Sunday, December 26, 2004
haha, been so long since i blogged. back for 3 days liao.. the experience lyk so much to write.. tink i'll just paste the essay i'm supposed to hand up to ocs.. haha, quite long though.. too much crap.. haha
Jungle Survival Training
On the fateful day of 13th December 2004, we were all suited up in our penguin attire, ready to jump into our next phase of training, our Jungle Survival Training, at Lakiun Camp in Brunei. Exhaustion was evident as we boarded the bus indented to bring us to Paya Lebar Airbase. Everyone concussed once we boarded the bus, all the way till we entered PLAB.
Aboard the C130 we went. Squeezed in like sardines with no space to move our legs. Deep Vein Thrombosis was surely a danger, wonder why SAF did not think of that, with all the emphasis on safety. Engines roared to life, people scrambled to put on their earplugs, and then succumbed to the Z monster once again.
3 hrs of leg numbing boredom later, the Charlie suddenly struck the runway and woke half the cabin up, off we got, and were immediately introduced to Brunei’s fierce midday heat. Ushered off onto a bus, then onto a small boat that roared through the estuaries of Brunei, captivating sights and the cool breeze was amazing, yet we were unable to appreciate them as we were anticipating tough times ahead of us and none of us were in the mood to enjoy. As soon as we stepped of the boat, our next connecting mode of transport was already waiting for us. Talk about impeccable timing. Off to Lakiun Camp. Doesn’t seem as bad as I expected as we arrived, lunch was pretty decent as well. Rest of the day spent to settle stores, people rushing about, checking stores, making sure uniforms weren’t torn, buttons were not missing, didn’t have time to rest at all. Barely settled the stores and off we were to the Auditorium for briefings, went back to bunk and immediately issued uniforms and continued to unpack our barang barang. Foam mattresses and stained pillows will be our source of comfort for the next 10 days. Rain pounded on the zinc roofing of the longhouse we resided in, yet the rest was heavenly.
Day 2 was as rushed as the 1st, in the morning survival lesson was planned at 7, got into trouble with 1SG for being late with the jerry cans. Lesson went on as planned, edible plant food? Interesting and also quite delicious. But the main attraction was the skinning of the quail, chicken, rabbit and catfish. Each of us was handed a quail to decapitate, skin and consume. “For one to survive, one must die. A survivor’s own preservation takes precedence over humanitarian principles.” Whatever, food is food, nothing will get in my way. Next up was pace and compass course, pretty much the same as back in OCS, the only minute difference perhaps was the density of the jungle, just a tad denser than what one would ever find in Singapore. Many of us simply lost our sense of direction and wondered about the small plot of land like lost sheep. Rain again came without warning and ended our exercise prematurely. Seems like the monsoon is working pretty normally, many of us began to worry for our survival phase, rain was definitely going to dampen our morale when we’re in the jungle.
The 3rd day dawned upon us as soon as our exhausted bodies lay upon the bed. Struggled off to the final exercise before the real challenge began. Followed instructor around the jungle, learning fine points about navigating in close terrain and also pointers on easier movement in the jungle. Exercise ended early afternoon, went back and had time to pack for the survival phase, had lots of things to prepare, thrown into trash bags for inspection in the evening. Carbo-loading went on in the night when we had our 1st canteen break since we stepped into Lakiun Camp. Venders struggled to keep up with our orders and food took awhile to reach all of us. Most of us went back to the bunk to call back home one last time before our isolation in the jungle began.
Insertion day, woke up for an early breakfast. Took our fill and had our final inspection, loaded onto buses and off we went. Immediately the heavens above cried for us as rain poured upon the minibuses and washed away our morale. Into 4 Delta we went on assault boats, waving goodbyes to friends that we’ll see 4 days later. Site 11, mud up to the boots due to the rain. Cursing our luck we went around looking for sites where our predecessors had previously occupied, hoping to pilfer materials from the site. Vines were scarce and weak, taking no more than a tug to break. Repeated tries to setup my A-frame was destroyed when the vines snapped as I tried to tighten the knots. Shouts from Sean alerted us to a green viper at his site where he’s chopping down trees. Brutally assaulted the poor viper and decapitated it and hung its lifeless body on a trunk, waiting for reward day. Back to building a shelter after a brief period of joy, again down heartened by the vines. At the end of the day only managed to get the 2 A’s of the shelter tied up. Alvin had already completed his and was adding his shelter. Harboured at his site for the night, manning my signal set throughout, had a sleepless night trying to find a comfortable position to rest, which was practically impossible as 3 of us tried to squeeze into one shelter. Constantly attacked by the mosquitoes which seem to come in swarms at a time. Thank god for insect repellent and sandfly net.
