang quite a few songs together. We even had a section song for our section commander, an accidental composition when Zhenwei, Darren, Saiful and I were in bunk. The consistent song supplies were from Norman's MP3 player connected to Joshua's X-Mini. That was quite a turning point for me to listen more English POP rather than Chinese POP. 

4. I also wouldn't forget the continual self-boosting remarks I have got from Norman, Saiful and Ami when they commented on my singing (yes I can't sing, badly), my made up lyrics when I didn't know the song lyrics and those moments when I made a fool out of myself.

5. Seeting's daily change-of-guards parade which I shall not elaborate. (Mature content)

6. Our attempt at Table-tennis which Ami calls it Mowbray Open. I sucked badly at table-tennis too and having more players meant that my ranking would go down further. I think I never won a match at all back then.

7. Monopoly Deal was quite a big hit back then during my course, which we then move on to childhood games like old maid and Norman's unique game called "Givenchy". (Confidential content here)

Honestly, the company I had during my course was so great, to the extent when some of us left for airforce and navy, we were quite low in spirits and needed to pick ourselves up and move on. I wouldn't forget the day when Joshua picked up his guitar and played Avril Lavigne's Keep Holding On. Those time in bunk when we just chit-chat and had nothing to do, plus the continuous nonsensical things we did during our free time, it was epic. Great times like that was really good and it made me didn't want to book out at times. Though my course had the least number of nights out throughout the history, staying in bunk with the company of my section was great and comfortable. It ain't the place, it's the people.

Memorable

All that summed up, I must say my 13 weeks in MPTS was really great, which made me feel a sense of belonging and pride to my vocation. There's quite a bit of the emphasis on discipline, which meant restrictions but it also taught me a lot about behaviour. Having known almost everyone, it was interesting to meet new characters along the way, be it in the good or bad way. I really felt special to be a MP when I went back to SCS for my combined arms term. We were a different breed of soldiers whose mindset and thinking were really different from people in other vocations. To uphold the law and do what's right, for many it isn't easy. Be it those boring moments, lazy moments, scolding sessions, mad rush and outfield, I must say that my time as a trainee during MPTS was really fun and memorable. Our course didn't turn out as bad as we seemed and I really felt that we were much better than what I know about previous courses and future courses. To conclude, I am really grateful for coming to MPTS as a trainee because it taught me so much and made me realise things which I won't find out for myself had I have been placed in another vocation instead.

Here I am, finally started to talk about the 2nd part of my NS journey in Specialist Cadet School (SCS). I'm really sorry (to myself badly) that I have left this blog forsaken for quite a while because of my consistent laziness to just come here and blog about it. Plus, knowing that each post would be a long one kinda of serves as a deterrence to come here. I have decided to continue talk about my 2nd part of my NS journey because I don't want future Oliver to come blaming the current Oliver for not having typed this out when future Oliver starts to forget all that happened in 2011 - 2013. So here goes!

Being posted to SCS was really something which I wanted back during BMT. Not like most guys who wanted to go Officer Cadet School (OCS), I had the interest to become a Specialist instead. Well, I guess that interest arises from the fact that my 2 brothers also graduated from SCS, so having me to become a Specialist meant that all the boys at home are Specialist. That may perhaps sound so simplistic you might comment, but I didn't want to break the 'trend'. 

Another reason was reality. I knew that given my physical fitness and mental ability back then, meeting the expectations to go into OCS was a far reach.I was not as mentally strong back then so the thought of going through 9 months of training made my decision to pursue for SCS instead.

Furthermore, (I know this is a sweeping generalisation) most guys who wanted to go OCS tend to be those who like to show off or attention seeking than the rest when they do not have real ability (also known as 'wayang' in the army). I didn't really like the way these people behaved so as to strive to go to OCS. I cannot imagine how it would be like to be living with these people for the next 9 months if I were to go OCS. Respect from me goes to those who are prominent but at the same time capable but not to those who are outstanding from the surface but deep within is an empty shell. During BMT, I did meet those with real potential and I'm glad that they did made it out of OCS. Nevertheless, I guess it's inevitable for those who are good at acting made it to OCS. On second thought, it's also a great situation here for me because it also meant that I didn't have to meet them in SCS! Those with real potential to be an officer will eventually prevail so I believe that would count. If you're really good, you'll make it out in life.

At the end of BMT, I believe almost every soldier would roughly know the difference in the roles of a Specialist and an Officer. Coming to SCS initially meant that I would become a Specialist at the end of training. Reasons I have stated above to go SCS were more of the environment and perceptions that I had during BMT. There was not much of a reason to be a Specialist above that. Nevertheless, at the end of my 1 year 10 months in NS, I have found deeper meaning and discovery of my purpose of being a Specialist. These new found discovery broadened my mind. If given a choice again, I would choose to be a Specialist. I'll talk more that discovery in the later parts of this series. Now, let me focus more on my time in SCS.

