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Week 3: Shooting!

This week was fairly uneventful as it was our range week. The interesting thing is that you're not even taught how to shoot. Aim, hold breath and squeeze trigger. I guess its a testament to the SAR21 that most people passed on the first try. That or our gun savvy, First Person Shooter video game culture ingrained into most youths.

I'm typing this 10 minutes before book in, so pardon me if it seems rushed. The range was in the middle of tekong, far away from the lights of BMTC proper. The stars out there were magnificent. The forest blocked most of the light from the city, so there were an unimaginable amount of stars. It was almost like being in rural Thailand. The shooting was a two parter, the day shoot and night shoot. The day shoot went by quite fast, and you actually spend most of the time sitting around, waiting for the next detail to finish shooting. Thanks to my previous experience with the SAR21, I managed a perfect score in the day shoot and was one of the small number in the running for Company Best Shot. While waiting for the night shoot, we literally sat around for 3 hours, talking swapping stories and the like. Then the ninja van came. The ninja van is known as the ninja van to recruits and commanders alike, as it randomly shows up silently, bearing all kinds of forbidden unhealthy drinks and snacks to anyone with the coin to afford it. Luckily, our friendly sergeant advised us the day before and we spent an extremely happy hour gorging ourselves, totally ignoring our out-ration dinner :D

The night shoot was pretty good, and quite scary. It was dark. Not even a dark you can imagine in Singapore. Darkkkk dark. Darker than a wolf's mouth in winter. The range only had light sticks and dim red lights to guide us, and floating blue light sticks marked the commanders walking around. By the time the night was over, I missed two shots, taking me out of the running for Company Best Shot, but guaranteeing me a Marksman Award very handily. It was about 0000 Hours before the 5 tonners took us back to company line, and the admin and Routine Orders meant we slept around 0300 Hours. We woke up again at 0530 Hours on Saturday to get ready to book out. That night, you could tell who would die in the sleeplessness of field camp.

Purple light, In the valley

That is where, I want to be

Infantry, true companions

With my rifle and my buddy and me.

Wow, 17 days. It has literally felt like forever.

I remember day one, in the bunk, Ulysses Company, Platoon 4 Section 3. 16 strangers brought together from all corners of Singapore. It was a humid day, and the rotating fans overhead did little to move the sluggish air around us. No one particularly felt like talking. We sat in silence around two rectangular wooden tables put together . The importance of teamwork and buddies was hammered into us from ferry and possibly before up till now. As we all looked around the table, taking in the wary faces and blank looks, brotherhood and unity looked very far away. Several stabs of standard conversation were offered: name, school, cca, etc... But I was left to wonder how we would become an inseparable family in the weeks to come.

17 days later. Book out day. Friday. We all had pet names for each other, knew each other's temperaments, strengths and weaknesses, we had added each other on facebook and swapped phone numbers. We idly swapped stories about how siong the PT was, and how hard SOC is, and how strict the sergeants are as we crammed our laundry into our field packs, excitedly talking about the first thing we'd do when we got out. Some even said they would miss each other's company. Laughing, I pointed out that we would unfortunately be reunited very soon. We were a family, brothers in arms.

17 days. An eternity.

BMT has many interesting things. The days feel like they go by quite fast. Wake up at 5am, First Parade, Physical training, and before you know it, lunch. Soldiering lessons, lectures, learning to handle your rifle, and before you know it, dinner. Routine Orders then admin time. Do laundry, call home, and sleep. Rinse and repeat. I guess it feels fast because your day is broken up into timings given by your sergeant. Time now is 1230. 1-2-3-0 We chorus. I want you to eat lunch, and fall in by 1250. 1-2-5-0 We chorus again. Our lives are literally being dictated to us, and we hang on the commanders' every word. It becomes a habit to constantly check your watch, lest you have to drop 20 when you get there.

Some people can't take it. The regimentation, the sergeants barking orders at you. But I'm finding myself adjusting quite well. Could be the Uniform Group training before this, or the fact that I'm already quite familiar with the Army and how it works on the inside. When you understand why they order you around and give the punishment they do, it seems quite reasonable. Anyway, I'm actually finding it quite enjoyable. Bed's soft, food's good, toilets are clean and we get paid.