(I tried to find a picture of a pen flare being fired but well, its military equipment heh.)
It has been a very eventful week, but words cannot come close to describe the richness of the experiences. So I'll just leave snippets instead.
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Our OC inspires. He's got all the skills, the dedication, takes his job seriously, respects his men, does everything with them. I will always remember the night our section bashed through the jungle with no equipment but compass, map, pacer and moonlight (well, the occasional torchlight when we had to look at the map but otherwise it was banned heh). I will remember standing on the hilltop overlooking the campsite as he commended us on our effort and demonstrated to us that this is how we learn, and we can do it if only we dare to try. As Johann puts it, 'he is the kind of guy that gives me the feeling that there is hope for the SAF' heh.
That, and the highly amusing exchange.
Me: ...since I am the guy who was taught how to use the signal set and he is merely carrying it for me, that's why he doesn't know how to operate it.
OC: Oh I see, I see. So, you're like syllabear and he is the bear lah.
*Everyone turns and look at us*
Me: ...uhhhh yea.
*silence*
Me: Encik, you play dota ah.
OC: Yea. My favourite hero is naga. I just need someone to stun the guy for me, I go in net, with split into four, got diffusal I mana burn him he die. Got manta even better, I split into seven.
Haha apparently as he told our parents on sat, he just graduated from poly last year and played dota as a means to connect with all the other students who were so much younger. My mom finds him a humorous and humble man, which I agree =p.
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We fired pen flares on tuesday. Same day as the navigation day. Its basically this non explosive pyrotechnic which looks like a pen. You fire it, it flies into the sky, kinda like those fireworks. The green and red flares are used as signals while the illumination one lights up the entire area for awhile.
We fire them at night and watch as they race across the night sky, reaching towards the heavens. Inevitably though, gravity pulls them and soon enough, down they fall, the light crashing back into the ground, while its light fizzes off gradually till it becomes but a memory.
I ponder about life and relationships. How temporal it is. How it will fizzle and die out quickly, how all flares will be pulled back to the earth by a force they cannot escape.
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In the evening before our platoon, another platoon managed to set off a minature forest fire heh. It was highly amusing to watch and pretty cool to see our commanders fighting the fire. Not to mention when they drove off the safety vehicle. The speed at which they started it up caused a cloud of dust to stir up behind it heh.
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Im glad to have people I know from the older days with me here. Johann is an invaluable companion in SCS. We share common humour and constantly keep each other's spirits high. We always make references to our days back in year 5 and 6, still jokingly making fun of one another and calling each other bums (by the way, if I ever called you a bum, its him I picked that up from heh). Having a companion like that makes things alot easier and lets me know that I am not alone.
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One unfortunate thing about this self leadership thing we have in scs is the sheer lack of respect a surprisingly large number of people have towards those placed in a position of authority. Perhaps they feel that these have no right to be the boss of them, but the attitude they take is selfish and unbecoming. The gossip and politics here can get very scary and I wonder if the time will come when I will be inevitably dragged into this without wanting to be a part of it.
I am thankful for the good environments which I have come from. As much as a degree of these happen in the church as well, I have to disagree when people say sometimes the church can be worse. Im thankful for DI, for my friends back in AC and for the primers.
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I fell sick on thursday. I rested early, woke up on friday hoping to go for IPPT. Wasn't well enough to do so and did road marshalling instead. When I finally reported sick after road marshalling, my temperature was a personal record high of 39.8. It wasn't very pleasant obviously, but it was rather amusing too haha. I also got pampered pretty well and didnt miss anything important, so all's good hehe. But wow seriously. 39.8. IV drips and stuff. Three medics to stay overnight to watch me. Pretty hardcore. Im amazed at how fast the temperature went down actually.
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I heard some pretty exciting news today =).
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