Sunday, September 17, 2006
OCS and beyond
Today was a cold and wet day, I didn't do much today except pack my bags for tomorrow. It's going to be a long 3 weeks.
I spent the rest of the day resting and mentally preparing myself for the challenges ahead. These few days I have been thinking about the plans that I have for the future. I've been thinking about all the friends who are important to me, what are my priorities? What are my goals? What motivates me? I have more or less thought about them all, but once in a while, when you face challenges in life, you tend to take a step back and re-evaluate your priorities and objectives in life.
Up till now, I haven't really regretted any decision that I've made in the course of my life. I admit to having thoughts about "what ifs" often. What if I What if I went to SP instead of NP instead? What if? What if?
But I guess there's no point thinking about such pointless things in life anymore isn't it?
I am in the next phase of my life, National Service. 2 months have passed without incident, and the next phase will undoubtedly be tougher and more challenging. After 9 months of OCS training, I'll have another 11 months to serve. Then that will conclude my 1 year 10 months in NS. Then it's 3 years in NUS. Then I think I'll be going overseas to do a master's degree for a year or so. Coming back to get a stable job and buy a 3-room HDB flat for myself. I'd probably be 28 or 29 years old then. In a nutshell for the plans of the course of my life for the next 8 years or so.
Still, I am more or less happy with where I am now, my life is not perfect but I am not complaining. I have completed my Polytechnic education without incident and surpassing several personal expectations, currently serving my mandatory national service, catching up with friends occassionally here and there, then it'll be University life, further education, and working life.
Life is full of uncertainties. Treasure what is important to you. Your family, your friends, your loved ones, your dreams, your passion, you drive, your motivation, your ideas. They are priceless.
Tomorrow I leave at 6am, and will be at SAFTI by 7am to begin my next phase in NS. OCS.
5:42 AM
Friday, September 15, 2006
I've been posted to OCS. A 9 month training course to become an officer. I'll be reporting to SAFTI this Monday and will be facing new and fresh challenges ahead of me.
FX
6:05 PM
Sunday, September 10, 2006
I've already prepared to survive with my current computer systems till after my National Service. That's another 2 years, and another 4 years in university. Currently my most powerful systems pale with today’s best systems. Currently my top 3 home systems are all running AMD.
The fastest being a Abit K7 motherboard running a FX-53 4000+ with 2Gb RAM, 2nd is my Shuttle XPC, AMD FX-53 3500+ with 1Gb Ram and thirdly, a AMD FX-51 3000+ with 1Gb Ram and a combined total of 1TB storage. They're probably nothing compared to what you can get on the market now, a FX-57 or FX-62. But my computers are sufficient for my applications.
I am about to write my dream futuristic computer. The one I am planning to get 6 years from now. The 2012 FX Quad Super-Computer. It's hard to say how computer technologies will evolve 6 years from now. But it probably wouldn’t change much from today's systems. Maybe architectural changes, slightly faster clock speeds, socket changes, buffer and cache increases but nothing too overly dramatic. I doubt you’ll see quantum computing in the next 10 years.
Most likely processors will sport more cores and parallel processing will be all the rage. I’ll be running a AMD processor, or could even switch over to Intel depending on which one is more powerful and cost-worthy then.
The current contenders today are the AMD Athlon 64 FX-64 @ 3.2GHz with a new AM2 socket and the Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 @ 3.33GHz on a 1333MHz PSB. Probably a quad-core future equivalent. Something similar to the Foxconn C51XEM2AA nForce 590 SLI. Or maybe even a TYAN Thunder K8QSD Pro (S4882-D) quad-socket motherboard!
The 2012 FX-QUAD will have something similar to today's Quad SLI (Scalable Link Interface), the Nvidia equivalent of the GeForce 7950 GX2 with 1Gb GDDR-3 RAM. A 650watt dual PSU. DDR3 x2 RAM. Quad (4) 19-inch LCD monitors, Logitech MX-series keyboard and mouse.
FATA x4 1TB Hard drives and a SCSI 72Gb hard drive for OS and applications, amounting up to 4 Terabytes of enormous mass internal storage capacity. DVD and Blu-Ray writers and a simple close-circuit water-cooling system, and last but not least, running on the Windows Vista OS.
Talk about processing power? Dual, dual-core processors, quad hard drives on RAID 1,0, dual, dual-core GFX graphic cards, quad monitors, dual dvd-blu-ray writers. I guess 6 years from now, things would have become mainstream and everything would have become cheaper due to demand.
We'll see 6 years from now.
6:40 PM
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
I have finally passed out of BMT, and I guess I owe my readers the summary of my last 2 months spent in Basic Military Training.
After Field Camp, there was about 2 weeks left of training, mainly the 3-day SITEST to test if you have an aptitude for commanding and the highlight after that was the Drill Squad. Yes I joined the drill squad to relive the glory of the marching days in had in NPCC, and though we were still just getting acquainted with each other, our performance and progress was quite good and we feel great marching together as one!
