Fear Factor

It's a holiday here today so I've got this opportunity to quickly update you guys on some stuff that has been happening.

Well, the parade's this Sunday and what happened was, yesterday, we were at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, showing our stuff to the Commissioner of Police. We did our bit and we did our best. The result came through and it turned out that we were approved but the Gurkha's weren't.

The reasons as to why the Gurkha's were removed, I do not know. They were really good though. Their movements were really smooth and there was one guy who was supposed to kick blocks of concrete and stuff. Maybe the Commissioner didn't think it was suitable that we show stuff like that to the public because this parade is supposed to show what police are trained to do. Kicking bricks to a million pieces - well, maybe that isn't something we should be showing the public as police officers.

Well, besides that, the thing is that we are gonna be confined this Friday night so we can train further. Quite frankly, I'm tired of all this and I can't wait for it to finish. Once this finishes, we're gonna focus on our studies and other stuff that we will have to pass - and I'm sure, it will go by really quickly. From next week onwards, we will have another 6 more weeks. 2 of which were 'extended' weeks. And from what I heard, there will be some weeks were it will be really slack because we would have finished all our stuff and there would be nothing much to do but maybe stuff like physical training. Pfft.

Speaking of physical action, I believe next week will be our final IPPT (physical test)which means after this, I won't have to do it any more!!! w00t! Not unless they force us to do it during my next posting.. grrrr. To be honest, the only test I hate doing is the 2.4km run. To fail this run means you fail the whole test. Argh. My last score for the run got me Gold for the test, so I think that should be sufficient and I don't think I will be forcing myself to run for Gold this time round. XD

Well, I'll just finish up with a story that happened to me yesterday while I was trying to book out of the academy.

I had packed my stuff and was heading for the ground floor when there, from where I stood, I saw half the squad marching off together. In a hurry, I rushed downstairs and when I did, my other friend, who was also wondering why they left without us, decided that we should catch up with them. So we marched off together trying to catch up with the squad to merge in.

As we approached them, we heard an instructor on the left shout out that they are to turn around. They turned around and marched towards us.

My friend started asking me, "What should we do?!"

I just said, "Keep going! Keep going!" So we marched passed them and soon after, we heard the instructor shout out that they are to turn around again. They turned around and soon, the command for them to stop marching came. My friend was so scared that we too were gonna get stopped so I was like, "Keep marching! Faster! Don't look behind! Go! Go! Go!"

As we marched on, we could hear the instructor ask, "Where is the rest of your squad?!" At the point in time, I was so sure they were gonna squeal on us because I heard something like the word "two". So I thought they were telling the instructor that we were running away.

Fortunately, they didn't and we were left marching with our hearts pounding onto our rip cage.

But wait! That's not the end!

We kept marching on and made a turn towards the exit. Sometime as we were marching, my friend confirmed that the squad had continued marching, and that he told me that he was feeling really scared about running away like this. Things didn't help when we were trying to make our way out of the academy. There's this really long straight march to the end, and along this stretch are a lot of officers. So quite inevitably, an officer stopped us.

He then asked, "Where is your squad?"

I replied, "Up ahead sir" Yes, I knew it was a lie. But if I had told him, 'Oh sir, we were trying to catch up with them, but they were turned around, and now they are behind us,' I think we would have died.

Then he asked, "Why are the two of you marching alone?"

"Because our squad left without us."

"I don't think that's right." I didn't really understand what he meant by that, but that's what he said. Then he said, "Which squad are you from?"

When he said that, I quickly analysed the consequences of telling them the truth with a lie. If I told him we were from some other squad, I guess we could get away with it a lot easier because note that the squad was actually behind us marching. I ended up telling him the truth, "Squad 15 sir."

There was a moment of silence before he broke it and said, "Ok, you two should not be marching alone. Quick march. Go!"

Swiftly, we marched off, faster this time because there behind us was our squad coming towards the officer. Then my friend goes, "I'm so scared! Ah!" and beings to march really fast that it looked as though he was running.

I tell him, "Don't rush! Just march! March fast!"

He then says, "I'm so scared! I can't turn around! I can't turn around!" And what does he do? He turns around.

