booked out from safti last evening, but i'm booking back in today! the 4 days spent in OCS totally changed my perception of command schools in SAF.
1st of all, the perception that SISPEC is more xiong den us is...not really true! ppl in SISPEC have the WHOLE weekend off, but we were supposed to be confined for 3 weeks in OCS.whatever for ? and there are so many veto factor stuff in OCS that's scary...like IPPT must be atleast a silver (by theory, but they will force u so hard that you MUST get gold), n SOC of below 9min 30 sec (which is 1 min lower den the normal SOC passing grade). AOC is optional (by theory again, but u better pass it if you don't wanna burn your weekends clearing it) n SEOC is also a must. hell...its definitely physically demanding! so those in SISPEC, don't start complaining about your life in tekong being bad ya ? mine ain't much better! haha :)
SISPEC ( or suffer in silence plus extra confinement) is bad because its in tekong n the place sucks, budden OCS ain't much better! we are made to sign extra duties (CDO and the likes) as often as I make transactions with my Debit card (i make atleast 18 a year to get the waiver..) n we have muster parades as often as we do water parades in bmt.our bag (or commander's bag as they call it) has 4 compulsory items : 1.water bottle 2.kiwi n brush 3.journal 4.writing material.numbers 1, 3 and 4 are...well understandable (even when u have to carry the thing to the gym :S) but kiwi n brush ?!
physical training in OCS is the fun part..because our 5bx is led by a fellow cadet.so what he can do, you do.however, when that cadet was from the Naval Diving Unit (there are a whole lot of NDU divers in my wing for some weird reasons), when he can do doesn't mean we can do! there's a 1.5km run after 5bx, n that distance is expected to rise thru the weeks.one way to make ur 2.4km timing drop! pull ups are a compulsory MUST in OCS, and failure to reach double figures (ie 10 or more) is as good as giving you a "LOSER" sign and forcing you to wear it! however the min in my wing is 6 and the max is...i heard 27.haha.
whoever came up with the idea that SISPEC will have more field camps cos its nearer to the forests of tekong is...wrong i guess.cos if they can say SISPEC has more den approx a field camp a fortnight, i'll say that the ppl in sispec will still do less field camps den us! for 9 1/2 months there wil be field camps here and there and everywhere! there's even one next tuesday or monday! argh!! so where's the supposed escape from the field?
knock-it-downs are super common in OCS...cos for every small thing wrong tat you do, you either knock it down or sign extra.even after a 4km run, we knock it down for the fun of knocking it down! 20 is the max we do each time now, so the numbers go 20, 40, 60, 80 n so on.my officer said that by the end of OCS, we can hit the hundreds sia...
there's a whole lot of pressure in OCS, and the pressure's mostly self imposed.there are leadership roles for everyone, frm armskote IC to comms IC to safety IC to area cleaning IC to CPS (cadet platoon sergeant) n CPC (cadet platoon commander), there's an IC for everything.n 1 little screw up warrants 1 thing : sign extra! see the pressure? another pressure is to perform physically.there's pull ups after 5bx (after the run) n pull ups b4 meals..so that makes 4 visits to the pull up bar a day.each time u are expected to hit 12 atleast sia...so unless u're really fit, u r under alot of pressure. n the NDU guys ain't helping! imagine everytime u do pull ups the guy infront n behind u do 20 plus...and at night b4 u sleep u see them running around doing abs n push ups and the likes...u feel like jus visiting a gym jus to keep up sia..haha.the biggest pressure of all is the officers! in bmt, a 2LT is already a big shot to all of us since he's our platoon commander, a LTA is a bigger shot cos he's our Officer in Command! a Captain (other den the MO) is some huge shit cos he's way bigger den the guy who tekan us all the time, n a major is like super senior n untouchable.a LTC is like the king of tekong cos he's the Commanding Officer of your school..and a full Colonel is like the king of kings! but in OCS..things are different. a LTA is nothing more den your platoon instructor, your platoon commander's a captain atleast, n that's the guy u have to chit chat with, my wing commander (the equal of OC) is a LTC, n in safti you see LTCs, colonel and even brig Generals like you see the 2 dogs in tekong! your hands get sore after saluting so many times sia!
after sayin so much...here's the best part! i'm moving out of the army wings and to the navy wing in 2 weeks time! yay! time to throw away my helment n SBO ! budden...the divers are coming along with me !! :S n i heard i'm closer to the big shots of the SAF !pressure sia...
so for those who wanna come to OCS n can't wait to get out of tekong...think again? haha