Handicapped in army is also known as pikachu, pai ka pai cui in hokkien.
I had completed the FO Challenge at 7.15am. It was a long journey from the start point, lower Mandai to the end point back to camp. It all started at 2.57pm and it started to rain since we reached the start point. Before we started, we were already quite drenched. Our boots are starting to “flood” and the moral is getting lower. We kicked off with a slight drizzle. Hopes are in the air.
But soon later I reached my first check point, it started to rain heavily again. I had difficulties writing the codes of the check point. My notebook got very wet even if I covered myself with my raincoat. It was a very bad day to do navigation and at the same time one have to write the codes of the check points on paper which is rain unfriendly.
Walking with flooded boots, we continued on to stage 2 at about 8pm. We walked “along” Bukit Timah Expressway, BKE and had a few test stations along it. All of us stated to have blisters and abrasions. Then stage 3 in Marsiling training area at about midnight. By then, we were all tired and had difficulties to walk but we still pushed on. Using our GPS, we navigate to 4 test stations at different places. I felt like they purposely place the test station in difficult locations. They were all on top of the high ground and we had to walk a very long distance up. We even had to walked a long distance and make a U turn in order to get to one of the stations.
We took a lot of unnecessary routes which we had wasted a lot of time and energy in. Stage 4 is Homerun at about 5am. We walked along Mandai Avenue and Mandai Road back to camp. We took our time to walk back. We were not tired actually. The whole challenge is not difficult. The difficult part is that it rained. It caused our boots and clothing to be wet and caused our feet to crumple and resulted in blisters and abrasions on any other parts of the body. Even a not trained up soldier can take part in that challenge. Yoyo told us that we have to go for the 16km road march and 10km endurance run to built up our body. It is in fact not necessary for most officers ad we already had the kind of physical fitness. My friend who had not gone for any can complete the challenge, so why can’t anyone?
Finally, we got our jungle hat and a certificate to signify us completing the first FO Challenge. There are a lot of things to improve. The stations have not enough equipment as a result people have to wait for a long time for their turn. We almost got the wrong way because there is no light sticks to demarked the routes as we are not given the exact route in paper.
All is over. Yesterday, it took me a few minutes to take out my boots and socks, another few minutes to walk to the toilet, and back to bunk. I had so much difficulties walking around that I sometimes had to walk against the wall or hold the railings of the stairs.
It will be a long recovery before I can run again.
tata…
I had completed the FO Challenge at 7.15am. It was a long journey from the start point, lower Mandai to the end point back to camp. It all started at 2.57pm and it started to rain since we reached the start point. Before we started, we were already quite drenched. Our boots are starting to “flood” and the moral is getting lower. We kicked off with a slight drizzle. Hopes are in the air.
But soon later I reached my first check point, it started to rain heavily again. I had difficulties writing the codes of the check point. My notebook got very wet even if I covered myself with my raincoat. It was a very bad day to do navigation and at the same time one have to write the codes of the check points on paper which is rain unfriendly.
Walking with flooded boots, we continued on to stage 2 at about 8pm. We walked “along” Bukit Timah Expressway, BKE and had a few test stations along it. All of us stated to have blisters and abrasions. Then stage 3 in Marsiling training area at about midnight. By then, we were all tired and had difficulties to walk but we still pushed on. Using our GPS, we navigate to 4 test stations at different places. I felt like they purposely place the test station in difficult locations. They were all on top of the high ground and we had to walk a very long distance up. We even had to walked a long distance and make a U turn in order to get to one of the stations.
We took a lot of unnecessary routes which we had wasted a lot of time and energy in. Stage 4 is Homerun at about 5am. We walked along Mandai Avenue and Mandai Road back to camp. We took our time to walk back. We were not tired actually. The whole challenge is not difficult. The difficult part is that it rained. It caused our boots and clothing to be wet and caused our feet to crumple and resulted in blisters and abrasions on any other parts of the body. Even a not trained up soldier can take part in that challenge. Yoyo told us that we have to go for the 16km road march and 10km endurance run to built up our body. It is in fact not necessary for most officers ad we already had the kind of physical fitness. My friend who had not gone for any can complete the challenge, so why can’t anyone?
Finally, we got our jungle hat and a certificate to signify us completing the first FO Challenge. There are a lot of things to improve. The stations have not enough equipment as a result people have to wait for a long time for their turn. We almost got the wrong way because there is no light sticks to demarked the routes as we are not given the exact route in paper.
All is over. Yesterday, it took me a few minutes to take out my boots and socks, another few minutes to walk to the toilet, and back to bunk. I had so much difficulties walking around that I sometimes had to walk against the wall or hold the railings of the stairs.
It will be a long recovery before I can run again.
tata…
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