Life in BMT (Part 1)
For me, BMT was one of the hardest times in my National Service life, no matter how much they say that it's only 'basic'. Considering that you have only 9 weeks (in my case) to finish so much, you are almost constantly busy, with no time at all for rest. However this was all subjected to how good your company is at organisation, me calling BMT one of the worst times in my NS life, you should already know that my coy was one of the more disorganised ones, as good as their intentions might be.
Field Camp
I would describe NS, specifically BMT, specifically Field Camp, as a time in your life that you would like to have memories of, but never ever experience. A good 'bad memory' if you will. There are days of which you sleep in the mud in the most uncomfortable clothes, feeling things crawl all over your body but are scared of moving to startle whatever it is that is crawling on your body or even worse, finding out what it is. In almost every tree you will find an ants nest, and you will often be forced to prone on it. This in addition to wearing a heavy hot jacket (military term censored), a heavy pair of long pants, a heavy pair of combat boots and a heavy long sleeved shirt. Almost every person would find himself with heat rash, which feels like a thousand bees stinging you without there actually being anything poking you at all. If you're unlucky, you'll contract some kind of skin reaction to the sweat, friction and heat, and you'll find yourself taking MC, only to restart three days of the Field Camp again, usually the worse three days. In the days you feel sweaty and hot from the training, and at night you feel icky and disgusting at night.
If you're privileged enough to be in the leadership batch, which is referred to as the batch of which most commanders (SCS and OCS trainees) are extracted from, you'll be privileged enough to go through a situational tests, which pushes you to your physical and mental limits to put you in high pressure situations which, of course, this means that you'll be subjected to an extra day of field camp. The limits of which I was pushed that day determined my willingness to go into command school, which dropped to zero. It was on that day that I decided to join an operational unit instead as a low ranked private. For those going through this tough week, good luck to you all! You'll look back on it as a fun memory, but the times you will be going through will be tough for sure.
And with that I'm finished with part 1 of my BMT life, which is around the 5 week stage of my 9 week course. Till next time!
Cheers,
Matthew Tan
For my coy, everything was almost the fault of the recruit and not because of the miscommunication between my direct commanders, which are almost always 3rd Sergeants. Therefore we would almost always be found in pushup position while getting shouted at for something going wrong, even when it is not our fault. Having a history of being verbally bullied, this was not an easy time for me, and trust me when I say I'm so glad to have BMT over and done with.
There are many activities that we call 'High Key Events' throughout BMT, which are defined as activities that we are required to complete in order to complete our training, the most infamous of which is field camp, known for being the worst time that you will ever experience throughout your BMT life.
Field Camp
I would describe NS, specifically BMT, specifically Field Camp, as a time in your life that you would like to have memories of, but never ever experience. A good 'bad memory' if you will. There are days of which you sleep in the mud in the most uncomfortable clothes, feeling things crawl all over your body but are scared of moving to startle whatever it is that is crawling on your body or even worse, finding out what it is. In almost every tree you will find an ants nest, and you will often be forced to prone on it. This in addition to wearing a heavy hot jacket (military term censored), a heavy pair of long pants, a heavy pair of combat boots and a heavy long sleeved shirt. Almost every person would find himself with heat rash, which feels like a thousand bees stinging you without there actually being anything poking you at all. If you're unlucky, you'll contract some kind of skin reaction to the sweat, friction and heat, and you'll find yourself taking MC, only to restart three days of the Field Camp again, usually the worse three days. In the days you feel sweaty and hot from the training, and at night you feel icky and disgusting at night.
If you're privileged enough to be in the leadership batch, which is referred to as the batch of which most commanders (SCS and OCS trainees) are extracted from, you'll be privileged enough to go through a situational tests, which pushes you to your physical and mental limits to put you in high pressure situations which, of course, this means that you'll be subjected to an extra day of field camp. The limits of which I was pushed that day determined my willingness to go into command school, which dropped to zero. It was on that day that I decided to join an operational unit instead as a low ranked private. For those going through this tough week, good luck to you all! You'll look back on it as a fun memory, but the times you will be going through will be tough for sure.
And with that I'm finished with part 1 of my BMT life, which is around the 5 week stage of my 9 week course. Till next time!
Cheers,
Matthew Tan
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