Saturday, April 29, 2006

More on NS...

I just realised that my last two posts were simply about complaints and more complaints that i forget to fill in on you guys about other stuff we do during NS.

NS at NDU is not all about doing PT(Physical Training) only okay? Haha.
Um, at least not during BMT period la... haha.

My point is that other than PT, we have to go through range and SOC(Standard Obstacles Course) too during BMT. Of course mah, have to learn how to shoot a rifle right? Lolz.

Unlike Tekong, we have to go out of camp to do our SOC and range. For 2 weeks, every wednesday we are transported by tonners(that BIG green army trucks you seen on the roads sometimes) to Khatib(shld be correct spelling) Camp for our SOC. Progress is slow as we have been introduced to only 7 out of the 11 obstacles.

SOC is difficult i admit. Low wall is actually quite easy. Once you get the technique correct, you should have no problem clearing it. I won't which obstacle is the hardest as different people view the obstacles differently. But apparently the hardest for most is the low rope. To clear the low rope, you have to climb up the rope, touch the top bar and lower yourself down. Although there is a technique to clear it, it rely a lot on arm power. So...

Anyway, Khatib Camp is home to the Gunners(the Artillery section of the armed forces la, not Thierry Henry and Co. ya?). Although it is not Highbury, but being an Arsenal fan, whenever you see the words, "Home Of The Gunners", you can't help but have a strange feelings which i can't describe. Well, anyway, the camp is quite big but sadly we didn't see any big guns moving around. Must have been hidden in some storage area.

For range, we went over to Nee Soon Camp. I think it is home to quite a lot of army units. If i am not wrong, the Combat Engineers, the SAF Music and Drama Company and maybe the Medics are based there. Whatever the case is, it is so exciting to do something associated with guns. Haha. We didn't go straight to live range but had a practice session using computer simulations. Rather fun but very tiring to my eye as i am not using my master eye to aim. Than the target is damn small, like a microchip like that. It took me a while to get used to shooting a rifle, especially when you get to experience recoil which affect your aim. Furthermore, my gun had a problem halfway through, which make me miss 1 out of 6 practice sessions(1 practice session differ from another by the way your body is positioned. One session you may be sitting and another you are standing). Oh well, had a happy and bad experience. Hope the next one is better. =)

So ya, i don't spend everything running, swimming or doing push-up. I still get a chance to do other stuff like range and SOC. But after BMT... just hope i can survive the Physical Conditioning Phase...