36 guys signed up, I joined because I actually like drilling, and the togetherness of the whole squad marching together in unison just brings about the euphoria. It was fun when I marched during GOH in NPCC days, and though we march everyday in the army, there is always one or two non-conformists in the platoon that screws up the whole platoon with sloppy and slipshod marching, and they don't put in effort or their heart into making the platoon as one.
But, the drill squad? Everyone is a volunteer with background in uniformed groups and experience in drilling, everyone wants to win, and everyone has the same goal, to do their best marching together as one. Now that's fun. That's why I joined it. And though it was a slow start initially, at least it was a start as volunteers from all the 4 platoons joined together as one and got acquainted with each other.
The whole training process was a really rushed and in one incredible day for the drill squad. We learnt, practiced and did all the moves and even finalized our drill pattern, all in a day on the eve of the competition!
Still we marched till the verge of exhaustion, but as a reward, our platoon sergeants gave us the privilege of doing to the recruits mess. We spent over an hour in recruits canteen eating and just relaxing ourselves after such a hard days work drilling. After that we returned back to marching, and marched for another 2 hours, practicing the Pandan-Ke-Kanan Pan-Dan command, another fancy "matrix"like motion that was actually quite cool.
When we returned back to our bunk, it was almost 11pm already and we were tired, we have been marching and practicing our drills for over 8 hours today! PS Tay gave us ‘immunity' that allowed us to move after lights-out hours and bathe as we liked, DRILL COM IMMUNITY! That really felt good, even though we were tired after marching for so long, but the drill com people could move about without fear of reprimand from other commanders.
On the day of the competition itself, we marched our best, and before that all the guys were fussing about their smartest uniform and their boots, who's shiniest and best, and everyone seemed to love my miracle sponge that brings out an immediate shine to the kiwi on the boots. I love my kiwi sponge too! It was like a secret weapon to bringing out that instant shine.
Throughout the drill com, we were the first company to present, and there were a few minor mistakes here and there, but nothing too major, only because we didn't have enough time for practice. Hell, we practiced and did everything in one day! All in all, the whole pattern went without a major hitch and it was a great feeling!
When we marched back our morale was extremely ecstatic, and we were singing out loud for the first time, TAURUS, Platoon 5, Drill Squad! Our commanders were really happy with our performance, Sergeant Rafi, Thomas, Lt Melvin were there to witness us performing as well, and I've never seen Platoon Sergeant Tay and Wee smile so widely before, they were so happy as well that we managed to pull this off smoothly in only a day! PS Tay was very happy and expressed it to us, Lt Melvin was also very impressed that we managed to pull it off, and gave us 1 day off!
Regardless of whether we win or not! When we returned almost the whole company was clapping as we marched back. Then we took pictures, everyone was very happy and high. After that we had lots of admin time. We from the Drill Squad went back victoriously, jubilantly and in great spirits even though we did not win, but we know that we have performed to our very best.
The very next day was the IPPT final test. Yet all of us felt very lethargic, but hey, I just noticed that I am not coughing anymore since the field camp, I guess we have gotten used to the water vapor in the air and the chlorine in the water.
Anyway, I performed very well for the IPPT! Exceeding my own personal best times. I ran a great 2.4km time of 9 minutes and 34 seconds. I didn't even realize that I could run that fast. Well the training in BMT does help; I've learnt how to widen my strides so that I cover more distance in each step. Now I feel that I can actually crack the 9-minute barrier.
My last personal best time is 9.45minutes and last recorded time was NAPFA back in Poly, 10min 15 seconds. I got full scores for every station, 9.2s for Shuttle run, 48 sit ups in a minute, 12 pull-ups and 248cm for my standing broad jump.
That means I got gold for IPPT! And Taurus 2 got a total of 6 golds. After that we had another NE lesson, every other week we have a NE lesson to psycho us that we must protect Singapore! We visited Changi Battery of giant coastal guns that were supposed to protect Singapore during WW2 against the Japanese invasion, Kranji war memorial where our presidents who died during service were buried and all the poor souls who died whilst protecting Singapore against the Japanese invasion.
There of course we were brain-washed into why we must protect Singapore all over again.
The 2nd last week was the toughest week of all. On Monday we had our 16km road march. Somehow or rather then I was feeling very down, I don't know why. We started our preparations at about 2pm and I wore the tabi or ‘toe' to prevent blisters forming around my toes. We packed our full battle-order and started the march at 4pm, progress was good and rather rapid, at about 10 clicks, there was rain, but we weren't daunted by it.
We were singing and singing almost every step of the way! Everyone was actually quite high, and towards the middle and ending parts of the march our morale was high. We ended the last 4km with a fast march, and my that was probably the fastest speed we've ever done without feeling tired, and the whole march ended at 8.35pm.
