The BIG 'F'

Yesterday, I checked my results...and yes as the title says it, I flunked. Funny thing, I didn't feel demoralised the other time...I will have to bite the bullet and do my best. I don't think I did that for the last semester. This year will be MY year and no one else's! I will attain what I have set out to do and will achieve it!

Went out with friends last monday to the Small Claims Tribunal at Apollo Centre as my friend had some problems with her new phone.. Anyway, here are some pics which I took along the way...

Map of the Clarke Quay Station and its surroundings

The Small Claims Tribunal @ Apollo Centre

Old Shophouses along Jalan Pisang

More old shophouses

A refurbished old shophouse on the left

We had lunch here....

Dinner @ Jalan Kayu

Woke up @ around 0500 hours today...3 mornings in a row is no joke considering the fact that u sleep at around 0000 hours! Today's deployment, under Sgt Arman, has been relaxing. Just 3 flights only: East Concourse, CX714 to Hong Kong and VF301 (Arrival - From Bangkok) and VF906 (Departure - To Hong Kong). Im interested in the Valuair stewardess whose name is Beatrice Neo but haven't really spoken to her as yet. How I got her name? You must be wondering...From her name tag lar where else! I will strike when the opportunity arises!

Travellator approaching the Central Gate - to be used for Channel A

Today mum called and asked if we would like to have dinner at Jalan Kayu. I didn't mind as eating @ Compass Point has been dull already! The photography part of me wanted me to take the pictures so that I could post them on my blog...and here they are:

After leaving the Thanggam LRT station, I took this pic

Enroute to Jalan Kayu (Quite isolated, so don't walk alone!)

Walked past Jerry's BBQ & Grill

Finally, we reached the Jalan Kayu Prata Shop

Once we reached the shop, we discovered that our neighbours were there as well! What a coincidence! Mum felt bad as David paid for us. She gave me $50 but David would have none of it. Anyway, we really enjoyed the meal. I had 1 butter and 1 banana prata, my sis had the same while my mum had onion and egg prata.

Mutton Curry

Fish Curry

Chicken Curry and Ginger Tea

Butter & Banana Prata

I had real good fun doing this blog and I hope you all had the same too! Time for me to sign off already....Goodnight!!!!

Back to Civilian Life

Today's deployment has not been so hectic. The details are as follows: East Concourse, TG404 to Bangkok, MU568 to Shanghai and TG413 to Jakarta. At around 1045 hours before going for the TG404, there was a blackout with the air-conditioning included! I managed to take 2 pictures of the blackout before the lights came on again. Here they are:

Compare these 2 pictures with this one which is fully lit and the air-condition fully running:

I also managed to transfer the K-box photo to my laptop (with grateful thanks to Ms Diana).

This photo also happened to be the best out of the 2 which were taken.

From L-R: Balan Saram(5164M), Myself(6186M), Terence(5339M), Diana(5156F), Kartini(5108F) and Ryza(5066F)

I really enjoyed myself out there although I went off key a couple of times and when the pitch was a bit too high for my liking. Other than that, it was perfectly fine. That reminded me to download a new song for my blog entitled - Temple of The King performed by Rainbow which included Ritchie Blackmore and 2 other members all of whom came from Deep Purple. So ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the music while I sign off here to have a shave!

Back to Civilian Life

Today has been quite a hectic day...yesterday went to k-box @ Tampines for a sing along session, which proved to be as fun...went with Balan, Ryza, Kartini and Terence & Diana. Will post the pics once I have a hold on them..Went to church as normal in the evening, went to the foodcourt at Junction 8 for dinner and visited my grandaunt's place as part of the chinese new year festivities...In the meantime, I have posted a couple of pics for you to enjoy.

The Ultimate1 - Salted Vegetable Duck Soup

The Ultimate2 - Jiu Hu Cha (to be eaten with sambal and lettuce).It is absolutely delicious!!!!

Mum & Dad enjoying the reunion with Aunt Shirley1,Uncle Alan, Aunt Shirley2 (Uncle Alan's wife), Angeline and Amy

From L-R: Aunt Shirley1, Aunt Shirley2, Angeline and Uncle Alan

Everyone enjoying the delicious dinner!

Our new year goodies!

Back to Civilian Life

Ahh yes, after a long break and updating my blog like a mad man, I can now write my blogs without backdating them... Just got up from sleep and after the night shift as well. Sgt Arman required more X-ray operators and asked me if I were willing to help...I said ok...So here I was after finishing my afternoon shift, last flight was QF 5 to Frankfurt (one of my favourite flights as I could practice my German!), left C23 at around 2245 hours and went down to the locker room..(Will take more pictures soon enough). Apparently, it seems that other Aviation Screening Agents or ASA's have been asking their friends to tap the Staff IDs for them...Sgt Arman found that out and was fuming mad, not to mention another ASA, Puven, who re-timed his shift without asking Sgt Arman's permission. So just for the overtime night shift, I just did 2 flights - EK433 to Dubai and West Concourse....

