Life of a SAF army recruit during boot camp

We are recce scouts - Boot Camp

Boot Camp

Basic Military Training aka BMT is the term used in Singapore for what we call Boot Camp in the US. I guess, BMT does not sound as intimidating as the term Boot Camp. And speaking of Boot Camp or BMT, in the earlier article – “We are recce scouts – The Beginning”, we arrived at our destination Terror Camp. As mentioned earlier, the name Terror Camp probably is a carry over from when the British military were stationed until their withdrawal from south east asia. This is going to be my home for the next three months of my life changing moment.

As we disembarked from our 3 tonner onto the parade square, looking around and trying to absorb our surrounding, we heard a command, “Fall In”. Everyone turned towards where that command came from and there stood several personnel dressed in T-shirt and green pants and boots. The next command was to form three lines. These commands were familiar to those who had participate in the National Cadet Corp or National Police Cadet Corp during their high school days to fulfill the extra curricular activities credits. However, all of us still struggle to form 3 lines because we were all unfamiliar with each other and unable to effectively communicate with one and another. Just a note, Singapore is a multi-racial, multi-cultural country. Hence, it is not uncommon to hear different Chinese dialects, Malay, Tamil beside English in one spoken sentence. Yes that is not a typo, one sentence may contain words from difference dialects, or language. Singapore is sort of a melting pot of South East Asia.

In the midst of the chaos trying to form 3 lines, the next command filled with &%$# expletives came quickly with threat of punishment if we don’t lined up immediately! And speaking of expletive, I thought I was a master in that department during my school yard days where we cussed at our friends or behind someone to be viewed as a badass! Girls seemed to like badass guys! However, I was still shocked by the use of expletive in the army. I was always under the impression that you don’t use expletive in a public setting. I blamed this misconception on Vic Marrow and his “Combat” teammates for not using expletive! We are now identified as recruits for the next 3 months.

The Welcome

After the expletive filled welcome to BMT reception by the NCOs, we were divided into separate rooms containing our bed and cabinet. Each room is a section of a platoon. In the SAF, a section is squad size. However, during BMT, a section usually contain more personnel than an operational unit. As we settled into our new environment, we introduced ourselves to our section mates who will be part of each other life 24/7 for the next three months whether we like it or not as we will soon find out. Some appeared to have already settled in while most of us looked lost and apprenhensive about what is coming next. There were a few who were lackadaisical as they go about settling in.

No matter how mentally and physically prepared some of us were prior to starting BMT, the reality still comes as a shock for almost everyone. The comfort of home is non existent. A typical day in BMT starts at 5am where we fall-in for PT exercises such as push up, sit up, and whatever the NCO in charge that day cooked up. This is just to warm up before heading out to breakfast. Now, in order to start our day at 5am, that means we literally have to wake up between 4am and 5am. This is because, we had to make our bed and clean and tidied up our living area including the bathrooms. Some of these activities may happen after breakfast if we don’t have to head out for field training. Regardless of when we chose to do it, we were constantly working on tight timeline. It was intentional!

The Training

The first month of basic training beside intro to basic field craft was mainly focused on breaking each of us. We were basically stripped of our pride and dignity by the constant harassment of the NCOs day and night. Weekend is not a thing except for Sunday afternoon where family can visit us. One of the dreaded phrase we heard regularly is “Platoon standby bed”. At its core, this phrase literally requires us to stand by our bed side. While it is true that we are supposed to stand by our bed side, there is more to it. First of all, it means area inspection time. The second reason and also the main reason is to find a reason to punish us. Stand by bed is also a form of punishment in itself as in when we failed in our mission, assignments or not adhere to instructions, go figure. But if you had to go through one, you will know what I mean. Stand by bed at the company level is the most time consuming and the punishment is heavier. Why? You are metered out punishment by the company sergeant major and of course at platoon level, you are also punished for making the platoon commander and NCOs look bad. They probably received some form of punishment too that we recruits are not aware of.

Note: NCO = Non Commissioned Officers, In BMT, they are the Drill Sergeant.

As our basic training progressed, we started losing our individuality and start thinking as a unit, where your squad mates start helping you out, encouraging you to achieve the goal and covering for your mistakes, life in the army seemed to feel and look more comfortable. Occasionally, after a tough days, I would look towards ROD – SAF army speak for Roll Out Date, the day you receive back you civilian ID card and return back to civilian life. That was a mistake can got me more depressed thinking there are still 2 plus years left to go or around 800 more days left. I was fortunate that our platoon NCOs were just a few months away from their ROD date and were pretty chilled as long as followed orders except for one foul-mouth NCO that constantly kept us on our toes.

