A bit of my NS Days
Recon (US) or Recce (British) - To patrol looking for enemy movements and facilities in order to gain information. Generally, contact is avoided if at all possible.
- Marine Corps Dictionary
Basically, that was what my training during National service involved. Playing hide and seek.
We hide from the enemy while seeking information on them.
My deputy (DY) always explains simply when trying to impress the gals, "You know James Bond? Right...we are the army version of him..."
LOL
From BMT (Basic Military Training) to SISPEC (School of Infantry SPECialists), and on to SMI (School of Military Intelligence).
I must say my NS days were fun, tough but fun .
Why tough?
We had to carry extremely heavy backpacks and walk 80km in less than 24 hours. that's one good example.
and I never knew I could ever get the gold award for IPPT (fitness test) till I became a recce commander.
Example:
Pull-ups
Before NS - ZERO or half...
Recon days -10 to 12
2.4km
Before - 15 mins plus plus plus
Recon days - 9 mins or so
I would probably dread my NS life (that's 2 and a half years for u, NOT 2 years) if I had gone the common & 'popular' goto BMT->"section...CHARGE!!!" aka chiong sua (charge hill) route
Instead, i was 'blessed' to be selected to be a recce spec. I guess the life kinda suits me. Like our school symbol, I was an owl. The infantry would operate and conduct missions while we sleep in the day. Come evening, when pple start to sleep, that's when we become alive!
We learnt about almost everything...can say we are jack of all trades but master of none! We went thru a bit of medic training (those needles were HUGE...we could see the bore thickness unlike the usual injection needles u see! We wld almost faint when our partners could not insert properly and start to 'navigate' thru our veins!!!), heli-ops training, combat engineer training, survival training (conducted by rangers who we deemed as psychopaths with no life but the army), signal training, and best of all, our bike training! heh...we Brigade Recon Company people ride bikes (Honda 180 scramblers then) most of the time! Not many military units have such privy and fun like us.
We hide from the enemy while seeking information on them.
My deputy (DY) always explains simply when trying to impress the gals, "You know James Bond? Right...we are the army version of him..."
LOL
From BMT (Basic Military Training) to SISPEC (School of Infantry SPECialists), and on to SMI (School of Military Intelligence).
I must say my NS days were fun, tough but fun .Why tough?
We had to carry extremely heavy backpacks and walk 80km in less than 24 hours. that's one good example.
and I never knew I could ever get the gold award for IPPT (fitness test) till I became a recce commander.
Example:
Pull-ups
Before NS - ZERO or half...
Recon days -10 to 12
2.4km
Before - 15 mins plus plus plus
Recon days - 9 mins or so
I would probably dread my NS life (that's 2 and a half years for u, NOT 2 years) if I had gone the common & 'popular' goto BMT->"section...CHARGE!!!" aka chiong sua (charge hill) route
Instead, i was 'blessed' to be selected to be a recce spec. I guess the life kinda suits me. Like our school symbol, I was an owl. The infantry would operate and conduct missions while we sleep in the day. Come evening, when pple start to sleep, that's when we become alive!
We learnt about almost everything...can say we are jack of all trades but master of none! We went thru a bit of medic training (those needles were HUGE...we could see the bore thickness unlike the usual injection needles u see! We wld almost faint when our partners could not insert properly and start to 'navigate' thru our veins!!!), heli-ops training, combat engineer training, survival training (conducted by rangers who we deemed as psychopaths with no life but the army), signal training, and best of all, our bike training! heh...we Brigade Recon Company people ride bikes (Honda 180 scramblers then) most of the time! Not many military units have such privy and fun like us.
Such is the life when you earn the jungle hat and the short modified carbine rifle. man...wat was it called? The AR-15?We even gave ourselves callsigns...as I loved gadgets so much, my company called me "Gadget"
pretty cool name no?
I miss those days
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