Here are one of the 2 hottest chicks in the Aviation Screening Unit:

Nantida & Rai1

Nantida & Rai2

Fieldcamp @ Simpang (Part 4)

27 Jan 2005

27 Jan 05 will be a day to be remembered when 665 SIR turned operational. I remember Sgt Zac waking me up and telling us to get ready for the turn ops parade. And so we got ready, put on our SBO and helmets and mounted the jeep and proceeded towards the field where our parade was going to be held. Once there, we dismounted and waited for further instructions as to where to go next. Encik Toh called for us and told us to join one of the existing columns, not realizing that we were joining our other 106mm compatriots who were attached to Delta Company. We exchanged stories and came to know that the guys at Delta had seen so much of action and much much more than us. Anyway, we went through the thru ops parade, received our badge and proceeded for our breakfast.

The operational badge

After breakfast, we cleared the store, packed it into the 3 tonner and left Simpang. This marked the end of our fieldcamp / turn operational parade / 3rd In Camp Training. It was such a relief to have a full shower again!

Fieldcamp @ Simpang (Part 3)

26 Jan 2005

Woke up at 0645 hours to do the stand 2 until 0715 hours. Was shivering again. Just hated the cold mornings at Simpang. Breakfast consisted of glutinous rice and pastry filled with dry curry and green peas. Ate an extra piece of glutinous rice, just in case. After breakfast, I shaved but it took quite a while as the blade was blunt already. Looked into the mirror and saw that my face had a combination of tanned + oily + old! Looked kind of weird to me. I haven’t washed my hair ever since we entered Simpang and when I get back to camp, I would have to get rid of the little bits of sand stuck in and around my hair.

Me, My M-16 and My 106mm

Prow from the front view

Prow from the side view

Warrant Law came to our section and asked us to improve our prow and jeep. So I decided to get a parang to chop and collect some branches. The branches near the prow were good but they had an enormous amount of killer red ants which bit my hand and the lower parts of my legs. And boy, they can really bite! I abandoned the branches near the prow and moved to PC’s location instead to see if there were any good branches that I could use to cover our prow even better. And indeed there was! Branch after branch did I cut and handed them personally over to our section. Ramlee then helped to further camouflage our prow.

In and around the prow - part 1

In and around the prow - part 2

By 1000 hours, it was quite hot which all the more made me exhausted! Ramlee told me to stop as there were enough of branches. I took a break of about 10 – 15 minutes. As PC’s side was still in the process of having sandbags filled and put in their respective places. I really pity the guys at PC’s side. A lot of people were unhappy with the way Sufian worked. It is with no doubt that although he downgraded temporarily (pending a medical review), the way he did things was too much. Doing things slowly, taking his own sweet time, talking too much… basically anything and everything you could think of to not help the guys (in army terms, it’s called keng or chao keng).

How to man the gun in such hot weather?

Simpang in the Evening

I felt personally that he should not be helping with the prow at all. There were other incidents that happened that I do not wish to mention. Overall, he should be posted to some other unit where he will save us a lot of frustration and unhappiness. After helping out with almost 80% of PC’s prow, we moved back to our own section where we took a nap. Even though the weather was hot, it was cool enough for us. Later in the late afternoon at around 1500 – 1600 hours, we heard the sound of choppers flying around our area. These were the UH – 1 Huey and Chinook helicopters. Initially, I thought these helicopters were part of the exercise but later found out that they were from another unit having their own exercise at Simpang. But seriously, the sounds coming from these choppers were really intimidating. I can imagine if we were to fight a war, the commands given, firing of weapons, men running from one position to another, helicopters flying overhead, it could prove to be a very intimidating sight! Skipping to the late evening where our exercise was about to start, we had a quick dinner of instant noodles using the bunsen burner.

At around 1915 hours, we stood by waiting for the action to start. We soon heard communications from different sections of Charlie company relaying messages to and fro. As the hours passed by, it soon became evident that our gun, the 106mm Recoilless Rifle was not needed even if the 84mm and LAW ran out of ammo. PC even requested for reinforcement but to no avail. The least that we could say was that we fired, not the 106 but the M-16 during the exercise! It was until 5 minutes passed midnight that Warrant Law asked us (Jeeps 1 & 2) to have a small briefing. He briefed us on how we fared during the exercise and later told us to go non-tech. We dismissed and after that, cleared our arms and went non-tech. Luckily we did not fire blanks; otherwise our chamber would have been full of carbon! We reached our prow, took our positions and slept…

Fieldcamp @ Simpang (Part 2)

25 Jan 2005

Prow completed with 1st Overhead (Close-up View)

Prow completed with 1st Overhead (From Far)

After we had completed our prow at 0300 hours, Warrant Law and the guys from Jeep 1 (you could say excluding Lcp Sufian) helped us to setup the camouflage net. At 0350 hours, we were told to take a quick nap and then later at 0430 hours to refine our shell scrape. However, due to the tiredness, no one got up at 0430 hours! It was only at around 0550 hours that Warrant Law came and woke us up. I slept on the longest side of the prow (and I think that would be the only place to sleep on the prow anyway!)