I then tell him, "Don't look behind! Just keep marching! Go!" During the final stretch, the adrenaline rush was so high I really can't remember the last time I got that scared! It was really crazy!

To retell the story again it seems like nothing, but to actually go through it, wow, that's a whole different thing. I don't know what they would do to us if they caught us XP

But good thing they didn't. So in the end, it's just another story about NS life and how you are to 'bluff' your way through for a much easier life. hehe

Wonder what other exciting encounters I'll have during these following few months!

Shrek

Yeah well... the thing is, they've cancelled the Contingency techniques.

"By order of his royal highness, Mr Commander of TRACOM (Training Command), trainees shall no longer be performing the Contingency techniques during the Police Day Parade but rather the Gurkha's."

I say this with much disappointment because, yup, I managed to get into the Contingency group only to have it cancelled. Cancelled in the sense that trainees will not be doing it.

But despite my disappointment, I guess I could be happier in knowing that the Contingency techniques will be handled by a better group of trained people who will definitely do it a hundred times better than if we trainees had done it. I only hope that I will be able to watch them perform when they do it - provided I'm not backstage because of the lack of seats or something. Actually, I would be devastated if they held us backstage for the duration of the entire parade because I wouldn't be able to watch the events that will take place in the stadium. Let's just hope they give us some seats to sit and watch =D

On the whole, I'll say that I'd like to quit NS and just leave for Australia because I think I've had enough. The whole boring routine and mundane lifestyle - I can't stand. Not to mention all the pumping and running we have to do each day as a result of this 'life'.

Sadly, it's only been 7 weeks and I already feel like 'ORD-ing'. Actually, that's pretty pathetic because I have 22 months of service (not including my leave) and I've only completed 1 month and 3 weeks. So that leaves me with 20 months and 1 week left. Yay.

Well, I don't really have much of a choice. As male Singaporeans, we are forced to go through the same torture for 2 years to have this joy of 'memory'. Yes... I think I'd rather not have this memory. lol

Also, people have commented that I have once again, lost weight. My cheeks are a lot more defined and my body is much slimmer - irregardless of whatever 'packs' I may have XP

So today, I saw to it that I hopped onto a weighing machine and lo and behold, I had lost approximately 3kg. Currently, I weigh in at 67kg.

To be honest, I am sad I lost weight :P I like my 70kg status and would much rather remain at that weight. Why? I'm not too sure but to weigh a bit more and not look overweight at all is nice. Perhaps if people attempted to carry you, it would be much more difficult. I dunno. lol. Why bother trying to figure out how this mind works. Just accept it. It's just very 'specially' designed. hehe

Next weekend, it will be burnt. Burnt meaning I shall have no weekend because of the parade. Friday night we will be confined and I hope Saturday evening, they will release us before we return back in early Sunday morning.

In the mean time, I hope these short updates on my Police life is sufficient for you guys. It's really nothing much because I don't feel like blogging about what happens in there. Living it is enough, yet alone re-living it in my head to have it typed out. Yuck.

Anyway, for the first time in 7 weeks, I played for church again. It was good to touch the drum sticks again and I'm glad I haven't lost any of my new drumming techniques and now, I've learnt even more. In two weeks time, I will have to play again - so there goes another weekend XP

But it's all for God and that's all that matters!

Major Payne

Nothing too much happened this week. Just lots and lots of news about how our days will be burnt due to the Police Parade thingy. How wonderful.

The parade itself is on the 3rd of June which means they have just 2 weeks to make sure we are all prepared and ready.

From what I understand, there will be 3 sections to the demonstration from our side. Our side being the Home Team Academy.
There's the Unarmed, T-Baton and Contingency displays.

