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1 week down, 4 more to go to my Khaki Beret!!
Back from my first week of GCC. Hmm, what can i say apart from the fact that it didn't turn out to be as tough or as demanding as i envisioned it to be. All the horror stories and nagging thoughts of midnight 2am turn outs turned out to be false. No turn outs were attempted, not much tekaning sessions, apart from Lake Rancid.
First day was literally ZBL - (Zhor bo lan) just admin after admin, settling of stores, settling down of the officers in their new bunks etc. Then it was time for the orientation run for the officers, whihc we as specs have to go for as well. Ran about 4++ Km, then if i rem correctly that was about it for the day.
Second day, had swim in the morning, but because i tot i had a medical appointment, i skipped that. but it does not make any difference as i've already passed my 2Km swim test during UIP. In the evening IPPT, exempted myself from it becuase of my wrist injury. But still did all the other stations less the pull up one.
Wednesday was the worst day of the week, while the officers were having thier 6Km fast march, those Specs who have already passed the 12Km fast march test were required to do a thorough and complete area cleaning of the bunks and the surrounding vicinity. We had 3 stand bys of which all were peppered with back crawling along the corridor, leopard crawling among the dirt and dust and doing countless (uncountable actually) push ups. By the third stand by, the Sergeant in charged of area inspection, 1SG Sadali (We call him Sgt. Sang Nila Utama) threatened us with Lake Rancid.
Most of our push ups were done on the carpark, where the gravel and stones ate into your skin, under the hot afternoon sun. My palms were burnt, red and bruised from the countless Marine Pushups we had to do (push up with the body and legs ram-rod straight, done wide armed).
Then the crunch time came, after the officers came, we were instructed to help the officers do their area cleaning, and to do ours as well. We did, and we failed majestically. So it was off to Lake Rancid.
Fell in FBO behind Coy line, Water sprayed on us, getting us all drenched and wet. Then as a course, we had to leopard crawl thorugh a few obstacles, through mud, sand, water, grass and what have yous thrown at you.. We were semula-ed about 2 times in total for not doing it properly. After the leopard crawl, we had to fall in in prone position, then back crawl under the rapelling tower, through the sand pit, in FBO (Helmet, Webbing field pack). It was shagging. When it ended, all of us were tired, sandy and feeling absolutely shitty. But the activity somewhat gelled the officers and the specs. We ended on a high note though, which was good i guess.
Then came night. We had night PT which consisted of the Guards Circuit. A Race between two details of mixed men (i.e Specs and Officers). it consists of a 600M rundown to the PT station in vest slack, there we had to do the monkey bar, however, every alternate bar, we had to do one pull up. Fall or do it incorrectly, SEMULAH! While waiting for the trainees to do (3 at a time), the rest of the detail have to do jumping jacks, the key was non-stop motion. Once all cleared the station, we ran another about 400M to the parade square and did the Iguana Crawl a modified push up which is hard to explain in words. Just that we had to Iguana crawl across the parade square. Once again, the rest had to do Jumping Jacks. Once all cleared, we had to run roughly about 1.2 Km back to company line in cadence.
The incentive was that the team which came back first will not have to do the forfeit which is 20 counts of 4 Marine Push ups(40 in total).But as a course integrity, all of us did it anyway, regardless whether we won or lost. The Cadres used this chance to give us more than 80++ Marines, constantly semulah-ing us for the minorest of mistakes, i.e: Butts up, not counting out loudly, not doing together. Throughout the 3 days, i shouted so much that i've completely lost my voice.
I expect more guards Circuit to come as it is only the first week.
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It will only get tougher from now on, more PT, more Runs, more tekanings, more Lake Rancid. Buts its ok, SISPEC training has hardened and Jaded me against such sessions. i'll take whatever they throw at me, i'll gladly chew it up and spit it back out. =) I'm am afterall, a Specialist of the Singapore Army and It is my job to overcome adversity with my fighting spirit.
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".....WE are ELITE Warriors,
With Daring initiative.
We RULE the DAY
We RULE the NIGHT!
ALWAYS READY!
READY TO STRIKE!....."
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Will be meeting her for Prata lately, hopefully nothing gets in the way, really looking forward to meeting her. =)
Will blog more l8r, toodles
Labels: NS
Alan gagged and reeled at
1:06 PM
0 people shizzled my nizzle
..:: Semper Paratus, Sine Mora ::..
