Samuel Liew’s Blog

At last I have graduated from BMT! I have uploaded pictures to Facebook.

At last I have completed 3 months of BMT (Basic Military Training), and my graduation ceremony is on the 13th Mar, Tuesday. Uncle Philip and Azaac will be coming to attend and support me :)

On friday I completed the 24km route march. It was actually very easy, as we walked slower than the usual pace, because our company was placed behind and therefore ‘slowed’ by the others. Usually my company would take about 35mins to walk 4km, and this time we had to follow the schedule of 1hour per 4km. Every 4km we would have a 15min rest, and we had a 1hour dinner break halfway. Amazingly, nobody in my platoon fell out of the route march.

Although I wanted to go to the I.T. show at Suntec today, I felt that I didn’t really need anything, and changed my mind.

I also recieved my SAFRA membership card. I was pleased about that as I can use the facilities during my free time.

On this bookout, I brought home most of my stuff. The duffel bag weighed about 25kg.

For those enlisting for NS, here is a list of things that you need for first two weeks of BMT but is not stated (based on my experience). The first two weeks is also known as confinement weeks as trainees are not allowed to go home, unless there’s a public holiday.

• At least $10 worth of 50c/$1 coins (for vending machines)
• Scissors
• $5-10 for e-mart /canteen breaks (if you are lucky)
• Pen for taking notes (notebook provided)
• Permanent black marker (to label your stuff with)
• Extra plastic bags for dirty laundry, misc. use (about 2-3)
• Enough underwear for two weeks (depending on your usage)
• Clothes hangers (4 should be sufficient)
• All-in-one body soap/shampoo (so you don’t have to bring too much), facial foam (you should wash your face after trainings)
• Toothbrush and toothpaste (you can use the one they issue to you, but is not recommended as you have to pack that set for outfield use, so bring another set)

Optional:

• Extra roll of toilet paper
• Extra handphone battery
• Battery-operated shaver
• Febreeze (anti-bacterial/odour spray for clothes, for those who are lazy to wash clothes in camp) (Sold in NTUC. Get the anti-bacterial one. I think it’s purple in colour)
• Washing powder and brush (for washing clothes if you are siao-on)
  - Alternatively you can just use febreeze and re-use your clothes, bringing them home to wash at the end of the week
  - Tip: Try not to wash your army stuff with other clothes at home; they really turn the water brown. The velcro on the new uniform may even damage sensitive fabrics like dry-fit/microfibre.

You can bring in the items below when you get to book out the first time. Most of them can be bought at beach road market (link at bottom of post). You can get them in advance, but bringing too many items on the first day is not recommended as you already got A LOT of stuff to carry up the stairs to your bunk (I’m not joking. They are going to issue you with about 30kg worth of equipment, and generally instructors don’t like you to drag it up the stairs). Update: Some of these are now issused in BMT during enlistment – check first before buying.

• Plastic ziplock bags for packing personal equipment for your field pack. (Note the number and sizes they ask you to get. Those thin ones for packing food are not acceptable; get these from beach road)
• Thick trash bag x2 (to line the inside of your field pack so your stuff don’t get wet)
• 2x large can of prickly heat powder
• At least two rolls of black tape and one roll of colour tape (colour depending on your platoon)
• Slippers
• Waterproof watch
• Nail clippers (do cut your nails before you enlist though)
• Spare pair of specs for those who wears them

Optional:

• Swimming goggles (if you cannot swim 50 metres without it)
• More clothes hangers, clothes pegs
• Wet tissues (Recommended item: removes camo easily, bring for outfield trainings. Watsons usually sell a pack of three smaller packs with 10 wet tissues each. I brought in three of these mega packs and they were just enough for use throughout BMT)
• Reading material, UNO card game (for free time. No poker cards allowed)
• Pain relieving spray (in case you are prone to muscle aches and sprains from strenuous activities. I never needed to use such an item)
• Some plasters
• Battery-operated radio
• More coins for vending machines
• Snacks (cup noodles, biscuits, etc. Only dry food allowed)
• Thirsty Hippo (or similar brands. Recommended item: removes smell and bad odour from your locker)
• Spare lock and two keys (a lock will be provided on enlistment, but get another in case you lose the one given)

Gray-area items depending on company
(ASK for permission if you want to bring them in, do not bring into camp during BMT):

• MP3 player
• Handphone charger

Other Resources:

• Official NS Preparation Website
• More info on BMT
• How to pass IPPT
• Ranks in the SAF
• Army discussion forum on sgforums.com
• SAF army lingoes
• Beach road market (Google Maps)
  15 Beach Rd S190015

Related Posts:

• My BMT Field Camp Experience

My field camp was a memorable one. I felt that the platoon has improved on the way they do things. For example, now the bond in our platoon is stronger, we are able to work better together, and most of us now think of others before self. We also respond faster and do things with more sense of urgency.

We were introduced to field discipline during our field camp. Some of which I find very useful, some appropriate, others inconvenient. We were told that we should treat the field camp as though as we are in a real war, by applying the field disciplines appropriately.

Although I perceived the field camp to be very tough, as in endless punishments from the commanders, it turned out that most of the field camp was not that – the objective was to impart skills and knowledge to us.

During the field camp, we were tasked to help move stores and set up the admin tents. My platoon was very co-operative and we got the jobs done fast. I especially enjoy helping to set up the tents.

Spending the few nights with my platoon, be it in our basha tents or under the stars was also memorable. The ground was hard and uneven, there were many insects, and it was cold. In spite of all this, I still managed to get some sleep.

During the field camp, we went through many lessons and tests. Concealment and camouflage, range card drawing, fire movement, immediate assault / sniper / arty drills, etc. Learning and putting them into practice was fun. The activity in field camp that I like most is the fire movement practices. I was looking forward to it as we get to fire plastic blanks.

We had a night movement on the fourth night. I thought it was going to be a tough road ahead, but it was like a stroll in the park because we had to be quiet, and so walk slowly. We even got to sit down and enjoy the wind and the stars for a long period of time.

Another activity during field camp that I looked forward to everyday was the powder baths, where we get to sprinkle prickly heat powder on ourselves, covering all our sweat, smell and dirt. It was refreshing and made it easier to sleep at night.

There was an incident on the third day, when our platoon sergeant got mad because we did not meet his expectations. He made us run about, crawl through the muddy water, then everything out and in. The platoon’s morale went really down that day, and I tried to encourage several people, who looked like they were almost ready to give up. At least the next day we got a shower break.

In conclusion, this field camp was a memorable one. There were ups and downs in morale, energy ran low at times, certain activities were tiring, but we still have to continue to give our best. I learnt a lot from the lessons and hope to put it into practice in the future.

Today, I brought Azaac out for a movie (Happy Feet). The movie was not really interesting. We bought dinner home, and played some computer games before his parents came to pick him up.

I have just recieved my national service enlistment letter to report on 16 Dec. Now I cannot go for the JG camp -_-”

Today I went for the medical checkup at CMPB. I was late by 30 mins because the bus driver gave me wrong directions. There were more people there than the previous time I visited, but the process was faster because I had already done the X-rays and IQ test previously (saves about an hour or two). I was graded PES-A.

After that, I went to school to submit my IPP logbook & report. I had lunch there also at about 3:30pm. After that I went home.