this is one particular place that i literally grow up with in my 20-over years in the military. i trained there as a cadet, as a young officer on course, and in all my capacities and positions through the years. and i undertook different and larger role with each return. in all, i visited this place more than 30 times throughout my years in the military. the last time i was there, i was in the division headquarters as a department head and my trip was cut short following an order from the highest office to get ready for deployment as a liaison officer in country s. it would not be possible to use one post to write the full details of my trips to this place. i will not share too much about the nature of the exercises we do in too much details but instead pen the more interesting ones here that, focusing on my personal experiences...
- as a cadet, the experience of digging trenches in the hilly southern regions was truly memorable. it was a 2-week defence exercise and it was autumn period (that coincided with typhoon season). the wind was strong and cold and it blew with such ferocity that i could be momentarily suspended in the air when i jump up against the direction of the wind. and that was truly when i appreciate the comforts of my trench. in fact, as the days pass, i slowly create little display holes in my trench, where i placed freshwater inland crabs that crawled around the exercise grounds.
- training was hell and we were stretched to our limits. a series of offensive missions were included within the 2-week defence exercise, each with increasing complexity and it culminated in a company attack on an enemy location at the end of the 2 weeks. by then, we were literally walking zombies. i recalled clearly how i walked along a stream and for a short moment where i blinked, the person in front of me had moved 50m ahead. i fell asleep walking.
- during one of the mission where i climbed up a very steep slope and as i near the top, i slipped and slid some 10-15m down. when i landed, my reflex action was to grip whatever i could and as my hand was in my rifle trigger, a round went off. thankfully, it was a blank. it didn't help that the commandant was walking just in front of me. next thing i knew, he stood towering over me and with a smile - told me i will be charged for misfiring. ass luck. as a result, i was confined to the base at the end of the training frame while the rest proceeded for the r&r.
- as a young officer attending a course, i had the chance to visit the southern areas again. this time, i had the freedom to move about, so unlike when i was an officer cadet. it was then that i got to really enjoy the place. the sceneries were beautiful, the whole idea of setting up and being in a command post in the open areas, on top of a cliff overlooking south china seas, etc was really good. it was this freedom that really excites me whenever i visit "country" w for exercises in subsequent years. subsequently, as a senior person with my own land rover, i would simply take over the wheels of my land rover and drive all over the training grounds during exercises. at times the journey would last hundreds of kilometres.
- i visited the place many many times over the years in my capacities as a company commander, as a unit staff officer at various levels of commands - as part of the exercise troop, controllers or as observers. in all these different visits, the experiences were very different. but one thing stood out - the ability to be able to move to many different places in the "country". it was during these different visits that i got to truly experience the lives of the locals. very humbling and also very enriching. i still have fond memories of the many occasions when travelling where we were able simply park our vehicles and just walk into the different eateries to savour their local delicacies. very nice.
- i particularly enjoyed the times in the command posts. despite the intense pace of the battlefield monitoring, we were also able to take frequent breaks to just sit outside the command post and savour the dawn and dusk of the "country" - very peaceful. once, i was even inspired enough to sketch the areas around me. i still have the sketches somewhere in my cupboard. i will be reminded of the sights and smells of the place whenever i look at the sketches. it was also during these periods that we get to interact and chat with the locals. very nice and warm people. the children would also run after our landrovers as they shout out "ah bing ge! ah bing ge!"
- i recalled planning for training in one of the areas in the south one particular year and had to visit the "country" several times to get the detailed plans out. it so happened that just about a month before the training was to be conducted, bird flu struck and news reports suggest that it had occurred near the training grounds. had to make another trip to confirm the details. thankfully, after getting the details and weighing the risks of the different options, we concluded that the training could still continue.
- as a norm, whenever we train in this "country", there would be a 3 to 4-day r&r included into the plan. i didn't get to enjoy the r&r as a cadet cos i was charged and had to be confined to the basecamp to clean the drains. but in subsequent years, i got to experience r&r in the different cities. there was one particular r&r that was very interesting. it so happened that because of the large number of troops, many hotels were fully booked. for my headquarters, we were checked into a rest hotel (commonly known locally as a fuck hotel, or a hotel for people to have sex). i was rather senior by then and as a senior person, i was given my own room. i was so tickled when i walked into the room - the bed was round in shape and there was a chair that has two protruding arms where one can place his/ her legs during sex, and the ceiling and walls are mostly mirrors... lol!
i can go on and on... but will stop here for now. will add if need be.
:-)
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