Unarmed and T-Baton, all of us in the 'Team' will have to perform, but for the Contingency one, only a few selected 'Players' will be doing it. To be totally honest, I wanted to do the Contingency display but I guess I was a bit 'greedy' in the process XP
You see, there are several 'displays' in this section and when I watched people volunteer themselves for these displays that seemed rather unimpressive and 'unsatisfying', I continued to wait for one display that would impress the daylights out of me. That display came when the police officer had to do a T-Baton Power draw followed by a T-Baton arm lock then followed by the handcuffing of the assailant. I so wanted to do it but when they asked for 4 police officers to volunteer, I was beaten to the sign up sheet before I even had a chance to get up from where I was seated. And before I knew it, they had told us that that was all the Contingency moves they were gonna do. It was shattering because I actually wanted to do one, but I was too late.

Anyway, what's past is past. There's no changing what happened. All I can hope to do now, is to somehow convince the instructors that I capable of doing better than those guys in the Contingency group XP Then I'll be happy. haha


Besides that, not too much has been happening. Seriously, we wake up at 5:30am each morning, work work work till 9:30pm each night, by the time I crash into my bed, it's like 10pm and during that time, I try to gather myself before I go to bed.

It's pretty much very routine like but in the process, the fear that any instructors wandering the streets could stop us at any time and have us pumped.
Like there was this one time, it was sometime after 7pm - we were heading off to our dojo class for the parade thing, and as usual, our squad sucks so much that just 3 or 4 of them would choose that it would be a beautiful day to do whatever they wanted. So they would sloppily march as they would and at the same time, chit-chat and turn their heads to any direction they wished.
Wonderfully, we were spotted by one of the most lunatic instructors around - I believe he is also serving his NS as I will explain later below. He immediately shouted that our squad stop.

"Bahen-ti! Squad to your left on your palms down! ... Diamond Power Push-Up Change!"

"Chaaanngge!!!"

"Up!"

"1!"

"ZERO! Start from Zero! Up!"

"1!"

"ZERO! Start from Zero! Up!"

"1!"

"Up!"

"2!"

"Up!"

"3!"

We did so many that I lost count of how many we did because half way, he said "Gentleman! I don't want you to count anymore! But every time you go up, I want to hear a clap! Up!"

We went up but as we did, some blur guys decided to shout out "1!"

"NO COUNTING!!! I TOLD YOU ALREADY NOT TO COUNT! ONLY CLAP!! UP!"

*Clap*

"Up!"

*Clap*

"Up!"

*Clap*

At this time, many of us had already lost so much strength. Many of them could no longer leap off the ground. Only the few of us would actually continue. Shortly after, the instructor shouted for us to get back onto our feet.

"On your feets up! To your right on your palms down!"

By now, my entire face and arms were covered in large volumes of sweat as it was trickling down my forehead and off my peak cap visor like a leaky faucet. I decided that I would make a puddle with my sweat and 'aimed' to cover up any 'dry concrete' where my sweat had dropped already.

"Power Push Up Change!"

"Chhaaanngggee!!"

"Down!"

"1!"

"Down!"

"2!"

"Down!"

"3!"

"Down!"

"10!"

"Everyone on your feets up!" He began his lecture for why he stopped us and explained his actions for pumping us. As he was doing so, he caught one of our squad mates for smiling and boy was that one of the worse things to do at this time.

"Oi! You! What the are you smiling at!? Come here!" NB - Feel free to add any colourful language you wish into the blocks to simulate the 'excitement' of the academy =P

"What was so ing funny that you had to ing smile!? Huh!? Do you think this is a joke?! What do you think this is?! You thing this is so ing funny that you can smile and laugh to this!? er!"

"No sir, I was--"

"What do you take me for!? I am your ing instructor! Do you think I am an ing idiot!? What? You can't stop smiling is it?! Like you were born with that ing smile is it?!"

"Ya lah!"

"WHAT THE DID YOU SAY TO ME YOU ING IDIOT!!! YOU ING IDIOT! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME THAT WAY YOU ER! I AM NOT SOME NEWBIE! I WASN'T ING BORN YESTERDAY! I HAVE BEEN HERE FOR ONE ING YEAR!!!" When he said that, that was when I concluded that he was an NS man as well. It meant he has one more year of training left before he leaves. Yes!

Anyway, just to cut a very long and painful story short because it stimulates too many unpleasant memories, we were pumped even harder because of that guy, and the instructor actually forced him to call our "Down" for us.

