Friday, September 15, 2006

Dramatic Week...

Ever since i was enlisted into NDU, people around me have been asking me for 5 months did I encounter any fishes and my usual answer would be nope. Come on, you don't expect my instructors to throw me into the sea straight away after enlistment right? I still have to go through Basic Military Training(BMT) before i embark on Combat Diving Course(CDC). The CDC is split into 5 phases, namely Physical Phase, Hellweek, Demolition Phase, Dive Phase and Land Phase. For the past 5 months, I have been through BMT and the first 3 phases of CDC. Don't think the 5 months have been an easy ride. Been through Hell and back and not forgetting emotional rollercoasters.

Anyway, i have started diving(finally...lolz). Went for Orientation Dive on Monday, 11th Sept, which happens to be my birthday. Wow. The feeling was simply marvellous. The ability to breathe underwater was such a great feeling. Furthermore, my first diving experience on my birthday. How cool is that? Haha. So guys, I can proudly say, I have started diving.

But that feeling never last long. Had an accident this week during diving. Yes, an accident. (Bro, if you are reading this, don't ever tell mum. Don't get her worried.) I was supposed to do a total of 3 Emergency Drills at a depth of 4 metres in the swimming pool. The first drill was carried out successively but the second one was a failure and...

You see, my buddy and i are supposed to do the Buddy Breathing Drill. The drill goes on like this. I had to signal to my buddy i am out of air and once he acknowledges it, I had to let go of my regulator(the hose that provide me with air) and we share his regulator. So naturally breath-holding was involved. When i passed him back the regulator and wait for it to come back, I let go of a little air but i opened my mouth too big and water began to gush in. This effect disorientate me totally and my nose took in water and i felt that i was choking on water without any way to get it out. This caused a natural instinct in me to shoot up to the surface. But, in diving, you CANNOT just shoot up from any depth. You must go up slowly so as to reduce the pressure acting on your body to prevent your lungs from bursting. So the instructor grab me down and start to stuff his spare regulator into my mouth. What happen onwards i do not have a clear memory of it but according to the instructor, i kept on pushing away the spare regulator and keep on struggling to break free from his grip. After a while, i was brought up to the surface. How i came up to the surface i had no idea. Furthermore, my buddy was totally stunned and he told me he saw my face turned into one that resembled a corpse. Wow.

I can't really remember what exactly happen and the above is all i can say. Throughout the week, i kept thinking over the incident and all i can add on is that i didn't make adequate mental preparations before the dive and the lack of coordination between my nose and mouth is what cause me to panic underwater. During the descent, everything was okay but somehow i feel water seeping into my mask. While travelling, I think i sort of breathe in through my nose so some water enter my nose. I quickly shut off my nose and it didn't cause much of a problem as the feeling of uncomfort is still bearable. Than, because i am the diver holding on to the float, my legs was constantly entangled with the floatline so i spent quite a while untangling myself. This process was worsened when i realised my mask is loose, thus allowing water to seep in. All these are too much for an inexperienced diver like me and hence my accident. But hey, the fact that i am here means i am well. Will I be scared to dive again? I don't know. Let just hope the next dive will be an okay one with sufficient mental preparations.

Was having a chat over meal with my friends in camp when one of them commented, "NDU is like a small kingdom on its own, with its own 'government' and rules and kind of shut off from SAF." Well, I can't agree more. When we out-station to other camps, the feeling is totally different from our camp. The people over at other camps are more rigid, ranks are more observed and when you are at Nee Soon Camp that is home to a number of units, the people tend to put on a front so as not to disgrace the pride associated with their units. Over at NDU, things are different. The people here are rather close-knit and different units mixed well with each other. No one put on a front and no one thinks that his unit is superior. Even Commander NDU wears a shirt and shorts while walking around, unlike other camps where the Commanding Officer is always in his No. 3 uniform. Maybe it is because of the relatively small size of the unit or because everyone knows that while diving, a buddy is very important as he/she can save your life and you never know who your dive buddy will be. Hence things are more relaxed, ranks are observed no doubt but when everyone is wearing shirt and shorts, the feeling of closeness is there.

Oh well. I need a break to relax. Having 2 tests over the week kind of kill lots of my precious brain cells...