Without the day's heat, the march today actually turned out to be very fun and wasn't that tough, everyone ended very high! Never have I seen the whole Taurus company in such high spirits before, yeah! 16 clicks completed.
On Tuesday we had our grenade range, throwing our practice and live grenades, it started off with a grumpy morning, why? Maybe because getting gold for IPPT only gets you 1 day off, not the 2 or 3 days as previously advertised.
Anyway, the throwing of a grenade was quite fun! The practice grenade wasn't much, just the sound of a firecracker, but the live grenade range was awesome. In fact the lieutenants seemed to be having a lot of fun as well, the live grenade is no joke, it goes with a big bang that sounds like artillery rounds, ball bearings flying in all directions and followed by a shock wave.
After the grenade range, we went back to prepare for our OC night. It started raining, but everyone put up a good performance. Taurus 1 came out with a rather funny performance, but I think our Taurus 2 performance is the best, everyone laughed so loudly at our antics, we performed the life of recruits in BMT and everyone laughed out loud. Everyone had fun, after eating, we had to sleep early.
On Wednesday we had our games Day and recruits evening. It rained throughout the whole day. Apparently every other company had mascots and their own company T-shirts, but we have nothing! Nothing at all! We have no mascots, no props, no T-shirts, no nothing.
It was a cold and wet weather, and before the games day, we had a POP Parade rehearsal and all 10 schools marched in the rain for Parade. The marching was like shit, everyone couldn't march properly or perform well at all in the rain.
After the parade, we went for games day, where all the companies of school 2 competed with each other in several friendly games, like Chain of command, a 200m relay run from the highest ranking officer to the lowest, a recruit and my my, OC, Platoon Sergeant Seu and Wee can really RUN! LT Pakkin was the fastest sprinter in Taurus. Taurus won 2 prizes overall.
Then it was recruits night, and we all got to wear civilian clothes! Civvies as it is referred to in the army, then we all gathered at the parade square where the SAF MDC (Music and Drama Company) performed for us, several other recruits from other companies performed as well, and suddenly the mood was like Zouk out! Open-air clubbing, no seats, large area, everyone jumping and dancing about, oh my. While watching the dancers and performances, and people in clubbing mood, jumping about and throwing each other into the air. I spent the night chatting with Johnny and Ulric.
The funny thing is the PES C guys from Ulysses excused RMJ (Running Marching Jumping) can dance huh!! Chao Keng!
Friday was the dreaded day. Our final hurdle in BMT, our 24km ROAD MARCH, we practically marched around the whole of Pulau Tekong. It is a school level affair, 10 companies marching together. First we all gathered at the parade square, CO LT-Col Desmond Yeo gave a short speech before we all started off.
Overall, without the heat from the sun, the march was relatively okay, nothing too overly strenuous, by now I've already learnt how to open up my strides and I didn't run at all. The pace was faster than 16km, but varied. We stopped at the 12km mid-point at the old SISPEC School to have our dinner, by then it was 7pm.
Then it would be another 8km march, 4km to the field campsite grounds, where we had 100-plus refreshment, (it was already dark), 4km back to SISPEC and the last 4km march back to company line.
When we returned, everyone was soaking wet from their own perspiration, but everyone was very happy that we all managed to complete the 24km march and no one from Taurus fell out! Yeah! I must say that though the morale wasn't as high as the 16km, we all managed to complete the last 4km happily.
The last week in Pulau Tekong BMTC 4th September 2006
I woke up feeling really tired, and my muscles started to sore and ache. I spent the day sick on the eve of POP. Tuesday, 5th of September is our passing out parade, that very night Lt Melvin came to us to give us our very last RO!! And it's the last time we are going to send arms in BMTC Taurus Company, a bittersweet moment.
Passing out Parade (POP) 5th September 2006
Today is our POP Parade! The day started early, and even though today is our POP. We had our last stand-by area, and cleared everything we have in our cabinets into our duffel bags.
The rest all had one more rehearsal in the morning before the real thing, for those on status, we started to get ready at 3pm, the parents had started coming into Tekong island. The overall the performance at the parade surprised everyone, it went very smoothly and all the audience clapped. Dad videotaped it all.
After we had thrown our jockey caps, everyone was in elation and it was time to collect our bags, food and wait to book out of Tekong and the guys were throwing the commanders and wetting them with bottled water. We took lots of pictures together, and left Tekong for good. We have officially passed out of BMT, now no longer mere recruits but trained soldiers for the SAF.
I guess that more or less summarized the last 3 weeks in BMT, Pulau Tekong.
johnny and me
mom, dad, me
Faz, Kj, me
My Section 4
Another pic
Kj, Lt Farid (Platoon Commander), me, Koon
6:57 AM
