This is the photo of my detachment during our live-firing at Nee Soon camp. We've finally come to the end of our BMT. Thereafter, we will move on to our vocational training and all of us will be separated into our respective vocations. When I first stepped into our bunk and saw all these people, I've never thought that we would be so close. A few days after our enlistment, we have already gotten so comfortable with each other that we follow each other around, even to the toilets. Detachment 3 has shown me that hugging a guy is not gay at all. When shit happens, we hug one another to encourage each other. When something calls for celebration, we hug each other as well. During our parent's engagement day, we expressed how we felt about our detachment and we realized that we actually felt the same way. In just 2 weeks, our bonds within the det grew really stronger and almost all of us mentioned one thing, 'I think our detachment is really united.' I remembered that we set visions for our det and one of which was to get Commando Gold for our IPPT by the end of BMT. We all work towards our common goal as one det and during admin time (break time), we spent lesser time calling our loved ones and squeezed out a bit of our time to do push-ups and abs training so that we can all achieve a Commando gold (and the body of Kian Chang). As seen from the picture above, our detachment has achieved the best in IPPT in Alpha company. I must admit that without me, our det would have scored a better results. My 2.4km run was the slowest among the det but I've never felt inferior or horrible because they have never make me feel that i'm a burden in the det. During the basic Airborne Selection, Daniel Ong and Zhen Hong ran beside me the whole time, encouraging me to push myself so that I could hit below 12min 30 secs and pass the basic airborne selection. They were always there when I needed help and soon I became rather dependent on them for moral support. I struggled quite a bit during the route marches and I often call for my det to march together so that we can talk cock sing song and our morale will be higher and it's easy for us to push towards the end of every march. Afterwhich, we became to rely on each other for moral support. Every route march, my det, not just me, would call out 'det 3! det 3!' and we will gladly form up together side by side, getting ready for the dreadful route march. For the 24km route march, we all started out strong as we sing pop hits like songs from Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and other ad-hoc songs that kept our morale high. After we've reached the halfway mark (12km), we were quite physically drained because we were marching very fast and that even our Commanding Officer said that we reached our camp too soon already. We were supposed to take 8 hours to march but we took 6 hours instead. The pace was too fast but I felt good that we can actually make it for fast march. So as for me, I lagged behind and I was marching with the other detachment people and my blisters were killing me. Before we commence the last 6km walk, I told myself that if I'm gonna make for back to camp, I'll really be impressed with myself. The last 6km was a torture and the pain on my feet was unbearable. For the final 3km, I think I kinda gotten used to the pain and continue to walk. I felt like a zombie, walking aimlessly and wondering where i was heading to. My mind was switched off and all I could think of is to walk, and walk, and walk. For the last 1km, I told myself that I started the route march with my detachment, I'm gonna end the march with my detachment as well. So I burst off and walk as fast as i can to catch up with my detachment people and I did despite the unbearable pain on my feet. I caught up with my buddy, Shawn, and shouted "I'm back!" and he responded with "Oh Yeah!" and he pushed me back into the file. For the last 300m, our morale was at the peak as we sang the Commando songs as loudly as we could, almost near to shouting. We started out strong, we finished it off strong as well. 

The Basic Inoculation Course was another fun yet tiring event that we got to experience during our BMT. It is a course where the trainees are brought into a place with simulated warfare and the instructors were firing live round about 1 metre above our head. I joined the detail which comprised of platoon 3 people and soon my buddy, Shawn, joined the detail that I'm in as well. During the course, I kept telling myself that I don't wanna be a burden to my buddy and no matter how tiring I am, I'm gonna push on. While leopard crawling, I kept chanting in my mind, "I'll do it for my buddy, I'll do it for my buddy..." and I was rather shocked that I was the first guy that crawl towards the destination. Chanting that mantra really gave me the strength and my buddy and I were the first pair that completed the course. It was a shared experience that no one can ever take away from us.

