SAVING CORPORAL KHOO

The day was to finally come. Section fire movement at one of the last few remaining untouched "forest", tucked away in a little corner at Paya Lebar Airbase.

We put on our SBO, then followed by our jockey caps. Luckily they never ask us to put on our helmets instead, cos I think I won't be able to think properly if I did so. Hehe... We began our tactical movement in file formation, occasionally taking cover near trees and longkangs as we walk towards that little haven of ours. And who would've known squatting down would be such a toture for us NSmen? Even me, a fighting fit 24 year old have some difficulty getting up from the squat position, you can imagine how much pain the uncles and ah cheks are going through everytime they have to squat and take cover.

And so we've finally reached our destination. As I walked among the grass and trees, a sudden gush of memories rushed to my head. It was like back during the good ol' FDC days with my platoon buddies. For that one moment, I felt familiar with the green surroundings, I was ONE with the forest... until a spider crept up my neck and I instinctly squashed it with my palm. Hahaha, no lar I merely swathed it aside... too messy if I were to smash it you see...

By this time, I'm beginning to show the strain of bearing the weight of the SBO, the one full water bottle and the rifle, which seems to be getting heavier by the minute. I sure am getting weak. Hahaha. My neck and shoulders seem so blardy stiff now I could hardly turn my head. *Gaahh*

We were assigned to do the section fire movement spread out in different parts of the "forest". As I walked to take up my position, I could not help but notice the abundance of insects (whoops, I nearly typed incest... wtf?! haha...) among the thick grass. Among them, lotsa grasshoppers, spiders, ants, and funny looking ones... you name it, they've got it... like very crowded hor. Every step I take, I don't know killed how many lives already. *Amitabha* Sinful sinful...

I slung my rifle to the front to prepare for the drill, and wondered whether are they gonna make me prone down while doing it. As the word "CONTACTED!" echoed through the place, I could not help but look towards my fellow peers whom, like me, were also looking at each other as if waiting for a sign from god himself. Hahaha...

One can almost certainly notice the hesitancy as expected of us NSMen in getting completely down and getting our no.4s dirtied in the process. As we cham siong with the section commander, you can hear people saying: "mai lar, ee lang wu siao bo? mai ar ni garang eh sai buay? wa lang si reservist leh! nabeh! kanina lar!" hahahah... damn funny. Like in every ICT, there's bound to have people who kpkb one. But we couldn't do without them also lar, cos' they provide the jokes mah...

When we saw that there was no way he's gonna budge, we sacrifice ourselves in the hope of finishing the whole damn thing faster so that we can have our lunch. Absolutely famished by then. The grass was quite clean actually, but god knows how many insects we've squashed when the fat bellies plopped down on them. Hahaha... I got myself a nice spot when I first landed. But that was not it, at the next leap I moved forward and was to land comfortably when I realised that particular part is wet...

Too late, down I went and my shriek momentarily shattered the tranquility of the place. "MY NO.4 IS WET!!!! OMFG!!!!" Hahaha, no lar I bluff one... how can shriek like a little girl? I uttered a "f***!" underneath my breath, and cursed my luck. I promptly got up, and squatted instead. Wah damn suay man, but heng ah the water is rainwater, not smelly one. I'll just wait for it to dry lar...

It was to be another hour of drills, drills and more drills before we finally get to pack up and head back to camp, and then to the cookhouse!!! Aaahhhh... food... gei wo yi dian chi de ba? huh?