It is good to have a professional cadre of "Boot Camp" instructors and trainers. Recall personal experience of being trained at a certain facility specially tailored for inducting civilians and turning them into SAF automatons LOL... and later taking up (a role reversal of sort) of a one time "boot Camp" instructor in a certain operational unit training Mono-intake recruits.
Till this day still feel that we may have "short change" the mono-intake lads in a true BMT (Basic Military Training) fashion that we had the "privilege" to go through at Tekong.
The then Infantry Training Depot (ITD) at Pulau Tekong was a boot camp churning civilian conscripts into Army recruits, drilling them in the Basics of Military Training.
The instructors at ITD then consisted of a mixture of regulars (lifers) in the higher echelon (Platoon Sergeants, CSM, Company Commanders [OC] and above) and Full-Time National Serviceman (NSF) as section commanders/trainers (Corporals at that time) and even some platoon commanders, 2LTs freshly minted from OCS. Some of these NSF trainers were even our peers in terms of age only that they were enlisted earlier or in cases where some attended the 2 year Junior Colleges vis a vis the 3 year Polytechnic graduates.
By the time yours truly enlisted, the training company instructors were well "seasoned" having taken a couple of batches of recruits. Contrary to perception that taking recruits are not complicated affairs. This is only true when one has the Boot Camp Institution at your backing. The boot camp instructors have the advantage of doing only one thing - training recruits. They have institutional memory in the form of experience trainers to guide the new instructors. A specialised boot camp also preserves the SAF tradition and culture in a sense that all enlistees must go through in transit from a civilian to a member of the Singapore Armed Forces, this period in their lives is the most unforgettable, so by all means, train them hard, but also give them a good memory by giving them fair treatment.
Try shouting at a platoon of recruits and dishing out punishment that commensurate with their infringements. How much is too much, going too far? How to "takan" (Malay word for whacking) them but not to the point of abuse? (Get real, this is the military). How to "humiliate" them to shake them off their civilian mentality but not to the point of demoralising them? And then build them up.
The PTIs (Physical Training Instructors) were a class act ! Their white sleeveless PT shirt with the PTI emblem and black PT shorts. During our time the PTIs wore a kind of wrist band (if i remember correctly) also with the PTI emblem (?), stylo. The thought of PTs will make you break into cold sweat. Remember prior to PT lesson at 4pm, the whole company lads of a hundred odd of us strangely fell silent, changing into our vest and slack, with our M16 rifles, slouching at the bunk corridor waiting for impending "company fall in !" to what awaits.
That lanky and lean PTI stand tall on a pedestal and the grind begun. i don't remember hearing him shout. In his clear, calm voice we dare not disobey least we incur physical pain inflicting upon us. There was no need for him to shout. They dish out pain and exhaustion, making your muscles and cardiac go through hell, but just enough.
Throughout the session, our company PCs, NCOs were walking among us and watching out for recruits that might be on the verge of collapsed, "catching" them just in time. They were seasoned, well coordinated bunch.
It is not easy training a conscript force as oppose to an all volunteer force. Conscripts come in all shapes and sizes. They are "compelled" to enlist through the National Service enlistment act to come to boot camp. i suppose the TRADOC for BMT takes this into consideration. Striking a balance between realistic military training and preventing injuries to limbs and souls.
19 November 2013
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| in memory of a trainee (all good lads) 1973 - Spring 1992 |
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