Training in SCS was divided into 3 parts, namely the Foundation Term, Professional Term and lastly the Combined Arms Term. I've only spent in Foundation Term in SCS. More on Professional Term and Combined Arm Term in the later parts of the series. I shall talk about my Foundation Term here.

 Honestly speaking, my time in SCS can be described to be fast-paced, blurry and meaningful. I have decided to come up with short descriptions so that elaborations would be more concise.

Fast-paced.

Foundation Term was a short 8-week training. At the start, it felt really long because of the long days and weekends burnt due to live firing or remedial training. My bookouts on Fridays were always late, meaning Saturday was like a half day given lack of adequate rest. Training expected of us were much higher compared to BMT, lessons were more detailed and required more time to understand. For instance, I remembered taking like a few days to learn to operate a SAR21. In my unforgettable first week in SCS, I was exposed to 3 different weapons and 1 signal set. First day was training and the next day was the technical handling test. The training for the first day was a flood of information on top of the technical aspects of weapon handling. The whole day was spent on that and by the end of the day, all my section mates and I were still a little unconfirmed about what we learnt. It can be described as the blind leading the blind.

In the short 8 weeks, I went through various training events like navigation, outfield, chemical defence, various live firings and route marches. Combat fitness was really much better than before when we went through tougher outfield exercises and consistent 'semulas' (meaning back to the start) during field training. Last but not least, donning on long 4 with fieldpack and load-bearing vests was a norm in SCS and camo-on was something which never ceased. Learning curve was really steep. If you don't get a certain concept, you've got to catch up because the next training activity commences.

Blurry

Time in SCS  Navigation was another module which again, my friends and I took considerable amount of time to master on our own given that learning in SCS was self-directed. That meant learning from the laptop and clarifying questions from the instructors. The good? More time for us in bunk and time to use the laptop. The Bad? Connections were slow at times and given the same period of time, we all had different learning pace. So learning was a continuous rush through the lessons. For those who had short attention span, the next moment was spent on either like Facebook or games. Own time own learning was great, and it would really help had you spent the time to focus on learning the concepts taught. But once you abuse that, disaster would strike when we're out on the field looking lost.

Routine in coyline was okay I would say. Time in SCS was quite free after 6pm if there's no night training. It meant free time for my section mates and I to do anything we wanted (but within limits like duh). Those who wanted to run went for runs, but most of us spent a lot of time with our laptops, since it was a communication tool to access the outside world. 

With all that we had during our free time, it was ultimately under the control of my Ops Spec at coyline. Gosh, I won't forget the regimentation that we've got when he came. He imposed quite ridiculous punishments on us sometimes which were unreasonable. Sometimes he's right with his reasons but then again, when he gets pissed, judgements and decision making kinda of like falls apart. As we were commanders-to-be back then, his actions and thoughts reflected upon me what kind of commander I would be when I graduate as a Specialist. How would I behave as a Specialist? Would I become the kind of Specialist who is unreasonable to people? How would I punish people? How am I going to treat my men? Or would I become those who treat people like slaves under my command? Or the Specialist who is nonchalant in attitude, waiting for things to happen before action takes place? Would I become like the Ops Spec? There were quite a lot of answers which I needed to find out for myself and these answers cannot be obtained except by myself.

Despite the unpredictable path that I was taking, I knew that I just had to go with the flow, because time will tell.

Meaningful

With all that time I've spent in SCS, I would say there were many nice experiences gained which were interesting and memorable.

Learning new weapons and soldiering skills added value to my learning and role as a soldier. Those time spent outfield with my section mates, be it in UO or terrain environment, it honed my mental strength and ability. Given the company which I had, I'm glad that these people were with me throughout that period of time. Opportunities given during training such as firing a matador, entering a smoke chamber and navigate in a forest are something which I would have a chance to experience in my normal life. Recalling back, I do wish to be able to try out all these things again. Nevertheless, I do believe that continual exposure to that would definitely make me be sick of it too. As they call, diminishing returns of utility!

Overall, I wouldn't say that the self-directed learning adopted in SCS was bad. True that we were lost along the way and made lots of mistakes, but that also meant that we've picked ourselves up and learn from experience. That was something which I think given the minimal spoonfeeding that we had. Independent learning for adults, but whether it benefited really depended on your mindset, whether you're open to it or not and whether you're willing to commit to it.

I've liked my time in SCS, the place, the food and the people I've met. Given that it was the Home of the WOSpecs, it does bring a lot of memory back to me whenever I returned to SCS as a parade trainer for the next few batches of graduation parade. Time back there was tough to handle with consistent thoughts of wanting it to end quickly. Now that those training are history, I have that fulfilling sensation knowing that I've become better than who I was and where I were. 32km marches through the night with a heavy load, those sweat spent during outfield training, to be able to break through boundaries that I have not ventured in, that gamble emanates a sense of personal achievement. Plus, through SCS, I had greater experience of how outfield is really like and I'm grateful for that when I started out as a trainer in my own posting.