as i said, i was a regular on course in uni from 1987 - 91. my contract was such that i had to return to service during my holidays. and so, every year, i would don my uniform when my peers were out having fun. in a way, i enjoyed heading back to camp during my holidays. after all, it was back to a familiar culture although the surroundings were a little different.
you see, i was an infantry officer who was earmarked for an intelligence reservist appointment until i signed on. so, when i became a regular, the army wanted to convert me to another arm. during my first year holiday, i was sent to jurong camp 2. home of the combat engineers. it was a short 2plus months and i was attached to the commander's wing where they trained cbt engineer ncos and officer cadets. specifically, i was attached to the nco wing. during that period, i literally went through the cbt engr nco course. and i even went through the summary exercise with them (and the cadet wing) overseas. on one hand, it was an eye opener to see how they lay minefields, how the specialize in explosives, how they built bridges, etc, but on the other hand, i also got to see the ugly side of the people. by the time i ended my attachment, i wrote in to the authority asking not to be converted.
for my second year, if i recalled correctly, i was sent to an infantry battalion. i became the project officer and undertook tasks to formalize their logistics sops for stand-by. it was a rather boring attachment i must say. and then i was attached to the cbt intelligence department. there was an impending exercise and i was tasked to assist in the planning of the intelligence ops. it was interesting cos for the first time, i got to see how planning at a high level was done.
in my final year holiday period, i was attached to the intelligence school. again, there was an impending major exercise overseas and i was tasked to assist in the planning and flight administration of the troops involved. there was a total of about 4 officers (all on uni breaks) placed under the charge of the tco. indirectly we also reported to the chief instructor (ci). the ci was a rather bastard guy who somehow didn't like officers on holidays. to him, we were always the chao keng (skive) type and at every opportunity, he would find fault with us. i felt really lousy for despite all the hardwork, i would somehow get dragged in and get scolded for something he assumed we did wrong. my patience wore off totally when one day, he fell us in, marched us to his office and gave us a good scolding becos the tco couldn't find us when he asked for us. he naturally assumed we were playing punk and were skiving. at that time, it was about a week before the flight departure and there was a lot of pre-flight admin to be done. and incidentally, i had also been told by nus that i had been confirmed for the honours year and that i should head back to nus immediately to start my project work. so, after the scolding, i decided to get back at the ci. i decided not to tell him about my impending disruption and i purposely left the pre-flight admin undone. 2 days before the departure, i gave him my letter and left. yup, i was really mean. erm... yup, i was immature and irresponsible. but well, that was my way of getting back at someone who didn't give a damn to my existence.
:-)
you see, i was an infantry officer who was earmarked for an intelligence reservist appointment until i signed on. so, when i became a regular, the army wanted to convert me to another arm. during my first year holiday, i was sent to jurong camp 2. home of the combat engineers. it was a short 2plus months and i was attached to the commander's wing where they trained cbt engineer ncos and officer cadets. specifically, i was attached to the nco wing. during that period, i literally went through the cbt engr nco course. and i even went through the summary exercise with them (and the cadet wing) overseas. on one hand, it was an eye opener to see how they lay minefields, how the specialize in explosives, how they built bridges, etc, but on the other hand, i also got to see the ugly side of the people. by the time i ended my attachment, i wrote in to the authority asking not to be converted.
for my second year, if i recalled correctly, i was sent to an infantry battalion. i became the project officer and undertook tasks to formalize their logistics sops for stand-by. it was a rather boring attachment i must say. and then i was attached to the cbt intelligence department. there was an impending exercise and i was tasked to assist in the planning of the intelligence ops. it was interesting cos for the first time, i got to see how planning at a high level was done.
in my final year holiday period, i was attached to the intelligence school. again, there was an impending major exercise overseas and i was tasked to assist in the planning and flight administration of the troops involved. there was a total of about 4 officers (all on uni breaks) placed under the charge of the tco. indirectly we also reported to the chief instructor (ci). the ci was a rather bastard guy who somehow didn't like officers on holidays. to him, we were always the chao keng (skive) type and at every opportunity, he would find fault with us. i felt really lousy for despite all the hardwork, i would somehow get dragged in and get scolded for something he assumed we did wrong. my patience wore off totally when one day, he fell us in, marched us to his office and gave us a good scolding becos the tco couldn't find us when he asked for us. he naturally assumed we were playing punk and were skiving. at that time, it was about a week before the flight departure and there was a lot of pre-flight admin to be done. and incidentally, i had also been told by nus that i had been confirmed for the honours year and that i should head back to nus immediately to start my project work. so, after the scolding, i decided to get back at the ci. i decided not to tell him about my impending disruption and i purposely left the pre-flight admin undone. 2 days before the departure, i gave him my letter and left. yup, i was really mean. erm... yup, i was immature and irresponsible. but well, that was my way of getting back at someone who didn't give a damn to my existence.
:-)
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