Blood and Sweat, =DDo take note first, all Part B's and Part C's in NCC (air):
Sir Jeffrey Goh is offering Perak expedition, from 12 Nov to 14 Nov. Its $30 per cadet, and it's a first-come-first-serve basis. Priority goes to Part B's, for Part C's went for Endo Rompin. Please don't keep it to yourself and spread amongst yourselves, this is URGENT. I need the names by today, Sunday. Those interested please email me ASAP at balthus_ben@hotmail.com or SMS my phone.
I'm back from Senior Spec =D I think I really really learned something from the course, besides the drills, but more than hard skills. A quick recount =D
Senior Spec Course: Day I
I walked into the store to find Weikit and Yongliang changing into their no.4s. Got my borrowed badges NAPFA (gold) and Orienteering and pinned them onto my no.3. Kinda grabbed Weikit's air notes and started studying (I did'nt know so many notes were avaliable!) Then we took a taxi and choinged to HQ.
As expected, an NCC camp. We marched to our company line (Echo!) and I was allocated to Echo 2. At the admin table I saw Mdm Fateha again! Werid thing was, her nametag now said "Nurfa" o.o bah. Falled-in with PT shirt and writing materials, and changed out, went to attend RSM lessons.
The CLTs rushed us like crazy, but it was the "rushing to wait, waiting to rush" issue AGAIN. We waited for about 15 mins for RSM, SGT Major Christopher Bryan De Silva, but it was worth it =) as dry as his lessons were, he was very interesting and kept making jokes in his lesson. Haha such a nice person ^^ Lessons on duties as a USM, giving commands, etc. Then a new way to form up a squad =D Cool advanced foot drills ^^. I intend to teach it to you guys as soon as you all perfect your current foot drills.
Then was pacestick drills. Held a real pacestick, the ones there really SHINE. Nothing much here, Sirs Idham and Alfred (My section officer!) just taught us all the basics. I took this like a revision o.o Following that was arm drills! We learned advanced ones like julang senjata and more, taught by Sir Fann Hao. Planning to teach you guys as well when you guys mastered your drills. Then there was another lesson by the RSM about parade organising, and I like the quote by him:
"As a person I cannot change the world, but I can change the world for one person."
This was really meaningful =) Night fell, and it seems like we ran out of things to do o.o So we whiled away the time with Sir Alfred (hard to differentiate from his twin!) and we ended up clarifying all our drill mutual for tomorrow...and sort of deviated to other topics.
Then after briefing by the Echo OC (I think I heard him call us something...inappropriate. Refuse to say) and Sir Alfred, we rushed back to our bunks to get to bathe first ^^ Then I met the crazy Joel (Joesph Mathias! OMG SUPER MIXED RACE. Chinese-Portuguese-something esle!) and Jeffrey (Aaron De Vries! A Dutch-Chinese!) Woah. Two Eurasians XD So we just settled down and went to sleep after talking abit.
Day II
Awoke by some violent shaking which is suspect was Joel. It was about 6am. Mrrmph. It's assessment day (!) so I refolded my no.4 and got down earlier, still looking at my air notes (the little test paper that was all I had =X) Then we drew rifles and marched to near the rifle range at some far, ulu corner of HQ o.o
Drill mutuals started! With arms first, I was picked to be first. O.o my mutual was hormat kehadapan (saluting to the front). I'm going to re-teach this drill, what is being taught currently is WRONG. The salute should be covering not the muzzle (as taught by seniors) but the arm guard. That got me marked down for my negitive example ._. pfft. After that was foot drills. We let the Muslims go first, they had to attend prayers later. Some guys gave drills like "berhen...ti." We were all like AGH CAN'T HEAR YOU IC. My foot drill was hormat kehadapan as well, and I think I taught it rather well. I saw Hui Yang using the 'Echo after me' method and used it as well ^^
Then it was lunch. All the Land East guys were like YEA ASSESSMENT OVER and were "tormenting" the other air guys =X After lunch was "Personal Admin" time, just to pass time while waiting for the Muslims who were at prayer. The Land guys slacked while the Air guys mugged o.o Kinda hard with Joel Mathias bugging me. Man. Such a cool last name.