5th day in Brunei and the 2nd in 4 Delta. Woke up with hunger feeling alien to me. Seems like I never needed to eat, perhaps I’ve already passed the hunger stage on the 1st day, nevertheless I took a few licks of salt, need some of the minerals for my body which will be subjected to its toughest test ever. Off to work and day 2 was much more successful for me, managed to finish the shelter with vines pillaged from site 13, and also constructed a monitor lizard trap and fireplace with much nagging from Sean. Took my first load of Apoi water, tastes like Tekong water, doesn’t seem as bad as it looks. Stole a little lick from the glucose pack in the FAP. Pure pleasure. Slept in my own A-frame for the night, had much more ease getting to sleep then yesterday, glad that I gave my all today.
6th day, woke up tired and lifeless, devoid of strength and motivation to do anything, assessors will be coming, pulling every source of strength I had, put on my soaked and muddy combat boots with my shaking hands. Seems like the lack of food is starting to take a toll on my body, had less strength and seemed dull and lethargic. Had to spend 2 hours putting on my boots. Struggled about setting up my monitor lizard trap and building my fishing rod and also carving my utensils from wood, managed to produce a crude pair of fork and spoon before I heard the instructors starting to arrive on assault boats. After the assessment, given some ferns, sweet potato and tapioca to eat. Immediately tried to start a fire with Sean. Perhaps too exhausted and famished, Sean passed out and fell face flat into the mud, I quickly turned him around and saw him bleeding from the nose, and totally weak. Called Alvin over to look after him and went to comms back to HQ. Casevac-ed him to the assault boat and went back to cook with Alvin’s fire, night was fast approaching and we had no time to cook all the food. Sean came back just before nightfall and we shared whatever we had cooked and threw away the rest that we had no time to cook. Tomorrow’s off for Escape and Evasion, no point keeping the food around. Gathered all our equipment together and all of us slept at Alvin’s for the night, with his shelter supplemented by bedding from my shelter, thus making our sleep more comfortable than the 1st night.
7th day, supposedly the last in the jungle, extracted early morning to some other place where we got our resub. Had some milo, which was the best drink we could have had at that time. Immediately munched on some of our rations before we moved out. 1st checkpoint Naga, took 5 hours to navigate there as it was virgin ground and we had some problems finding our way, 3 more hours to the closure of the gate, our group started getting a bit panicky as we were not prepared to spend the night outside of camp, went off for base camp with increased pace. Caught up with the other 2 teams who were 1 hour ahead of us, then we took a wrong turn and got lost again. Couldn’t find our way as we did not plot our way. Got desperate and started bashing north, encountering the worst terrain we’ve ever faced in our life, practically chopping with our parangs all the way. Finally hit the road and found we were 2km away from base camp. 15 mins left to gate closure. Depressed, we had to harbour outside for the night, yet we couldn’t get back into the vegetation as there were plantations all around. Along came a rover and came WO Farhan. Took us back to the back of the camp where we harboured for the night. Thinking all we had to do was to step through the gate tomorrow, we happily chatted through the night and slept in the rain without putting shelter over ourselves.
Day 8, last day of jungle action. Went into camp and got the shock of our lives, we had to navigate back to base camp from Naga again. Morale dropped. Took it in our stride and went all out, with LTA Tan guiding us along. Finished in 2 hours and 20 mins, and finally, no more jungle. Bathed and dekitted, and went for AAR at the Auditorium, got another bomb dropped on us. Seems like we violated rules by walking on the road. Commander Lakiun wanted to fail us immediately, however instructors managed to reduce it to the failure of our E&E phase only, but our pass/failure would depend entirely on our Survival Phase. We had to attain 62.5/100 for the Survival Phase to pass JST. Morale dropped to an all time low through the whole afternoon, no way am I prepared to come back to Lakiun for another round of jungle training. Dejected and slumping into depression, we were called by SI who will inform us who failed JST. Relieved that I didn’t fail in the end, but still sad that my course mate in AGC failed. Mood was spoilt for the whole day.
9th day, left Lakiun early in the morning to go to Jalan Aman Camp, where we’ll stay for the last night before boarding the plane early next morning. Went to visit 3 museums, utter boredom. Then off to Yayasan Shopping Centre, nothing much eye catching. Buffet dinner at some hotel, nothing spectacular. Jerudong Amusement Park in the night, last activity before catching some precious sleep, nothing much too, most of the rides were already closed by the time we got there.
Last day, woke up at 3 to hand over bunk, final inspection. Off onto the bus to take us to the airport. Knocked off to dreamland immediately after sitting on the seat. Woke up and trudged to customs, through and into the plane. Home sweet home.
Brunei, with wonderful sights and sceneries was the setting for our tough Jungle Survival Training that lasted all of 10 days. Even though it was one of the most testing periods of our lives and many of us were brought close to breaking point, it definitely marks up as one of the most memorable experiences of our lives, yet one experience that I’m not willing to relive as I lack the courage to face the tough and rugged Brunei jungle again.
