Happy Birthday Marc! :D

Marc's 22nd birthday's here :) His parents organised a BBQ to celebrate his b'day without his knowing. So last minute he invited a few of us. Right there whacking all the BBQ food were all his relatives....haha.

He's shifting out of his less-than-1-year-old house in a few months time...ahaha. They're like nomads man...hahaha. But, it's a good way to make money though. haha.

Yup, pictures! :D

Ella, Daryl & Myself :)

Me & Marc the b'day boy :)

Marc, Jon & Me :D

The L4D hand!! Renee is super scared of it...LOLS!! Haha

I look like I've got no hair in the picture above man...HAHA!

Before army and after army... -.-" Haha. Boy we miss our hair..haha.

Anyway, it was a great time of catchin up yesterday @ Marc's place :)

Once again, Happy Birthday Marc! :D May we have many more friendship years ahead :D

2 down! 2 more field camps to go -_-"

This UO (Urban Operations) field camp was really fun and slack. We had more sleep during this field camp than in company line! Almost everyday we slept around 9pm and woke up at 6am. We had an average of 8 hours of sleep every night man :D Whoo hoo :D That's why I didn't sleep during commander's briefing in this field camp...HAHA!

First day of this field camp I felt was a waste of time...we did live firing at 50m. We just needed to turn our bodies and face the target and fire. It's to make us familiar with the posture when we contact the enemy. It's essential, but I still find it a waste of time. Haha! While waiting for our turn to fire, I spoke and got to know a few more friends in my company - Tian Shui, Muhammad, Bahruddin, Wen Hao or Wei Hao...forgot...HAHA!

The time didn't go to waste for me la...I used it to make a few more friends :D The next few days was what made this field camp fun and productive. :)

The 2nd day was spent rehearsing the room clearing drills and what to do if the door's open or closed or what to do if there are multiple rooms etc...It was done at some abandoned HDB flats in Neo Tiew.

The 3rd day was the most fun. Within each platoon we split into 2 main factions: The enemy and the SAF troopers. I played the enemy :D :D haha. All the enemy had to do was hide inside the building and when the good guys come and do room clearing, we'd shoot blanks (duh...haha) & "kill" them. There are sergeants attached to each detail to determine who dies.

It was real fun. We set booby traps and hid and ran around the building while the good guys try to kill us. Well, all the bad guys (us) died in the end because the no. of good guys is 3x the no. of bad guys. That's SAF kiasu method of winning. Haha. 1:3 ratio. LOLS.

Anyway, the 2 best thing about camping in Neo Tiew there is:
1) PORTABLE TOILETS! There were 2 portable toilet cubicles there. They're actually for the construction workers there I think. It ended up becoming an SAF toilet. HAHAHA!

2) NICE SLEEPING AREA! We slept in some wet market area I think. It's like a very big void deck which wasn't too bad to sleep on.

Yup...had a great time :D And through this UO field camp I got to know Xue Ming much better and of course also Han Hui & Leslie better too. Our private jokes are increasing and I'm glad to know that there are still nice people out there that don't judge you for being who you are. These are the people that'll go far. These are the people that'll be my best friends :)

AND, I GOT A TESTIMONY! I shared my Christian life testimony with Xue Ming whom I found out was an "ex"-Christian too. Haha. I hope I can let him see once again the only way to live is to surrender to something bigger, greater, sturdier and eternal; something that satisfies - Jesus.

Anyway, I'm really, really glad to have found a great friend like Xue Ming. His smile and presence makes me at ease and allows me to remove the facades. Haha. Any more elaborate and it'll sound gay. HAHA! Cos in the army, the guys don't talk like that. Haha. O well, I'm a diff. kinda guy :D LOLS!

Anyway, I needa book in liao!! For SOC RT!!!! Total sian-ness.

And I'm leading worship for the last youth service! Whoo hoo! See you guys soon man :D

CSB Navex Cleared!

The highlight of this week was passing CSB (Combat Skill Badge) Navex! This time, it rained until around 4pm. So we were totally drenched. -_-" Every time we went to Lower Mandai to do navigation, it'd rain......In BSLC and this 2 times in ASLC -_-" Guess God is training my waterproof-ness? Haha. Whatever...LOLS.

Anyway, through this navex I got to know Xue Ming better :D He's a really nice, soft-spoken guy. Throughout the navex we were simply chatting and getting to know each other. It's been some time since I spoken to someone I didn't know well that much. Haha. So yeah, I'm pretty glad I made a new good friend in NS. :D

Also wanna thank God that our Encik Ronnie allowed us to book out on Saturday 11.40pm! We were supposed to book out on Sunday morning but he changed his mind and allowed us to book out! Whoo hoo! :D

We also cleared our platoon field camp where we learnt how to do Platoon Quick Attack and breaching drill etc...Lame stuff la...Infantry was never my calling. Haha. But I'm still trying to give my best :D

AND, we had a nights out on Thursday night! :D Me, Han Hui & Leslie went to Jurong SAFRA for dinner and a 2 hour session of L4D2 :D haha. We were supposed to book in by 10pm. By 945pm we were still hanging around there. Han Hui & Leslie wanted to take cab. I didn't want to.

Why? Because usually in Charlie company, there's no commanders there to enforce our time discipline. So go late also never mind what. Might as well save $$ & take bus.

Thankfully, we took cab back. Because so happened on that night, Encik Ronnie was there to catch all the late comers! All those who booked in late signed 3 EXTRAS!!! WHOA!! 3 weekends burnt lei!! DUA LAO SAI! So the cab fare was really worth it man. Whew...haha!

Yup, another 4 days 3 night field camp this coming week -_-" UO (Urban Operations) field camp. Go Jonavan! :D

Celebration Ministry Vision Casting

Vision casting was ok...Casting the vision is easy. Execution is the key. This key has yet to be inserted into the lock. Haha.

Anyway, snapped a few photos :D


Melvin & I with the countdown...Looking at our faces, you can see that we don't really wanna move? Hahaha!


Me & Daryl :) My 6 fingers there are meant to emulate the sergeant's chevrons...haha. Cos Lemuel asked me what were my hands trying to do after snapping this shot for us..LOLS.

Basically, my morale was really low today cos I have to book in for guard duty -_-" HaizZzZzz...See you next saturday...hopefully, if not Sunday :(

Haha. Field camp week this week! Keep me in prayer! :) Bye :D

The Change Inside of Me

One of my latest favourite songs by MercyMe "The Change Inside of Me". Pretty old song...yes I'm a bit lag..Haha..but be blessed by this great song :D

Another Lousy Week......

I must say God is really developing my perseverance and discipline. This week we had our SOC (re)test and CSB Navex test in Lower Mandai (AGAIN -.-")

Guess what? I flunked both -_-"

SOC, same story...LOW ROPE!!! In BSLC I could clear it! Duno why I fail this station again -_-" Well, I'm gonna master my technique and train my running with SBO.

Navex, same story...NIGHT CHECKPOINT CAN'T FIND!!! In BSLC we also couldn't find our night checkpoint. But this time, my detail and another detail found the OCS and 3rd Guards checkpoint "OPEL" with the MGR on it. It was the exact same MGR as our SISPEC "OPEL". So we combed the whole area at least 50m radius for 3 hours and my detail and another detail still couldn't find it.

So we comms back to HQ to give us another checkpoint. Instead, they sent 2 sergeants to go with us to find the checkpoint. And guess what? They also couldn't find it. So according to my conducting officer, he'll let us pass the test since the faculty team also couldn't find it.

We were so relieved. Whew...The next morning, he came and announced that the CSB faculty instructors found the SISPEC "OPEL" checkpoint so they will have to fail us. -.-"

Failing means coming back to do this 12 hour operation next SATURDAY!! Which means we'll only book out on SUNDAY!!! *$%^&#*!_@

HaizZ...Nevertheless, I will still give my best and get my CSB badge. I guess I needa learn how to take failure in good stride; citing that fact that I've not encountered any major failure in my life thus far...This one's quite a blow. Haha

Anyway, the fun part about this week is our SQA (Section Quick Attack) and GPMG (General Purpose Machine Gun) LIVE FIRING :D

Why was SQA exciting? Because the detail before mine set the forest on fire!!! Here's the story:

According to our Section Quick Attack drill, we had to throw a smoke grenade to cover ourselves while our section split to flank the enemy.

So the detail in front of us threw the smoke grenade. And guess what? The smoke grenade ignited the dry grass around it, starting a small BBQ kinda fire. The conducting officer's immediate reaction was to put it out. So they called MY DETAIL to pluck huge branches off the trees to dry to beat out the fire.

By the time we were armed with branches, the fire was also more well-armed. The fire had become much bigger...with the flames reaching our height!! Still we went and put out the smaller fires that were spreading. I tell you, when I went near the fire, I was reminded of what hell feels like man. HAHA! It's simply SCORCHING, MELTING HOT!

Soon enough, the fire spread and spread and they called the SCDF down to put out the fire. So our live firing was cancelled and after the whole thing when we went back to pick up RAI, we saw half the "forest" burnt down!!! Whoa! Dua lao sai!! HAHA!

So that was a really exciting and interesting experience man :D HAHA!

GPMG live firing was also fun because we get to spam bullets like nobody's business. Haha!

Yup, I've got GUARD DUTY TOMORROW (SUNDAY)!!! So I won't be going to church. And next week is my first of four upcoming field camps! We'll be learning platoon flanking and all those fire movement shit. Haha.

So it's two consecutive weekend confinements for me
-.-"

O well, I'm not gonna give up. No way. 1.8 more months and I'm a 3rd sergeant! :D Jia you Jonavan! :D I just have to do my best and God will do the rest :D

You never know why you're alive until you know what you'll die for

This week has been a really lousy week. These are the causes:

1) Crossing Water Obstacle (CWO). This is one of the most detestable training I've been through thus far. I hate this more than field camp!! For those who've never done CWO before, it's somewhat like this:

> You want to get to your objective but there is a water body preventing your progress, e.g. a lake, river, etc...
> Someone will fix a rope across the two banks of the water body.
> All of us will go into the water body in FBO (Full Battle Order) and pull ourselves across the water body using the rope

For our case, the water body was a muddy lake. And we didn't cross the river once, we crossed it 3 times!! 1st time in the late afternoon in clean fatigue (no combat gear), 2nd time in the evening in FBO (dua lao sai) and 3rd time in the night!! @#$%^&*()_+ Bravo Company crossed the river twice only ok? Once in morning and once at night. Haha. Ok..stop comparing Jonavan...

Everything is just soaked! Not in clean water but smelly, muddy water. From my field pack to my LBV (the vest that soldiers don), to my BOOTS!! All soaked. I can't describe the feeling. We still have to carry our FBO back to our start point btw, which is really tiring.

The irritating thing is, they made us bring EVERYTHING in our field packs. "Everything" includes compass (Apa ini?), pacer (FOR WHAT?!), 2 matadors (?!?!?!), 2 bungalore torpedoes (WHAT THE HECK?!?!) and basically all our personal and section store items. Whoa!! Killer man.

Washing up is a real big issue for us too. With so little free time and so many items to wash and dry, I tell you...this dumb exercise is really ma fan to the max.

2) Failed my SOC. Why? Because of LOW ROPE!! I've overcomed my low rope problem since BSLC and now this bloody problem is back to haunt me.

I was really pissed off when I couldn't clear that station. Because, I CAN! Apparently, that day wasn't my lucky day. The rope was kinda slippery and I was pretty tired due to river crossing the day before and with only 5 hours of sleep, I can barely clear my low wall as well. Haha.

So yeah, this really sucks.

3) Fell out of my 8km CSB (Combat Skill Badge) endurance training run. For the past few CSB runs - 5km and 7km, I cleared them nicely, clocking a good time. This time for 8km, I screwed it up. How?

There's a water point at 5km. It was sooooo tempting. So I decided to take a drink. I stopped and gulped down 2 full cups of syrup. Shiok ar! And guess what? At my 6.5km, my stomack also SHIOK AR! Stitches started to develop. I thought the pain would lessen and eventually go away as I continued running, but the exact opposite happened. It became unbearable. So I fell out.

-__-" I'm not taking any water breaks for my 10km run I tell you. Dua lao sai. Ok, maybe I would. But I'd just take sips next time and not whole mouthfuls.

So yeah, these 3 causes in my training programme really spoiled my week. And I'm so glad that THEY'RE OVER! Ok, next week's training program is worse...It's picking up speed already. High key events are all approaching. I needa pray for more of God's grace and strength and favour man :D haha.

And on the way back on the MRT these song lyrics really struck me although I've heard this quote before by someone else. This song is by MercyMe "I Would Die For You" and this particular line of the song hit me "You never know why you're alive until you know what you'll die for"

Sometimes, I tend to forget the reason of why I'm here on this Earth. Especially when you're 24-7 in a military camp. Haha. So this song reminded me that life here on Earth is but temporal. Everything will go into the grave one day and be forgotten: money, friends, achievements, CSB badges, IPPT Gold badges, exam Certs, 3sg rank...etc...but what's done for Jesus is eternal. Reminds me of this quote by William Carrey "One life that will soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last."

And yes, I booked out on a Friday afternoon! :D Earliest yet! :)