After this experience, I thought we actually needed more instructors like him because he enforces good discipline for lazy trainees like that guy who smiled. To be honest, that guy who smiled is one of the guys who really can't be bothered marching with the rest of the squad so it's good that we got pumped because of him. Hope it affected him somehow.

But after what happened later that Thursday night with that instructor really made me think that that instructor is really one whacked up nut case.

On Wednesday onwards, I was battling a nasty flu. My nose was like another open faucet. Seriously, it was so annoying! So that Thursday night, I didn't feel strong enough to join the others in the Parade training, so I sat out. It just so happen that that instructor was there too.
I sat there, minding my own business, drinking my water bottle when that instructor suddenly stood a metre in front of me staring at me. I didn't realise he was staring at me until a few seconds later when I noticed that there was no one behind me. I looked at him in the eye and was in complete confusion because I had absolutely no idea what I had done 'wrong'. I wasn't slouching or stretching out my leg in any way. I was sitting perfectly normal on the floor with my legs crossed as all trainees should be seated. Staring at him for around 30 seconds or so, I tried to figure out why in the world he was looking at me!

It seemed like it would never end. Those two lunatic eyes staring at me, anything can happen. That was when he questioned me with the sniffing of his nose. I immediately broke out an 'Ooh!"

In case I am not clear enough, he wanted to know why I was sniffing for. At that time, I thought it was perfectly clear that I was not feeling well and had contracted some sort of a flu. But after thinking about it, I think he thought I missed home or was handling some sort of break up or something. Now to think about it, it was hilarious!

However, what made me deem him insane was when I saw him, for no reason whatsoever, show his middle finger to one of the trainees. Seriously, there has got to be a line of decency to other people. Despite being a rank higher than us, there should at least be some sort of respect for one another. I find him a disgrace when he does things like this.

Sure, he can pump us. Sure, he can swear at us. Sure, he can stare at me for some absurd reason, but to have such degrading respect for another human being - that I can't accept. It throws me off if there isn't a line of respect for someone else because if he can't respect his subordinates, then I can't imagine what it would be like to be his partner. I imagine it would be hell for her. If not in the beginning, then sometime down the road when they have gotten settled with one another. The poor thing.

At least we'll only face him for a maximum of 2 years. Phew.

Die Hard

This will have to be a short one because I have little motivation to blog heaps this time round. The academy is getting really frustrating due to the intensive dojo training, so my morale is just barely there. Nevertheless, here's a quick update on some of the things I've been doing in the academy.

Just to continue on what I blogged about in my previous post, I have decided to drop my desire for the SOC to pursue my interest for the Police Inspector rank. I contemplated on how much I really wanted these two courses, and I've decided that the Inspector rank would mean so much more than SOC. In the end, I guess it would have to depend on whether God is willing for me to get it. It would definitely be wonderful if I can get it. Well, we'll just have to wait and see what happens after the basic training.

Speaking of basic training, we were informed that our basic training would be extended by another 2 weeks. The reason being because of the stupid Police Day Parade (PDP) intensive training sessions. Because of the PDP training sessions, they will interfere with most of the lecture times and thus, will need an extra 2 weeks to compensate for the periods lost. Argh.
This means instead of Passing Out on the 10th of July, 2007, we're gonna probably Pass Out on the 24th of July, 2007. I'm not complaining about the date but rather, I'm complaining about how we're being compensated for it - we're not. They aren't gonna give us some sort of bonus pay for anything like that for our extra effort. Now that's just annoying. XP

In other news, we had another IPPT test last Tuesday and this time, I managed to finally grab Gold this time round. Despite getting full marks the last time, I only achieved Silver because I didn't run the 2.4km run under the acquired time for 'Gold' which is 9.45mins. The last time, my time for the 2.4km run was 10.17mins but this time, I managed to get 9.19mins; nearly killing myself in the process.
I really don't wanna do the IPPT test anymore but I was told that we have to do it another 2 more times before the end of the basic training, which is irritating because I'm tired of doing it. I can't improve anymore besides increasing my IPPT results but it's pointless. I've got Gold and that's all that matters. Getting a faster 2.4km run time would be useless because I would still get 5 points. Also, if I failed it, I will have to stay back every friday evening for training. Argh!

