here's to a successful first full-troop exercise (FTX) for 40th Battalion Singapore Armoured Regiment (40SAR), 7th mono-intake, that took place last week from Sunday, 18th December to 21st December.
Sunday, 18th Dec 2005 Last minute shopping for drinks, food, and other essentials for the upcoming 3-4day outfield from Cold Storage, King Albert Park. Alvin picked me up from home. We had a good dinner at 216 kopitiam, and then headed back to camp. Everyone was doing something, busy with the preparation already. I unpacked my stuff, drew my equipment and got ready. CO gave a rousing pre-exercise morale-boosting speech, talking about duty and sacrifice. Among other provoking questions, he asked what the hell are we doing back in camp, all equipped and ready to go, on a Sunday night, near to Christmas, when most of the other Singaporeans are at home, relaxing, while other military personnel could just be making their way back to camp? Topics mentioned included duty, sacrifice and committment. The reason why many other Singaporeans could be enjoying the peace, is because we as part of the Singapore Armed Forces have a credible force in the Army. Our deterrence policy has ensured no country dares to toy with our national and political interests. It gives me, on a personal note, to be proud to be in this battalion, knowing full well, should war break out, we will be the first to move out. And the Army's mission for us would be just to merely sit back and defend. We, as part of the Armour formation, spearhead, punch through, advance, and attack. Our capability for aggression is the very reason for this deterrence factor we have in the Army. We are truly a "spicy small chilli padi", akin to our little red dot. Monday, 19th December 2005 Much of this early morning is filled with waiting. On route to our laager site, my tank 324 broke down. The fan stopped spinning and i got the driver to pull over to the side while the rest of the combat team moved on. This is essentially caused by ah phua, making the decision to fix the spoilt fan into the tank, causing himself trouble. We got it changed, and then joined the combat team in laager in afternoon. I made great effort to ask around for a digital camera, and finally got one in JooWee's handphone. Knowing full well this is my second last outfield, and having taken zero pictures for memory for my guys, i quickly went around, snapping and capturing those potentially memorable moments... My driver Dianwei (left) and I take a break under the camo net. We enjoy food we bring along, eg: peanut butter bread.
24 team, 'B' Coy: 24 commander: 2LT Jeffrey Leow 24B commander: 3SG Sean Ang
My 02/04 TOCC course mate, and for this FTX, my umpire!
(left) 2LT Darius Tian
My tank platoon: Top Row: (from left)Harris, Alwyn, Dianwei, Aaron Bottom Row: (from left)Joey, Sean, me, Eric, James, Charles, Yueyu
absent from picture: 1. PS 2. spare gunner, Zheng Yong 3. new specs Tuesday, 20th December 2005 Details of the missions cannot be revealed due to security reasons. But all missions were generally successful and an improvement from the previous outfield. Wednesday, 21st December 2005 I died again in this last mission. Had a short time practising my topo skills in the area i'm not familiar with. Following closely in ENDEX in the evening.
I had to rush off immediately to Joelin's mother's funeral. There were many unexpected delays. This caused my mum to be very cross with me as she was waiting for too long for me. Then again, this cannot be helped as there were unexpected delays, like the bus uncle being uncooperative and not wanting to drive into our training area to pick us up, my OC not allowing the bikee to send me back using his motorbike, the bus uncle having to stop halfway to help his fellow bus driver who experienced some problems, etc. Eventually, the three of us (Van, Jamie her sis, and I) were about 15 minutes late for the funeral service. Lucky for us, it just began so we didn't miss much. I attended this service with mixed feelings. On one hand, you definitely feel sad that her mother has left our world. She would no longer be around in physical form, and she will be sorely missed. Her spirit however continues to linger on. I definitely cannot fully comprehend the melancholy in losing a close and loved one, but definitely tried to empathise. On the other hand, as a Christian, and the deceased being one as well, i know for sure she has left this mortal world for heaven. It is a much more wonderful place to be at, and rightfully, i should be happy for her as she has now rejoined with the Lord God Himself.
We did our best to talk to Joelin. We talked to her boyfriend as well, who has been staying around to support Joelin. I do pray hard for Joelin and her family to be able to feel God's mightly presence and His everlasting comfort and peace.
After that, a good dinner with Van and Jamie at Upper Bukit Timah at Killiney Kopitiam. I was very tired as for the past few days of FTX, i only managed to catch about 2-3 hours of sleep. Nevertheless, i tried my best to stay awake, especially when driving.
I reached home, and successfully negotiated the use of my mum's car. Thereafter i proceeded to take away some home-cooked food from 216 kopitiam again for my guys who are at 42's washing bay. i picked up their dry clothes from 40, and brought them together with the food to them at 42. i hope they do appreciate the effort. Warm food, dry clothes after washing our tanks free of mud, sand, and debris from outfield; what a great feeling. I do hope they felt it. Other men didn't have that privilege of dry clothes though.
After the washing, there was nothing much to do other than waiting for the low-loaders to come to transport the vehicles back to camp. We slept for a couple of hours before that happened.
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