BMT reflections :)

It's been 3 looooooooooong months. I've got several milestones that I'm proud of, and regrets that dot my 3 month stay...

Milestones
1) I've NEVER been on STATUS!!! And I've never stepped into the Tekong MO! :) Hahaha! Wei Sheng keeps suaning me that I'm not a real recruit because I've never stepped into the Medical Centre. My swift reply is "well, I know how to train safe :)" Haha.

In Tekong, even a sore throat can excuse you from activities. So, many people visit the MO for many reasons...Real fractures, fake fractures, real fever, self-induced fever, knee pain, neck pain, sore eye, sore throat, sore balls, etc...Haha. So I've been a great soldier by training safe and keeping the doctors away :)

2) I've NEVER done guard duty, sentry duty or any shit duties! :) This may be a milestone for me. But it's definitely not a milestone for others. HAHAHA!!

3) I've gotten my IPPT SILVER AWARD! :) Not many people graduate with a silver medal for IPPT ok? So if you wanna downplay my achievement, check out statistics - only 25% of my coy got silver. Other coys? Worse. Because my company got the Best Company Award! :)

4) I've NEVER got my rifle stunt! :) This is no biggie but I still think it's quite an achievement cos many of my platoon mates got their rifles stunt by our commanders...One of their rifles was even stunt by a medic.... -_-" Champion for life. HAHA!

Regrets
One of my greatest regret in BMT I think is the not opening up of myself to most people. Cos after judging here and there then I choose who to open up myself to and all...and this has resulted in me not making many friends...

I will definitely change that :) Haha. Duno why it could turn out this way too...haha.

Learning points
1) I must say this 3 months has taught me what submission really is. I've learnt to submit to the authority above me. Like your leaders or not, you still have to obey them in order to get things moving. They are, after all, sanctioned by higher authority to take charge of us.

Some of my platoon mates don't know how to obey the platoon ICs and they only obey the sergeants because they can punish us if we don't. Such obedience is out of fear of the regimentation and power our commanders have over us and it does not spring out of a spirit that wants to see cohesion and unity abound in the platoon.

2) I've also learned what grace is. A few of my section mates don't really know what that is. They just shout commands and orders around and condemn your every mistake you make. When the same is done back to them, their faces turn black in pride.

Grace is the art of accepting people and helping them along and not condemning them even though they're in the wrong. What do you get out of making them feel bad?

3) I've learned that our human body is stronger than we think. Through all the training, I have discovered that I really can do much more than what I thought I could do...Through the road marches, SOC and especially field camp I learnt that I just need to stay positive and I'm able to survive whatever training is thrown at us.

I guess this is all the reflections I have for now...I've not slept properly since the 24km road march man...So I'm off to bed now :)