What followed was some camp planing excercise, then more lessons by the RSM: Badge placement and Ethics and Decorum. There has been some changes on the uniform, I'm thinking of bringing it up to Mr Goh. Then during ethics, a male in uniform cannot be seated in the presence of a female standing.
That means I can forget about sitting down in an MRT.
AHH XD And finally, the last lesson by the RSM, was the Ten Simple Rules. I feel that this applies to all NCC cadets, not just the five of us. The Ten Simple Rules are:
1) Punctuality - being on time makes everything go smoothly
2) Dressing & Bearing - kinda self explanatory
3) Hair Cut - Like dressing, is self explanatory
4) Paying of Compliments - Not just to seniors, but to the people around you
5) Marching from point to point - Explains. Itself.
6) Dicipline - Is vital in everyone of us
7) Leadership by Example - because modelling after another is the best way to learn
8) Helping out one another - like the fingers on a hand, no two people are alike. Help out others when you can :)
9) Being Proactive - Things are'nt going to happen while you sit about
10) Lastly, Enjoy yourself =D - because only then, you'd want to do it ^^
Ahhs. After lessons was dinner, then East and Air were separated. For obvious reasons o.o THE TEST. Jeffrey wished me luck by lending me his pens =D We all fall-ed in and Major Gary Pek was there..oh god I'm nervous. I felt really unprepared. We moved to the lecture theatre. Novell was seated beside me with another North View friend of hers. They seem super confident! I was very very nervous still, keep restudying my sad little test paper. Mug mug mugmug. I was in a world of my own =X Then the OIC of the course saw my paper and:
"Where did you get the paper?"
"Oh, NCC website. Why sir?"
-To the whole crowd- "Guys, the test is easy. If you've done the one on the site...most probably you'd get 99%"
The whole room cheered o.o everyone was scrambling for those with the test papers. I kind of relaxed =D cause Jeffrey made sure I memorised the paper in the bunk eariler. Star Sergeant taught us how to make Stars =D
Then we did the test. Omg 45 min test became 65 seconds test ^^ EXACT SAME PAPER. Then Major Gary talked to us Air leaders about our trainings, took down more notes =)
Turned in, this time I took the upper bunk. My Bunk IC took the lower, for...rather obvious reasons XD
Day III
I KNOW, I'M AWAKE JEFFREY. STOP POKING. We gathered everything, then nothing much eventful happened during After Action Review (CHS is in the books! 2SG Tan Yong Hwee declares Training Programmes, closed XD) then then we had one rehearsal, then the GRADUATION CEREMONY.
I sat beside Jeffrey. Everytime we clapped, the whole course sort of clapped in rhythm, and we both chanted "Lanyard,Lanyard,Lanyard!" together XD I liked the speech by the East Commander Major James. Then the ceremony ended, I helped to carry chairs back, then Joel, Jeffrey and I became super enthu and RAN back to fall in.
I could hardly stand still and keep a straight face (but I did) as Sir Alfred approached me, took the lanyard, and put it around me, teaching me how to wear it. Then he permitted me to smile XD He gave me a few parting words of taking care of my unit as a USM, and gave me my envelope =)
Aahah after that we were dismissed, Joel got his rank "confiscated" by Mdm Fateha! Ahah we went to the canteen later and got high sniffing our lanyards =) Gave my contacts to Joel and Eleanor. Then met up with the Cat High guys again. Sir Fann Hao gave me some parting words later on passing down the knowledge to our units. He saw me joking about just now XD (*puts rank on left side* "Wahh so heeaaavvyy" *leans left*)
Ahaha, I'm so tired, but kinda happy =) Thank you all for teaching me so much during this course, CLTs Fann Hao, Idham, Alfred, Mdm Fateha, and crazy bunkmates Joel and Jeffrey XD you guys give meaning to the rank and lanyard ^^
Onward to bringing our units to greater heights =)
Balthus
Labels: Senior Spec Course, tired o.o