did i mention which ship i'm on? for those not familiar with the navy...sorry abt it. i'm in 188 Squadron..RSS VENGEANCE. haha..a missile corvette! fast and furious! packed with missiles and whatever not which the Republic of Singapore Navy has to offer, and cruises at speeds no other ship so far can achieve. truly the reason why we sign up for the navy! haha..
the Missile Corvette (or MCV for short) is also known as harbour queen..cos we sail predominantly for operations and foreign exercises only, unlike the mine countermeasure vessels (mcmv) or patrol vessels (pv/apv).. hence when we don't sail things can go at rather slow pace, but when we do sail, its hectic for a few weeks straight.
the biggest shock i had when i got into the ship was...its small! i mean..mayb i was used to the size of the mcmv and the LSTs, but this is cramped sia! and cos the ship won't be sailing till the 12th, basically the crew enjoys itself now in harbour with free time to go out for sports etc. that's prob why my XO (or 2IC for u army folks) puts so much emphasis on ippt...he was rather impressed that i was a gold..and he looks like the kind who wants ppl to be like him..a gold. haha. lucky me den..i found a ship with an eccentric XO (man...he went to canada to study so that he can take part in wind surfing and trek across mountains in europe and avoid singaporeans!) who wants us to maintain our fitness.haha..
here comes the worst part..Vengeance is better known as the scholar-ship or Wengeance, after my CO Maj Lim Weng Foo. he's an IPO (meaning..he's a pricipal warfare officer trained in UK with the certification of International Principal warfare officer...there's 1 or 2 annually only) and he's a high flyer. his abilities are legendary...and he'll be gettin his LTC (that's Lieutenant Colonel) end this year..at only 33 yrs old !! my communications officer is bornt in 1981...and already holds a PhD ! the other officers are all..scholars and the sort..and i totally feel out of place. that's when i realised Vengeance is a very demanding ship and a difficult ship for me..cos i can't smoke my way around anymore!
the best thing is...my CO has no qualms not letting me pass my Certificate of Competency! we are given 3 months to get our COC...and i heard frm a senior AO onboard that the CO has no qualms not giving it to you even after 6 months of work as long as he feels you r not up to it! my Marine Engineering Officer already failed 4 times! man...
on the brighter note, i'll get first hand experience on the best in war fighting capabilities of the RSN. we will be goin over to india frm feb 19 to mar 21 for some exercise with the indian navy (wow...and i just started work!!) and a whole host of stuff before i leave for studies. how cool rite?
man...expectations and expectations...and now i'm tasked to do the most insane thing of all : organise national education tours for the entire ship's company monthly.. what did i sign up for? harbour queen eh? haha..