It was really an awesome journey with these bunch of strangers, that transform into friends and then into brothers from buddies. We came from different background, most of us were from JC,, some were from poly, some were dropouts and some came back from overseas to serve the NS. If I were to be given the chance the relive the BMT for the next 1 year and 8 months with the same awesome people, I would. We have to move on and go on with our lives. Adaptability is an essential part of NS, we shouldn't just stay within the comfort zone where everything is about rainbows and sunshine. Time to time, we must move out of our comfort zone and seek for challenges and adventures, where our life will be more enriched. It takes a pair of hands to type out what I want for myself, but it takes a lot of strength to pull myself away from this comfort zone that never exist anymore. For the last 5 days of my BMT, Gabriel kept mentioning that he's going to miss us a lot when we're all split into our respective vocations. We didn't echo it but we all know that we felt the same way. After we knew where we were going for our vocational training, we were told to pack our lockers and get ready to move out of our bunks. I stepped inside our bunk and I looked at my locker, I told myself 'Screw this, I'm not gonna pack my locker.' This is the kind of familiarity that I want forever, and I just wanna stay inside that bunk with my det mates, jumping around, making sick jokes and insulting each other during our admin time. Kian Chang and I went to the gym on Saturday, and he told me what happened on the very same day. Jamie and KC went into our bunk, Jamie sat on his bed and he said "Screw this lah I dont wanna pack my locker!!!!". Then Jamie teared a bit. When KC saw Jamie tearing, KC teared a bit as well. The reason for those tears was obvious and no one has to ask. On the same day, I had lunch with Shawn, Gabriel and Gary. We were extremely quiet on that day, but I knew why I was quiet. Tears will well up in my eyes if I start speaking so I rather not say a word. Gabriel had a few mouthful of food, then he looked up and gave a big sigh. He looked at Gary, then Shawn, and then me. I looked back at him in the eye and we both know what we were thinking, then I looked away. I saw Gary's tears welling up in his eyes, as he looked at me and said "Hey, I'm gonna miss you a lot, I'm gonna miss have a music jukebox in the bunk." I couldn't control myself anymore, I was holding the tears by gritting my teeth. I took the last spoon and put my hands behind my head, laying back on the chair and pretending to look up. Gabriel knew what was going on, so he asked "You alright?" Tears welled up and I cried. I took my food tray away and went up to my bunk immediately. I went inside my bunk and saw Daniel Ong with his eyes red, but I went straight to the window to cool myself down. So my buddy came and asked me if I'm okay. "Would you miss the detachment after we're gone?" I asked him. He responded, "Erm I don't know, I like new opportunities." Sometimes I wish that I could be as emotionally strong as him. After about 15 minutes, I lay down on my bed and Daniel told me that it's okay to admit that I have cried, they all cried too. I hug Jamie immediately when i saw him around in the camp and we both said that we have already started missing our detachment. Our attachment for each other is just so strong and it's gonna be hard to let go. These are the people that has kept me motivated and strong throughout this 8 weeks and even though we will all be separated, we should really be glad that at least we had each other once :)

Here are the list of people in my detachment:
1) Timonthy Ong: He is our bunk IC and during the first few weeks of BMT, he guided us in whichever ways possible regarding the army stuff. He is the one that ensures that the whole bunk is clean so that we wouldn't get tekan by our sergeants. Its also partly because he is a bit of a perfectionist.

2) Lee Zhen Cheng: He's from Ngee Ann poly. He talks crap all the time, and sometimes, at the wrong time. I was quite annoyed by him during the last few weeks of BMT and now he is also in the demolition force. I guess I just have to accept the way he is and just endure his crap for another 2.5 months. Nonetheless, he is quite a person with character, and selfless at times.

3) Andrew Lee: He's from ACIS and he drives a BMW. He was from an acapella group in his school and hence, he became one of my singing buddy. A great guy to talk cock with, and a suitable person to ask advice from regarding relationship.

4) Toh Rong Fan: He's from JJC. He's a quiet yet a comical guy. He always sit in front of his locker and stone there, while listen to our conversation and laugh a bit whenever its funny. He has a really defining body and it's every guy's dream to have his body. Brendan described him as a turtle because he eats his food real slow and he really look like one.

5) Daniel Ong: He's from RJC and he's probably one of my greatest buddy that I've met in army. We are quite similar in many ways, one of which is that we're both not really an emotionally stable person. In another words, we cry very easily. I'm really glad that I've met him because he has been there for me the whole time. Whenever I feel down, he will be the first person that I'll talk to and he will give me advice that is helpful. Although he is from RJC, he's a humble figure and he doesn't make people feel inferior. He is definitely one of the people I wanna keep for the rest of my life.