haha, also, we had 2 more shooting frames last week. One thing to highlight about it was that I nearly shot myself in the leg during the 3rd frame. LoL
Here's what basically happen. Usually after shooting, we are supposed to take our finger out of the trigger guard and holster the revolver into our holster.
So basically, I was shooting one cycle and when I had finished shooting, I holstered my revolver and went down into a kneeling position to unload and reload. When I had reloaded the revolver, I holstered it back into my holster, but what I realised this time was that when I slipped it into my holster, I felt my index finger caught in between the trigger and the holster. Fortunately, I didn't apply sufficient force to pull the trigger back. At that instant, I quickly pulled my finger out between the trigger and the holster and had it holstered before anything else as dangerous as that happens. I got up and quickly thanked the Lord for protecting me from such a dangerous situation.
There were incidents where people have carelessly done this before but in their case, the trigger did go off, firing a bullet through their leg. That would have been really really painful. Hope I don't ever do that again. =S

Anyway, just to finish up, I failed to mention in my previous posts that I am the timer for my squad. For those who don't know what the timer does, he basically shouts out 'Left! Right! Left! Right!..." so that the entire squad can keep in time as we march. So yeah, it sounds ok but to have to shout everyday as loudly as I can (because I'm at the front of the squad), it can be quite strenuous on my throat if I don't use the correct techniques. If I don't, I would probably sound differently for that day. lol

This is it. Until next weekend. Hopefully I'll have more motivation to blog more next week. Keep me in your prayers; especially to keep me safe from any misfires =P hehe. Til then! ^^

Bedazzled

If I compare my upcoming weeks with the time I had to work, I would be sad to say that the upcoming weeks are gonna be lots and lots of pain.

On the 3rd of June, we will be involved in the Police National Parade (PDP) which means I will be missing out on church that Sunday and we will be experiencing a lot of turbulence in the PA from Monday till the end of the parade.

Basically, we will have to perform our Police Defensive Tactics (dojo) in front of a live audience of 7,000. That is the number our OC informed us on Friday. On top of which, he warned us that there would be a good number of foreign commissioners or something among the stands. Sounds fun.

But quite frankly, I'm looking forward to it. Not the training bit but the performance. I would love to be among the several hundred of us on the parade square performing. The only fear in mind is the embarrassment of moving wrongly during the course of the performance. I'm sure if that happens, it wouldn't be too hard to spot the mistake =S I just hope I will be confident and alert enough to prevent that from happening.

Anyway, when I said 'turbulence' above, it meant we will be having really tiring, really troublesome timetables from Monday till the end of this parade. Our intensive dojo training is scheduled every night from 7pm to 9:30pm, which means we will be 'on duty' from 6am till 9:30pm each night. Not to mention how we have to sleep by 10:30pm. So yeah, not too much fun if you ask me.

Also this week, we will have another 2 shooting frames where we will have another chance to rectify our scores.
For the shooting system, we are given 6 frames. All of which are live rounds. Your results are based on your results after the 6 rounds of 300 bullets (if I'm not wrong), totaling up to a score of 600 points, have been shot. The highest rank you could get is marksman, followed by 1st class then 2nd class. After which, any result below 2nd class will be considered as a failure. If you fail, you will be allowed a re-take. Then if you still fail to pass, you will have to re-course the entire course again to retrieve a minimum rank of 2nd class.

So far, I've only managed 70 points which means I am still a long way from getting marksman. If God is willing, I hope to get marksman to boost my chances of getting what is in-stored for me.

At this point in time, I am torn between two 'postings'. Despite how I mentioned in one of my previous posts about getting into the SOC, I learnt on Thursday that it is possible for a NS man to get the Inspector rank. In the police force, the Inspector ranks pretty high up there. Not as high as one of the senior officers, but high enough to be considered 'respected'.
Besides how I would love to have that high a rank, I am also interested in the salary behind it. Reason being is that when I go back to Australia, there will be many things I will need to buy and so with a nice attractive salary in the balance, I am really torn apart.

