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Ok. This is like two weeks worth of stuff, so do excuse me if I sound rushed. I'll probably miss out some things, there's just been too much going on for me to think straight (probably a bad thing, given my circumstances which I'll get to later).

I actually posted something on the 20th, but no one saw it until after I booked out from the long confinement period, which is a real pity. Some people didn't know I had been selected for the NUS medicine test/interview until just a few days ago, due to my carelessness.

Anyway, about the 10-ish days in camp. Remember how they promised us Hell++ week? It came damn close. The super long week began with a field camp, but it was urban ops, which made it somewhat more fun. No running around in mud and dense vegetation, just dealing with buildings and urban environments. It was in some abandoned village place, and some parts of the training were suspiciously akin to Counter-Strike >.>. The fact that this time our rifles (SAR21s) have Laser Aiming Devices and scopes just made it cooler. All we got to shoot were blanks though (duh), but we slept under shelter! Omg! The sandflies were another thing, my hands/neck/face still bear the scars of numerous bites, no exaggeration. The thing about untended urban environments: prime breeding ground for all sorts of parasitic insects like mosquitoes and such. Even the godlike SAF repellent (it pwns so hard that putting it on your skin makes it burn like napalm, which is why most of us started off putting it on our clothes, until we realised the magnitude of the foe we faced) couldn't stop them form ruining everyone's sleep.

Also did some interesting stuff in camp this week, such as fire a live HEDP (High Explosive Dual Purpose) grenade from a M203 Grenade Launcher. By the way the recoil in grenade launchers is like GG. First time I fired and wasn't prepared, the rifle jerked in my hands so hard I think I hurt my thumb. The we fired the MATADOR (Man-portable Anti-Tank, Anti-DOoR), which is like one step down from a rocket launcher. There are sub-calibre rounds that we used, instead of using live rounds for each person (the stupid weapon is one use, basically in a real operation, it's fire and throw away >.>) but they did do a live demonstration of a MATADOR with a real projectile... While the weapon is recoiless, they didn't mention anything about shockwave-less. Standing about 50m away, those of us who weren't prepared for it were almost thrown back. It was honestly quite scary, to the point most people were quite glad they didn't have to fire the real thing.

That night the unimaginable happened, we got granted a NIGHT OFF! Everyone was full of conspiracy theories that night, some suspecting the OC of trying to garner favour for himself, others suspecting it was some sort of elaborate ploy. Well, that same morning the OC had punished us severely witha session of Defaulter's Parade. Oh well, just enjoyed the night, well tried to, with my bunkmates. In actuality it was spent trying desperately to organise with my father the intricacies of my portfolio and such for submission, a tricky feat to pull off given I am a) in the army, b) my parents are overseas, c) the due date for the portfolio gave me no time to do by myself, d) my teachers were overseas (recommendation letters).

Oh yes, then there was the chemical defence exercise. Gas mask, gas suit, into a smoke chamber, CS gas hoo~. I never really knew why riot police used water cannons and tear gas together until that day. The gay thing about CS gas is that it reacts with wet surfaces (I learnt this the hard way, standing in the sun with the full chemical defence gear on is NOT funny). Then we went into the chamber, small groups of 10 at a time. Something to note, even with a gas mask, it didn't provide full protection from the gas. You could still feel it, in your mouth, up your nose. Terrible feeling, tasted sort of spicy in a way that makes you want to puke. Up the nose it just feels like snorting wasabi, only the gas wasn't very appetising. Then they made us do the worst thing. Remove the gas mask, undo the top part of the gas suit, such that my head and neck were exposed. This is when I learnt how much CS gas hurts, not your eyes, but your wet SKIN. My goodness, my sweaty neck was burning like someone spilt concentrated acid on it. We had to report our rank and name and ID number, before WALKING out of the room. The effort took a toll on me. I pretty much stumbled out of the chamber choking. The disgusting spicy feeling gets all the way into your throat and windpipe, and up your nose into your eyes. My nose was leaking mucus like nobody's business, not a pretty sight. My eyes were stinging too much to see either. So it took me about 2 minutes to recover enough to look around and walk straight, coughing, blowing my nose. So yeah. Beware the water cannon + CS gas combo of doom.

Section Live Firing ended so late that by the time we got to sleep it was about 3.30am. We got up as usual the next day at 5am to get ready for our second field camp of the long week, this Monday. I believe that in the first day itself we had three people faint from exhaustion from the company, and on Tuesday it got no better, another two cases before our OC called an exercise cut. I think he finally realised how far we'd been pushed.

Anyway, regarding the whole portfolio, after a couriered post, trips to my aunt's office, and major edits to my personal statement, I finally submitted the thing to NUS, just barely on the deadline of the extension they had afforded me given my circumstances. Highly stressful stuff. Basically, this long weekend has jsut been spent preparing, reading up and mentally gearing myself for the test and interview to happen this Monday and Friday. My stupid company still insisted I book in tonight for my test on Monday, and worst of all, Friday will be the final day of the most terrible field camp yet, spanning from this Tuesday all the way to the end of the week. They didn't spare me any slack either, I will have to book straight out from the island where it's held, go straight for the interview (stopping by home to shower/shave/regain any standard of hygiene I would have lost after 4 days of gruelling hell in the jungle). What about sleep, rashes, insect bites, fatigue, hell, even administrative stuff I have to settle? I'm so glad for a God to whom I can simply commit all these troubles to and go forth in faith, knowing He will provide. This application is literally a turning point in my life, and it's outcome will undoubtedly affect it's course dramatically. So here goes nothing.

Got a lot of things to settle, I should be out of camp by this Saturday, so expect to hear news of the final tough week of training in this course (BSLC, this coming week would be the 7th/8 weeks total course duration ^^), and news of the interview and test =).

For Eternity!