I just booked out from BMT after live firing and I have to say, I realised I've matured a lot. In terms of discipline and self-management skills, a year ago I would have floundered in BMT. Now, even though I barely possess the skills needed to make it, I am able to manage my time and learn everything as I go along and more importantly take care of myself. A feat I would never have thought myself capable of a while ago.
Indeed, I think a large part of all this goes to my family, i.e. my mother, father and brother and not least of all my new coach, John. He has indeed quite inspired me to go beyond anything I previously thought possible during training and sparked off more than ever my drive to excel and win. I think it was mainly this that forced me to take more care of myself and to be willing to make the sacrifices to go all the way.
A good example of all this, would be my trip to Oxford to see my brother. I know for most people, this would probably have been fine but I've never personally been on a trip to anywhere on my own, least of all without my parents . The experience was pretty freaky but on the whole enjoyable and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.
Anyhow, enough with the deep stuff. Whoo! Hard work for a person who hasn't used his brain or gone to school in a year.
I had live firing the two/three days before and I did quite well. I also had one of the worst experiences in my life. True, it lasted less than a second but it freaked the hell out of me. Suffice to say that we have one blur soldier in my platoon by the name of Jonathan. Halfway through our live firing, when we just moved to the 50m mark for the standing shoulder position, from which there is no foxhole of sandbag to hide behind but a blank empty space, our CSM calls out to us to talk to us as there is a slight delay in the shifting of targets. Jonathan turns his head and along comes his rifle. Loaded with 4 rounds and cocked. Scares the wits out of me. Fortunately, the CSM screamed "Don't move your rifle! Your rifle always points forwards! Can't you move your head without your whole body turning? J* b**." Now that I think about it, the rifle was set to safe. Still, it was a very unnerving experience. One that I hope no one else has to go through.
So, 11 days in the army. Or 10 and a half. 1 full day, 3 times reported sick,3 X-rays, 8 ECGs, 6 days MC, 6 different doctors (1 Cardiologist), 4 nights spent in my own bunk, 1 night in the sick bay, 9 days in pain and 3 days attend B. And still no idea what's wrong with me.
This sucks.
My mom just noted that my brother is going to be a quarter of a century old this coming december. Hmm... I only just realised when she said it and it just sounds so old. A QUARTER of a CENTURY.
Well, I'm back home. I got disharged on MC. For two days. After spedning a whole day and two half days in camp. Hmm... It took me 10 hours, past medical history, a lot of chest pains, which was actually true, and abnormal ECG readings but hey, I got discharged. Funniest thing when I got discharged was when I was waiting in the Medical Centre to be discharged, the MO (Medical Officer) comes over and says, ˙eah, you've got nothing to worry about, we don't think it's anything serious, we're just going to send you to CGH cause of your and your family's medical history." And he walks off into his office. Immediately after that, a medic enters the room from an adjoining corridor and proceeds to set a large case down in front of me with the word "resuscitator" printed in bold on the front. Thanks for the vote of confidence.
Anyway, things have been okay in camp. The place is very nice and I've got fantastic sergeants and a great PC. I think it could be cause we're the youngest and smallest platoon in the company. Only 21 campred to the 50 in other platoons. And two of us are 17. Compared to say... oh... 20, 21 or 22 in most of the other platoons. My PS knows my cousin, apparently, which is cool. Weird but cool and he's really nice and all, so it's good.
Heh. Compared to my brother's time, this seems to be a breeze. Probably cause of all the recent deaths but the sergeants are all pretty concerned and tell us to just sound off if we're not feeling too good. That and apparently they can't punish us in the first week. Which just finished. Yesterday. Cause my first week started on Friday. Heh.