After spending 24/7 with a group of guys from different walk of life and backgound, i learned some things about people, my sheltered life did not know. There was one guy, Jonathan, who seems joyful going about his days. Jonathan was assigned the bed next to mine so I interacted with him more. He brought along a tape player (yes, you read it right, tape-player) and a couple of us asked if we could play a tape of ours. His response – “Only if it is you are playing Christian Song!”. We asked why, he said only Christian song should be played. During one of the evening morale building gathering, where we have sing along. We were bad singers, but there were a couple of popular pop songs everyone knows and were singing along. I looked around the room and noticed Jonathan’s mouth was shut tight and he was gazing the floor. I asked him why, well he said, I only sing Christian Song. Ah now it started to make sense to me about Jonathan. There was another time where somone cussed the F$$ word in front of him. His response, “Don’t say that in front of me!” admirable I thought! Jonathan did have a unique personality in that he is set in his way and did not allow the environment to sway him. Along the way during boot camp, he earned a nickname “African Woman”!

Why African Woman? Jonathan is tall and lanky and he has a long neck. One day during a lecture where everyone was gathered in an outdoor open air shed. The training officer was starting to give his lecture when he noticed Jonathan was slowly towards us. The officer shouted at him, “Hey, African Woman, get you a$$ here quickly!” We looked towards Jonathan’s direction and noticed a semblance to the photos or movie of tribal women from Africa wearing a neck accessory consisting of spiral ring that prop their heads high above their shoulder and when they walk, their heads sway or bobble with their movement. Jonathan just did that motion! Hence the nickname stuck with him for the entire 2.5 years.

We give each other nicknames along the way, even NCOs and company sergeant major were not spared! Of course I ended up with one after calling my buddy “monkey faced”. I meant that in a good and cute way. He wasn’t really offended. He paid me back by calling me elephant! Why, because with my shaven head, my ears appeared to be more flappy than most people. I took that nick name with pride.

Our Wives

Well we are all 18 year kids, so none of us were married then, most of us don’t even have girlfriends. A few were more mature and did have girls waiting for them. Our first few days of boot camp, we were officially introduced to our wives, the AR-15. We were told to treat like our wives and to not lose sight of it, even in our sleep. The meaning did not sink in until we had our first field camp. While we were in the barrack, we had to check in our rifles to the company armory every evening after training. There were no armory during field camp, we had our rifles with us 24/7 and we have to find a way to secure the rifles during the night. Some tied the rifles to their hands or body, most just hugged it while we slept, likely hugging your love one while sleeping. Imagine waking up in the morning for roll call and finding your rifle missing! Imagine the punishment that await you. You could be thrown into the cell and become prisoner # 12345. Field camp is where they trained you to protect your rifle and equipment with your life (kind of). During the night while we are asleep, the officers and NCOs, would sneaked up to your tent and try to steal your rifle. I was fortunate one night, when I felt a tugged on my rifle and I held on tight! There were a few unlucky souls that had their stolen, good thing their punishments were several guard duties. A buddy of mine was unfortunate, he lost is AR-15 magazine. He was put on “charge”. That is not the word you want to hear. It mean he has to appear before the company commanding officer and have his punishment metered out. His punishment was 14 days reporting to the guard house. Doesn’t sound intimidating? How about this. He has to dressed up in neatly pressed starched uniform with shining polished boots and marched to the guard house with a SOP “full Pack” aka backpack for inspection every hour that he is not in the field training including night time when we are sleeping. The inspection requires him to unpack his full pack and lay out the items neatly to make sure that he has all the required items that a soldier need when out in the field.

The Tests

Yes, there are tests just like school. We were tested everything we were taught even physical training, stripping and assembling the AR-15 within a few seconds blind folded etc. One of my main worries before boot camp was physical training. I don’t have the stamina to run a few miles in shorts and T-shirt let alone in full battle gear. Also I seems to come down with fever at once or twice a year growing up. Somehow, I managed to avoid this during boot camp. Also thankfully, they slowly built up your stamina and prepare you for the timed running test and obstacle course, both I managed to pass. Not passing these test may require you to redo your basic training all over again. We were tested on our field navigation using a topography map, wished GPS were around than. Nobody wanted to be labeled “Topo King”, which were given to anyone who were constantly lost during these exercises. All the tests were used to determine which vocation you will be assigned to. Of course we were also given the opportunity to list our preferences on what vocation that interest us. One of my preference was the SISL – School of Infantry Section Leader. Seeing all these NCOs acting like they are above everyone, officers excluded, I wanted to be one.

As the three months of boot camp came to an end, we spent more time rehearsing for the passing out parade and “standing by bed” (the last chance for the NCOs and company Sergeant Major (CSM) to dish more punishment on us. Did I mention the CSM hated us). Right before our graduation day, we were notified of our posting. I was accepted into the School of Section Leader and so was Jonathan and several of my roommates. My buddy “Monkey face” was posted to the Armour unit and that was the last time we saw each other. Finally the day came where we were told, we are no longer a “recruit” and attained the rank of a private.

So now as a private, I don’t have to put up with all the abuses from an NCO!! Or so I thought.

Yayy! We said goodbye to the friends we made during boot camp and boarded our respective 3-Tonner that would take us to our postings . In my case, I was headed to SAFTI – Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute.