Posted to Ayer Rajah Camp

With some time over this weekend, I thought of recapping some of the events that happened back during my Army days, but specifically the part right after BMT, when I was posted to Ayer Rajah Camp.

I recalled that day when I was driven in a 3-tonner truck, along with two other BMT mates, to Ayer Rajah Camp. It was a bumpy ride… not because the roads that we traveled on were bumpy, but because my heart was bumpy with quite some bit of uncertainty about what awaits me.

To make matters worse, I found out that two of them are in the same vocation as me – vehicle technicians! I didn’t like them a single bit coz they were corky, rude, annoying & unfriendly towards me. And at that time, I was still a quiet & reserved person, just trying to keep my head low, stay out of people’s business & get through NS as quickly & smoothly as I could. Thinking about it, even though I have changed quite a bit since then, I still don’t like such annoying people…

It was bad enough that I didn’t like my assigned vocation… & now I had to be posted to a totally new Army camp with people whom I didn’t like at all. I really wanted to do something more interesting, even though I knew that I couldn’t be transferred out of my non-combat PES status… & the last & most detested vocation that I ever dreamt of becoming was a vehicle technician.

I was totally uninterested in this vocation, coz I knew that, daunting as it is, I still loved the challenge of negotiating obstacles courses, firing my M16-S1 rifle & challenging myself to get my best IPPT score at every IPPT that I went for. Even when I was training for my own NAPFA back during my early school days, I was already pitting myself for the best possible score, each time I self-trained.

For the normal NAPFA or IPPT, there would be a short break in between each test station. But when I trained myself, I made sure that I completed all the stations, before I would even stop to catch my breath. This was the way I trained last time… & believe me, it is a very good way to train… coz it really taxes your strength & stamina. Try doing pull-ups when you have just finished doing like 50 sit-ups & 3 attempts at standing broad jump… & you will know what I mean. And if you can do it well in this manner, your actual NAPFA or IPPT would surely be a breeze… I know… coz I have done it before.

Another thing that I discovered about why some people under-perform in their 2.4km run, is because all that rest in between each test station had actually slowed down their heart-rate & they end up unconsciously cooled down… until when it comes to the actual 2.4km run, their bodies need to re-warm up again.

And that takes time! That’s why you see people who charge at the beginning of the 2.4km run, slowly burn out, coz their lungs, heart & limbs have not yet warmed up sufficiently before the sudden burst of exertion (although it’s true that it could possibly be that they didn’t have enough stamina)… or people whose legs couldn’t run as fast as they possibly could, because of this cooling down effect… & end up running in a brisk regular pace… wondering why their legs don’t seem to be able to move as fast as they used to.

Believe me, I know… coz I have been a victim of such mistakes in the past.

Anyway, this 3-tonner truck brought us to Ayer Rajah Camp & for the first time, I took a look around the place from inside the truck. It was quite a huge compound, though I don’t know any Army camps that have small compounds. When we passed by the medical centre, one of the BMT mates said, “I must get to know the MO (Medical Officer) there…” Obviously, he was already thinking of slacking.

The 3-tonner truck dropped us off at the far end of the camp, where I alighted with these ‘scum-bags’. I was dreading every next moment, as I wondered what might befall me in this junkyard-looking place. After all, it is a vehicle repair area, what more different should I expect?

There, I was left at 1st Automotive Maintenance Company (1AC), under the care of 2nd Warrant Officer (2WO) Robert, whose surname is too complicated for me to remember & spell. He looked very strict & stern… & his first words proved my guess as correct. He is a stern, strict man… definitely not someone to play or fool around with.

2WO Robert briefed us & it was a huge relief to realize that two of them were to be posted to 3AC, whereas I would be staying at 1AC. Wow! That’s great news! And seriously, I was glad to see them walk off towards the next building, with their big green Army duffel bags.

I stayed behind, but soon was introduced to two other Privates like myself (we graduated from our Recruit status after passing out of BMT). One of them was skinny & the other was plump… & both were shorter than me. Hmm… it was quite a sight. The skinny one looked very street-wise & resourceful, as he soon proved himself to be over the next few weeks; whereas the plump one looked like an ‘Ah Beng’ & a slacker, which he also soon proved to be.

We were assigned our green coveralls (like those people who worked in car repair workshops), which we had to wear everyday. It was really warm to wear the coveralls & I never like it one bit, throughout those months before & after I had become a trained vehicle technician.

As 3 of us weren’t trained in vehicle repair & maintenance, we were told to sit inside this store area, spending the whole day, manually shredding papers by hand. Believe me, it couldn’t get any more boring than this… this dragged on for days… & it sure made our hands & fingers very tired at the end of the day.

After there was no more paper to shred, we were told to help out at the same store area, this time laminating stuff. Once all the laminating had been done, we ended up labeling vehicle spare parts in that store area. It was all so monotonous & I really wondered what in the world am I wasting my life here.

I’m not sure about other companies, but in 1AC, there was this practice that the newest & lowest ranking soldier(s) would collect daily afternoon tea-break orders from everyone else in the whole company (yes, mind you… it’s the whole company, meaning 40-50 soldiers & an average of 30 would place their order).

It was a pitiful sight for Privates like me, who went around with a piece of A4 size paper & pen at around 2:30pm, taking orders for my entire company. There were all sorts of orders, from tea/coffee with milk, to tea/coffee without milk, to all sorts of soft drinks, all sorts of steamed ‘pau’ & ‘tim sum’, chicken wings, mee rebus, mee soto, mee siam, rojak, tidbits, etc.

It was a scary experience each time I was rostered to do it, coz that would mean walking to & fro from the canteen, 2 or 3 times, each time carrying back a boxful of tea-break food & drink items. And a few of the more senior soldiers would bully me, ordering me to go back to the canteen to bring them a straw for their drink, whether was it my mistake to forget or they didn’t tell me. It was tiring time in that short half an hour & sometimes, I don’t even have the time to eat my own tea-break.

I would get so stressed up every time it was my turn & I would sometimes even dread it even the night before. All sorts of things could happen, for example, if I missed or forgot a particular order, I had to go all the way to the canteen to buy & come back, even if it was just a cup of drink or food item as small as a ‘siew mai’. Then come the problem & hassle about giving back the notes & coins as change to each person. It was difficult to get the correct change for everyone & I would get scolded if I couldn’t give them back the right change. Sometimes, I even had to pay out of my own pocket, if I had counted wrongly.

Lunch time was another hassle, coz all of us had to line up in formation at the road, then march to the cookhouse, where we would join the horrendously long queue of soldiers from all other companies, lining up for their lunch as well. The queue could be as long as 50 – 60 soldiers in front of me… & sometimes some more senior soldiers would bully me, by pushing me out of the queue, or asking me to give way to them to cut into the queue. I couldn’t argue or fight with them, coz they had their own cliques & could easily bad-mouth me & get me into deeper trouble with the officers.

Even without their interference, the queuing up time could be as long as 20 – 30 minutes, before I would even reach the area where I could collect my food. Then, I had to quickly finish my food & get back to my company compound. All this in a time of 1 hour…

One of them, Caleb, used this time everyday to read the small Bible which he carried in his coverall pocket. He wasn’t well-liked too, though very few would bully him often coz he was the same rank as they. Plus he was working in the calibration room all by himself, so he didn’t have to work with them.

On some days, when I managed to finish my lunch earlier, I could get back to my company line (i.e. compound) just in time to catch 10 minutes to sleep. Soon, I learnt how to run to queue up, eat faster then get back in time for as long as 15 minutes of sleep! Believe me, even that extra 5 minutes meant a lot…

Every once a week, I think it’s every Friday, there would be a company run, where we would all change to our PT attire & go for a run around the camp. That was my most enjoyed moment of the day, coz I love running & could run well… & after that, I knew that we could pack up & go home… something that I look forward to every single day. Just get away from all the annoying people & greasy work at 1AC.

Then there was our regular guard duty, where each soldier would take his turn, at least once or twice a month, staying back in the guardhouse, answering calls, checking visitors’ passes, going for middle of the night guard prowls, watching a little bit of TV (if the officer on duty is nice), etc… as well as the usual problem of surviving the night of mosquitoes & occasional lizards. This was when I learnt how useful it is, to keep my Army boots on, while asleep… so the mozzies won’t bite my toes & feet… though they still attacked my arms & face, at times.

Lastly, there was also the usual roster duty of closing up the company workshop at the end of each day. That was a tedious task for me, especially when the main gate was very difficult to pull down to close. It was old & rusty… & there the metal shafts had to be fitted into the gate ceiling, before the gate would even be able to be pulled down to close. Once in a blue moon, someone would assist me, coz each metal shaft was heavy… but most of the time, no one really bothered to come to my aid. Everyone was just eager to get out of camp. Anyway, after finishing my duties, I would be the last person to go home… hoping that it would be some time, before it was my turn again.

Finally, the day came when three of us Privates were told to report to the Ordnance Engineering Training Institute (OETI) for official training to become an automotive vehicle technician (A-vehicle), referring to tanks & armored vehicles. ‘B-vehicle’ would refer to trucks like the 3-tonners, motorcycles, etc & ‘C-vehicle’ would refer to cranes, tractors & such.

To be continued in my next Blog entry about my adventures at OETI…