Monday, May 02, 2005
Back from field camp and slowly recovering from the effects of it. Field camp is damn tiring, both physically and mentally. It was certainly the worst week in my life, for now that is. 7 days and 6 nights, till now I still can't believe it's over. It seemed like just yesterday when I marched from the company line to the first campsite. I even dreamt that I was digging a shellscrap yesterday night!
I'm one of those few people that just can't eat field rations. I had just a few mouthfuls and I already cannot take it. So what I had for the remaining 7 days was purely biscuits (for breakfast and lunch) and sometimes cooked maggi mee for dinner. When we weren't allowed to cook, it was back to biscuits and sometimes I just ate maggi mee without cooking. That was why I felt weak and like shit, from the lack of energy I guess. When I'm well fed and bursting with energy, doing route marches and anything should be all right but having to do all these stuff when I'm not eating well was just pure agony. There was nothing more to depend on but my own mind power. Your mental power takes over your body for the 7 days. I don't think about my hunger and I just drank more water whenever I feel hungry.
Lucky for me, sleeping was never a problem. I'm always tired so I just slept whenever there's nothing on after the cro during field camp.
Whatever my oc said to us made real sense after the field camp. I've learnt to appreciate the simple things in life. Having clean water to drink from and good food are just the very basic things I'm talking about. The weather has been kind to us and it never rained throughout the 7 days. Raining would have made things even more difficut for us.
How can I forget this field camp? Never man.... I suffered together with my fellow platoon mates. I can still remember the stuff we did, not all but the important events. Marching 8km to the first campsite at the rubber plantation where we spent 2 nights. We started learning some of the IFC lessons from there and there was no looking back. We then marched 4km to the training and test ground for the day before heading to the Malay school. We spent 2 nights at the Malay school. Technical break was good cause we got to bath and I only started to shit after 4 days in a proper toilet. That alone was a record for me. The very next day, we set up camp at the oil palm plantation and we had our group movement test as well. It was here that I shat again but this time there was no proper toilet. I had to dig a hole to shit in. It was a different experience. For some reason, there were no houseflies in the oil palm plantation. For the other campsites, the moment you shit, houseflies will start swarming in. The last night was spent at the reclaimed land. That was the worst day.... I spent 7 to 8 hours digging my shellscrap. The last few people of my section together with section 4 kena the worst area to dig in. While people digged away, I can only chipped. There were like concrete, clay and rocks in my area. There were times when I felt like giving up or rather there are times I did give up but I pushed on together with the help of some of my friends. People like Mark, Chee Full, Eddy, Xavier and Wei Kang....
There were moments when I stopped digging and asked myself why the hell am I doing this.
We did BIC on the 7th day and although it was tiring, we finished it and marched back to company line. I did stuff myself with food the moment I booked out but I think I deserved it after losing so much weight. This afternoon while putting on my berms to meet the guys, I realized that my berms were dropping? Even when I put on a belt (I don't usually wear belt for that particular berms), it was still dropping. I'm not kidding to say I probably lost 3 to 5 kg during this 7 day field camp.
This field camp has taught me many things and it was heartening to see my platoon mates helping each other out when the going gets tough. I'm lucky to have nice section and platoon mates. I cannot ask for more. There's alot more to say but I'm tired so I'll just end it here.
To those people who are embarking on their field camp soon, I can only wish you luck. Don't complain because countless people and batches have went through it and before you know it, it's over.
