Sunday, March 11, 2007
well... they told us to write something about "OUR BMT EXPERIENCE"... so since i typed it out, here it is...
My BMT experience has been a fun-filled, enriching and a certainly memorable one. Throughout the weeks of training in Pulau Tekong, I have been able to advance on interpersonal skills on areas such as communication, and leadership. Living in small section sizes has also enabled me to be able to forge extremely close bonds with my section mates – it is these people who literally been through mud, rain and pain together with me through field camp, SOC, route marches et cetera. Though daily interactions, we get to know each one, not only by name alone, but by their habits; we got to know every individual’s strengths and weaknesses and to be able to take care of one another when our fellow section mates are in need.
It is because of this camaraderie that enables new recruits like us to be able to cope and pull through the relatively tough training of BMT. It’s because we know that there will be twelve other people who would go though this together with me, both physically and mentally as well. Moreover, the buddy system further enhances the bond between two newly enlisted recruits. Whatever we do, we do it together; and this gives us confidence in every decision that we make – such that we know that when we’ve done something wrong, I won’t be the only one suffering, and when we have done something right, I won’t be the only one rejoicing while the rest are not.
Now that we are about to pass out, the bond which has been forged over the past 12 weeks occasionally seems too strong to be able to tear apart. Often we wish to be able to be posted to the same unit together, but we also know that life has to go on just as we have to move on to be posted to our different unit and vocations. There, we believe we will make new friends too; and all these friends would be there to stay.
Yet despite all the memories that we had together as fellow platoon or section mates, we sometimes share amongst ourselves of how our Sergeants and Platoon Sergeants have been caring for us all these while, despite imposing harsh standards on their recruits. Behind all that shouting (sometimes blended with blunt vulgarities) and “knock-it-downs”, there is always a superior motive – to get things done faster so that we can rest earlier, or to fight for a better place so that we can get to enjoy later on, and (amusingly), to make us fit enough to be soldiers. As we arrived that the end of the road of BMT, we realized that though all the soil and toil, our Sergeants have been beside us all along, making sure that we do not fall behind, encouraging us when we are down and carrying us when we fall.
My BMT experience has been a fun-filled, enriching and a certainly memorable one. Throughout the weeks of training in Pulau Tekong, I have been able to advance on interpersonal skills on areas such as communication, and leadership. Living in small section sizes has also enabled me to be able to forge extremely close bonds with my section mates – it is these people who literally been through mud, rain and pain together with me through field camp, SOC, route marches et cetera. Though daily interactions, we get to know each one, not only by name alone, but by their habits; we got to know every individual’s strengths and weaknesses and to be able to take care of one another when our fellow section mates are in need.
It is because of this camaraderie that enables new recruits like us to be able to cope and pull through the relatively tough training of BMT. It’s because we know that there will be twelve other people who would go though this together with me, both physically and mentally as well. Moreover, the buddy system further enhances the bond between two newly enlisted recruits. Whatever we do, we do it together; and this gives us confidence in every decision that we make – such that we know that when we’ve done something wrong, I won’t be the only one suffering, and when we have done something right, I won’t be the only one rejoicing while the rest are not.
Now that we are about to pass out, the bond which has been forged over the past 12 weeks occasionally seems too strong to be able to tear apart. Often we wish to be able to be posted to the same unit together, but we also know that life has to go on just as we have to move on to be posted to our different unit and vocations. There, we believe we will make new friends too; and all these friends would be there to stay.
Yet despite all the memories that we had together as fellow platoon or section mates, we sometimes share amongst ourselves of how our Sergeants and Platoon Sergeants have been caring for us all these while, despite imposing harsh standards on their recruits. Behind all that shouting (sometimes blended with blunt vulgarities) and “knock-it-downs”, there is always a superior motive – to get things done faster so that we can rest earlier, or to fight for a better place so that we can get to enjoy later on, and (amusingly), to make us fit enough to be soldiers. As we arrived that the end of the road of BMT, we realized that though all the soil and toil, our Sergeants have been beside us all along, making sure that we do not fall behind, encouraging us when we are down and carrying us when we fall.
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