Camouflage1

Camouflage2

When I woke up, the cold hit me like a flash! I told myself that the next time, if the exercise were to be held at Simpang, I must remember to bring a warmer with me. Anyhow, as I was approaching PC’s location, I realized that something was missing. It was my keypouch! I quickly ran back to my last location, grabbed it and then returned back to PC’s location. Once there, the extra sandbags we had over at our location, we brought it for PC as they did not have enough sandbags.

Once that was done, the Jeep 2 guys went back to our own location for the morning stand 2 which commenced at 0645 hours. At 0715 hours, orders were given to stand down. Breakfast was then consumed and followed by the daily routine orders. The guys at Jeep 2, including myself, finally managed to get a good rest. At 1100 hours, we improved on our camouflaging on both the prow and the jeep. Later, we had lunch and after that, another rest. Major Loh paid us a visit and told us his experience about the 106.

Works in Progress

Taking a break after filling sandbags

I find Major Loh to be quite long winded. I guess maybe he did not have much to say to us but I guess he wanted to prolong our meeting and that was why he took 15 minutes to talk to us. Afternoon left and evening came. While I was doing gun manning, Ramlee used the gas burner to make a kettle of hot coffee. It was quite refreshing (given the conditions of the night) and I consumed it while manning the gun. Ah yes, before I forget, Jeeps 1 & 2 practiced the reinforcement thingy. What will happen is that when either section is under fire, the section commander of either section will comms each other the group size, location and time. When that is done, only the section commander, driver and loader will come to the aid of the other section. The layer, however, will have to maintain his position on the jeep.

The other part of the reinforcement thingy was moving the gun to another alternate position. All in all, there were 4 alternate positions that we did. After my gun manning shift was over, I slept, awaiting what would happen the next day……

Fieldcamp @ Simpang (Part 1)

24 Jan 2005

Woke up at 0300 hours and could not sleep for quite a while last night. Packed the remainder of the fieldpack items into the fieldpack. Drew the M-16 and waited for breakfast (which was supposed to start at 0330 hours) but due to miscommunication, had breakfast at 0430 hours instead! Our 106 trainer, Warrant Law briefed us on what was expected and what is to be expected of us when we are in the field.

Once we have loaded everything up onto the 4 jeeps, we moved to the parade square where we waited for the men from Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and HQ to load up the 3 or 5 tonners. Once everything has been done, we left Clementi Camp at 0500 hours to head towards Simpang. The journey to Simpang was a long and cold one as it was quite freezing in the early morning. After a long and dusty passage inwards, we finally reached our location.

Once there, Chiang, our driver, moved the jeep into position. Attached to Charlie Company were the guys from Jeep 1:

Section 1: Lt. Jeremy, Cpl Wong, Lcp Yusman, Lcp Sufian and Pte Azib
Section 2: 3Sg Nizam, 3Sg Zackaria, Lcp Chiang, Lcp Ramlee and Lcp Shaun

The 106 jeep upon first reaching Simpang

As soon as we could see first light, we started to unload the stores. The first thing that we started to do was the filling of the sandbags with sand and with the cool breeze coming our way, we started from 0 to about 200 sandbags. At around 1030 hours, we started to see other units coming in. These units were not part of the battalion exercise and had planned to carry out their exercise on the area where our prow is!

A little while after most of the equipment have been setup

Our unfilled prow at 1st location

Our M-16 rifles clustered together while we put sand into the sandbags

It was then discovered that these units were the Combat Engineers. Our new Commanding Officer or CO, Major (NS) Lim came personally to us to tell us both the good as well as the bad news. The good news was that the engineers would help us with the movement of our stores to our new location and the bad news was that we had to pack all our stores and rebuild them up at our new location.

Our new location!

After the setting up of the prow, in the hot morning and afternoon sun, the engineers started to bring the sand and filling up our prows ¾ full with the other ¼ to be filled with sandbags. Now was the prow was being filled with sand, we were CONCURRENTLY (this term being very familiar to us given by our very own, Lt. Ben-na-den) filling up the sandbags with sand.

The Sand

The Filled Sandbags

This process of filling up the sandbags and dropping them into the prow started at around 1100 hours – 24 Jan and ended on 0300 hours – 25 Jan. I was very pleased and happy that we had completed the task. What made us feel even better was that we broke the 668 SIR 106mm record of which they completed the prow at 0400 hours. We had a special supper to keep us going – roti prata and kopi ‘o’ from Warrant Law….