6) Brendan Poh: He's from NAFA and he studied Fine Arts. He drew really well for our V3R vanguard sheet which basically is the defining body of Kian Chang. Although he is 3 years older than us, I don't feel any age barrier between us. He is quite a shy person but when he is in our detachment, he can be really wild sometimes. Its really a pity that he didn't make it through the BMT with us but we will always consider him as part of detachment 3!
7) Shawn We: He's from CJC. He is my buddy for this BMT and I must say that I have learned a lot from him. He didn't teach me anything verbally, but he has shown me many things during his action and his behaviors. He taught me adaptability: 5 days of field camp without bathing, he said it was fun. He taught me endurance: A back full of heat rashes during field camp, he didn't complain a single thing. Marching under the hot sun at approximately 42 degrees with a cough, he still push on while i became breathless shortly after. He taught me speed: Its not about fast, its about preparation beforehand. Every night before he sleeps, he would prepare everything for the next morning so that he wouldn't have to rush. I picked that up from him after a few weeks. During the field camp, he asked me, "Am I a good buddy?". I told him, "You're the best buddy I could possibly have." I really meant what I've said and without him, I might not be able to endure this BMT. He has taught me many things that I wouldn't get to learn elsewhere, he's definitely another person that I'd never wanna lose. We have similar interests, we love to shop and we love to jam music. During our free time, we would jam songs like Pumped up kicks, Runaway Baby, Grenade, Dynamite etc and we gave Hi-5 whenever we complete the song. During recruits' night, we jammed Please Don't Go on stage and it was really a great night and a great finale for my buddy and I. He's also an idiotic Grammar Nazi that never fail to correct my English such as 'me and my buddy' to 'My buddy and I'. I'm lucky to have him as my buddy.

8) Vicnesh: He's from YJC and he's probably the slowest and the most unorganized person in our detachment. Every morning we have to rush him to fall in and when there's only 5 minutes left, he would still take his time to brush his teeth. Very often, we would make fun of his perky man boobs because its really perky I swear. Nonetheless, he's a great guy to hang out with.

9) Kor Zhen Hong: He's from AJC and he's a really nice guy to talk to! Although he got Commando Gold for his IPPT, he remained humble about it and encouraged us to aim towards Commando Gold. Lucky to have him in our det as our motivator.

10) Jamie: He's from VJC and he's also a great national badminton player. He can be quite cocky about his badminton achievement sometimes and we would always try to put wet blanket on him. During the live firing at Nee Soon camp, he didn't get marksman for the first time and he finally get it for the 5th time. We would always make fun of him regarding his gunning skills and he doesn't get pissed about it too. A great person to talk about girls with and share about the past. He would also help me with my standing broad jump by teaching me a few useful exercise that trains my quadriceps muscle.

11) Daniel Tan: He's from JJC and we met each other during our vocational assessment. There's this time when the instructor told everyone to look around and help to do an attire check. So he turned and looked at my left shoulder, and then he asked, "Boy where's your IPPT badge?" Asshole hahahaha. Those that didn't not clear the IPPT will not get a badge and I'm one of them. But I've finally cleared my IPPT!

12) Dion: He's from AJC and he's another great guy to talk to. He's also my singing buddy especially chinese songs.

13) Anselm: He's from ACIS and his name really pronounced like 'handsome'. He has a twin brother in 
tekong. He's our hydration IC and I can safely say that he has done the most job in our platoon, respect!

14) Gabriel Kwek: He's from Oversea family school and throughout his lifetime, he has shifted to many different places around the world. We would always make fun of his American accent and he would always complain that the American accent is his natural way of speaking. I foresee him also as one of the greatest buddy of all time in my NS life. He's also the person that I hug the most in the detachment because he's soft and tender hahaha. We would sometimes make fun of him being gay and he would always play along with us. Sometimes he will say things like "Last night at 4am I dreamt that I was sleeping with you on your bed, then I woke up from that dream and went back into my own bed." Really a great person to hang out with and gonna miss having this sick person in our detachment!

15) Kian Chang: He's from SRJC and he's also another person with a great defining body that every guy dreams of! Ivy always mention to me about him and finally, fate brought us together, not just in commando unit, but also same platoon, and same detachment! We got close during the BMT and sometimes we would go to the gym together. He's the person that always share the same thought with me, mainly the thought of wanting to go Out Of Course and become a clerk. Now that he's in leader course, I hope that he will eradicate that thought and focus on being a great leader and then a great commando officer!

16) Gary: He's from JJC. He is slightly different from us as he's quite a socially awkward person. He told us that he doesn't really talk when he's in JC and he only started to open up to people when he came into our detachment. We helped him a lot, helped him to overcome stress that he couldn't take on his own, helped him to be more stronger and tell him not to allow anyone to bully him. I hope he will be a stronger person.

17) Wei Rong: He's from TPJC. He's one of the people that I often talk crap with and we have a common girl friend that we always talk about. He is also a motivation for me because he can run even though he has quite a big built. He's always a happy-go-lucky person and I guess we spend more time insulting each other rather than speaking properly hahaha.

We're not just buddies, we're a band of brothers :)