Police Academy 3: Back In Training

The enlistment day was quite possibly the longest day of the whole 10 days. Just like any other 'first days', the enlistment day was really long.

It started off when we, the parents and the child (in this case, my auntie followed me), were separated when entering the academy. I went off and followed the directions of the officers on the side. The first room they sent us to was a room where they asked us to strip our clothes to our underwear where they looked for 'something'. One of which could have been tattoos. As police officers, we were told that we were allowed here was because we didn't have any tattoos. So they could have been looking out for that too. haha, I'll tell you guys something my friend in my bunk told me later when we got acquainted. I found it so hilarious!

He told me that when he got into that room, he thought he had to strip down naked because his brother who was in Civil Defence had to do that. So he happily went in there with no other enlistees in the room and stripped down naked. The officer in charge swore at him and told him that he didn't want to see any 'extra goods' and asked him to get dressed. Now imagine my friend being an indian/malay.

After that, they sent us to different classrooms where we would sign a health declaration form. From there, we proceeded to the auditorium and were briefed about the oath taking we would be taking to declare that we were now police officers.

They sent us to this hall called the Harmony Hall where we took our oath in front of all the parents, relatives, girlfriends and I quote, "whatever gay friends" who were there. When that finished, we had lunch with our relatives and right after lunch, we went our separate ways. I headed back into the auditorium as instructed and continued with whatever enlistment procedures they had.

We were separated into squads. Maximum number in a squad being 40. Our squad was at its maximum. I'd say that my squad consists of half chinese and half malay which is a good balance. There, we were introduced to our FI. He led us to our barracks and we were showed to our rooms. We left our stuff there and were given raincoats in case it rained at any time while we went out. In this case, it rained that afternoon, and were told to wear it.

After putting it on, we were brought to the barber shop where we had to pay $2 to have our heads shaved. Not completely shaved, but short enough for all of us to be the same. Just as we all finished, we walked back together to our barracks where we were allowed to wash up before being taught some basic marching drills and stance. All of which are in malay so it was strange for me at first.

We then went for dinner which was quite ok for me. I didn't mind the food because generally, I'm not too fussy about food. Straight after dinner, we went to the senior coy (company) to have our size measured for our uniform.

When we got back, we were told how to do right and left palms down. Then, when we learnt, we did 20 left palms down and 20 right palms down in front of our FI. You could hear many people crying and moaning to reach the 40 mark. I endured the pain and pushed on till we did the 40 push ups. It's not a number which I would do on a daily basis but now that we have to do it, I will train myself to push 40 at one go. Once I get better.

That night, when I was trying to get in an early night, we had a late night gathering at 9:45pm. I wasn't too awake at that time because I was sleeping soundly when we were told to gather. So the first few minutes in that meeting, I was kinda blur.

End of the Enlistment Day

Day 1 - 11/4
I woke up at 5:10am that day. Washed up and went for breakfast. After breakfast, we learnt more drills. The drills I found hard because we had to do some things which we don't normally do everyday.

After that, we went to the drill shed where we collected our uniforms. They gave us everything from the drill boots to the peak cap; along with all the other miscellaneous items like shoe polish brush, one hanger, powder, and others. We went back and tried on our things like they told us to - just to make sure that there's nothing wrong with it. Here's a story I can tell you guys.
Just when we were trying out our things, I happen to change into the Physical Training (PT) kit. After wearing the kit for a few minutes, we heard some shouting down outside. One officer was calling us to fallout now. He was shouting at us, indicating that we had 2 minutes to change into our PT kit and fall out now. I was already in my PT kit but I was wearing my own footwear.
In the midst of all the panic and chaos, I decided to just run downstairs with my own footwear which looked kinda silly. When I got downstairs, someone ran in my opposite direction saying "need the PT shoes!" Deciding that everyone was already in big trouble, I ran back in the opposite direction to change my shoes. I got into the room where there was a lot of chaos. I pulled out the pair of socks they gave and ripped open the wrapping. I yanked my footwear off and slipped on the black socks. Then, I fling open the shoe box and forced on the new shoes. Quickly tying it, I ran back down where everyone was in a push up position. I joined in with the crowd and remained in that position. Later, the old malay officer who was shouting ordered us up and started to shout some more. He pulled out different people for their uniform infringements and began his lecture. He also pulled everyone with different footwear so I was so glad I changed. In the end, he dismissed us into our rooms, telling us that he was just testing or quickness. Too much stress for me.

Our OC later conducted a briefing for all of us and there we found our serial numbers. The number works according to age, so I am number 40.

We had lunch and then exchanged whatever clothing which needed to be changed. After that, we were told that we were allowed to rest till dinner. We had dinner and then learnt more drills from our fellow squad mates.

End of Day 1


The first two days were the more interesting days in the academy. The remaining days there were spent in desperate desire to survive through alive and to get out for some medicine. I went to see the doctor on the Monday and she had prescribed some lozenges and cough medicine but I strongly believe that my sickness was more powerful than the medicine prescribed.

For the remaining few days left, I struggled through the day and squinched at every PT lesson. If I was feeling well, I'll be glad that there was a PT lesson. But when one is sick, any physical activity can be extra difficult. So I wanted to avoid as many PT lessons as possible. Fortunately, I managed through without fainting, so I wasn't too bad.

The friends I've made don't seem so bad. Sure at times there are some who can be irritating, but there are also some jokers in the camp. I think throughout the 40 of us, I would be one of the few fit ones. There are at least a hand full of us who are pretty fit, so I'll have competition.

Oh yeah! We also had our IPPT test on the 2nd last day (Thursday). Out of the 40 of us, only 11 of us passed the test, so the rest had to stay for an extra 2 hours on the final day. hehe
Anyway, here were my scores for the test.

Sit ups - 51 rep
Stand broad jump - 255cm
Shuttle run - 9.3 secs
Chin ups - 12 rep
2.4km run - 10.17 mins

I have improved quite a bit in this test and I'm quite pleased. What's amazing is that I did all this while I was sick so I wonder how I will do if I wasn't sick. I reckon I might get a better 2.4km run time. Also, after the chin ups, I found myself a bit tired and had to push myself to get the 12.

Anyway, I will be going back into the academy tomorrow night and I will be back Friday night again. Provided I don't get confined for anything.