It's either SOC or Inspector.
SOC training is extremely difficult. That's how difficult I have pictured it to be. I have prepared myself mentally to expect one of the worse scenarios possible. One of which would be hearing the officers shouting outside to report now as I am in the toilet doing my business. Another one would be officers coming into our bunks in the middle of the night for an inspection or worse still, a PT session. My brother told me that he had to do that in OCS. They called them to fall in late at night to have them do a PT session followed by them getting fully dressed for combat. And if OCS is like that, I can't imagine SOC.
Another down side to this would be the ranking I could get. I believe the highest rank that NS men can get during the 2 years there is only Sargent. Before coming to Singapore, I had set my mind to get to the highest possible that I can achieve. If I do go down this path, I would have to set aside that goal and do what I can with the opportunities before me.

Having said all the negative points about SOC, let me just elaborate on the several positive points about SOC.
I know that when I come out of there, I will not only be strong physically but I will be strong mentally as well. That is something not many people can withstand and if I do manage to strengthen my mental endurance, I believe I would have an upper hand in many situations in life. But is going through all that training really worth it? That is the question.

Another reason that really got me interested was the uniform of the SOC officers. It is so freakin' cool! Besides the standard SOC body uniform which looks like one of those mechanics except coloured in dark purplish-black and boots which weigh up to 1kg each, it was the maroon beret that got me hooked. Apparently in wikipedia, it labelled the maroon beret in Singapore as 'Commandos', which suddenly got me really thinking. If the SOC's berets are maroon, and the Commando's berets are maroon ... that it would mean that SOC would be something like the Commando course!
lol.
One other reason why I want to join the SOC are the skills that they offer the trainees. They will teach us a whole bunch of things that many people will never get to learn and I don't know ... an offer like that, it's a bit hard to refuse. I won't go into too much detail about what they offer because I really just can't be bothered XP But that is something I am really considering about this.


As for Inspector, I'm interested in the course because of two main reasons - the salary and the rank. Another sub-point would be how it might be an office job. I would have thought that after excelling so much in all the categories, an Inspector would be outdoors doing something. Then again, it isn't the case. If that does happen to me, I might consider keeping fit at the side like going to the pool every now and then like I do now. I tend to swim every Saturday morning now just to keep fit.

Anyway, back to what I was saying, Inspector. The salary that they provide is the figure that I have been eying on since my bro told me his pay as an army officer. Money is a very important thing in this world and as a young person who is on the verge of starting a life, money is very crucial. Even as a christian, I still think the need for money to begin some sort of a life is very important. I need a car, I need to help my parents unburden the financial load, I need to start supporting myself in most areas, I need some pocket money for transporting necessities, and believe it or not, I need to save for a future family. And the list goes on.
Also, after working for 2 months, I realise how important holidays are. haha, yes yes. A mere two months is really nothing but I finally understand why people save up for holidays and if I start working too, I think I would love to go on a holiday and with this extra money coming in, it would definitely make life a whole lot easier.

As for the rank, I mentioned above that I wanted to reach as high as I could during my time here and I believe if I reach Inspector, that would mean a whole lot to my determination to achieve. I really dislike making goals or promises and not fulfilling it. Not fulfilling this would be just as bad because I had already set my mind on it. Actually, I wanted to join the army to become an officer because that was what my dad and brother did during their NS time. But after discovering I wouldn't be able to, I decided to just do my best and see how far I can get. So this was how I decided to 'achieve', and when I said achieve, I meant to achieve high. Retrieving the Inspector rank would really mean a lot to me.


However, despite my indecisiveness, it all comes down to one thing, and one thing alone - what God wants. There was a reason why I'm a Singaporean and there's a reason why I'm in the Police Academy at this point in time. So it all depends on what God wants for me. If He wants me to join SOC, so be it. If He allows me to get the Inspector rank, so be it. I really don't care. I just care about what God wants me to do there. Now that's gonna be interesting.

What might be even more interesting would be if one of the officers were to ask me straight to my face and say, "Son, you have been chosen. You now have two choices. Where would you like to go? SOC? or Inspector?"
If that happened, I would probably break down and cry.