Zit Seng's Superwall » reservist

Post ICT 2010 Review

Zit Seng — Fri, 28 May 2010 08:13:30 +0000

Last year’s ICT achievement was about an arcade game. This year, I couldn’t advance to the next level because the fire button was broken. Oh, too bad. But we didn’t have a lot of time to spend in the mess anyway. What would this year’s most significant ICT achievement be? Hmm, I can’t seem to pin it down to anything specific. So perhaps I’ll just mention a few.

First of all, I had breakfast at the canteen only 3 times. Yeah. Every ICT I seem to spend too much time and eating too much at the canteen. After ICT is done, I feel like I’ve put on more weight. So starting the last ICT, I decided that I shall start cutting down eating at the canteen. There was some small degree of success the last year. But this year, it was down to just 3 breakfasts in 3 weeks.

Then, on a more serious matter, I walked down the runway of Tengah Air Base for the first time ever. Funny that after having been in Tengah for almost 20 years, it’s the first time I’ve actually set foot on the runway.

Finally, there is this matter of the field exercise. Actually, it was considerably very “low key” and relaxed. But everyone’s grown old, gotten unused to mosquitos, bees, and well, out-of-practice being in the field, so it was nevertheless a significant effort for us to be deploying out-field for the exercise. By dinner time of the first day, I was developing a migraine and… hmm, I was having half a mind to fall out. I probably would have had my special indent of panadol not arrived. Thank goodness, the special delivery had good sense to get panadol extra instead of the plain panadol.

Despite some new blood injected into the flight, and everyone being very nice… well, I’m still looking forward to MR.

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The Making of Anti-Government Thoughts

Zit Seng — Thu, 13 May 2010 08:28:08 +0000

I told Vanessa on the second day of ICT, as I was preparing to head out: “Papa has to go army now.”

Vanessa looked at me, her face was painted in shock and disappointment: “Again???”

I told her, “Yes, and there will be many many more days.”

She asked, “But why you always go army?”

And I said, “Well, I also don’t want to go army you know. But the government wants me to go.”

Vanessa: “Why?” Yadda, yadda, yadda… “The government naughty?”

It will be nice if there could be this policy that fathers with kids under the age of 5 years old be excused from reservist liabilities.

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FOD Walk

Zit Seng — Tue, 11 May 2010 06:40:23 +0000

It’s almost 20 years since I first stepped into Tengah Air Base. In all that time (well, mostly just the two years of active NSF service), I’ve been to all over the air base, either on wheels or on my two feet. But there is this exclusive piece of real estate that I’ve only travelled on for less than a handful of times, and until now, never actually stepped on with my two feet. This piece of real estate is actually quite huge, and is, in fact, a significant part of the air base. It’s the runway.

The occasion? FOD walk. I could not understand why, during my active NSF time as a medic, people would report sick to get an “excuse FOD walk”. Back then, I’ve already heard what the FOD walk was about, and I couldn’t understand what was so bad about it that people want to be excused.

Well, I got arrowed for FOD walk. I still don’t understand why people want to be excused. Maybe the early morning sun is too hot for some people. There is no shade on the runway, obviously.

But I thought it was a nice walk. Despite this being inside an air base in Singapore, you could almost imagine like being in a foreign land. A scenic countryside. Huge expanse of flat land, rolling mist across the fields, hazy landscape of trees in the distance. As the sun shines on, and the mist starting to lift, you could make out structures of HDB flats in the “horizon”. It’s a unique view you don’t typically see in Singapore. It’s a view I’ve been familiar with in the past, but now I’m seeing it from a new angle.

As the morning wears on, the heat from the sun starts to get uncomfortable. Ah, maybe that’s why people want to be excused. The sun has been scorching the last couple of months, and it was no different for this walk. There’s the funny feeling of hotness on one side of your body, but coolness on the other. We (or at least a few of us) were suitably attired for the walk, so it wasn’t all too uncomfortable.

So how is FOD walk? Hmm. It would have been great to start on-time.

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T+3D: IPPT

Zit Seng — Wed, 05 May 2010 11:43:20 +0000

As you might have heard, it’s ICT time again, and today’s the third day. It’s IPPT day. For the first time ever, I went with the over-graft hand grip, and cleared the station. I’ve been using under-graft since forever, but always felt it was an uncertain struggle, so results were a bit inconsistent. Over-graft is supposed to achieve better results, but it’s difficult to get started. So there’s this great inertia to overcome to give over-graft a fair chance to show some results.

Well, early this year, I decided this will be the year I will start giving over-graft a try. For the last 3 or 4 months, I’ve been training on over-graft. It’s not as regular as I’d like, so it was slow. But finally, over-graft has worked out. I haven’t pulled under-graft in a while, but I’m quite satisfied that over-graft wins. If you’re thinking of “switching” the grip method, remember to give yourself some time. Different muscle groups are involved, so it isn’t something you can easily switch in a week or so.

IPPT today was almost unbearable with the kind of scorching sun we’re getting these days. The weather is just plain crazy. I’m just so happy that it’s over. Last year’s greatest ICT achievement would be the arcade game thingy. This over-graft business is definitely going to be something notable for this year, although still too early to say if it will be the greatest.

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The Annual Evil is Here Again

Zit Seng — Tue, 04 May 2010 09:44:18 +0000

Yes, it’s ICT time again. This year with a slightly older Vanessa who can ask intelligent questions. Questions like: “Papa, you go army again?” Or: “Why need to go army?” On day one, she was amused that my No. 4 uniform is green like her child care centre’s uniform. She commented, “Green, green, same!” Yah, but army is so unlike going to child care centre eh. But anyway, on day two, I think she wasn’t very pleased that I had to go army, again. I told her it will be for many more days. She asked, “Why?”

It’s a little sad to think how National Service is upsetting kids. Yeah, I know, work can also separate the kids from their father. But National Service is yet another thing. For a family with young children, it also upsets logistics at home.

It’s going to be many more years before she, and Ian, figures out the army thing. Then, Ian also has to do his National Service. I wonder how he would like it. Yah, he hasn’t even started child care, let alone school, so National Service is still a long way to go to think about now.

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My Greatest Achievement this ICT

Zit Seng — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:03:39 +0000

This ICT I achieved something. It is not something very spectacular or terribly significant. But as we try to spend the long hours as fruitfully as possible, this is nevertheless something notable, at least on a personal level. What’s that? Well, there is this flight simulation arcade game in the spec mess, I cleared the Intermediate Level.

Hey, it’s not one of those simple shoot’em up game. This arcade tries to simulate the flight mechanics of a real fighter plane. The plane doesn’t always point where you want it to point. It doesn’t always fly where you want it to fly. A straight-forward task like docking with the fuel hose from a refueling tanker plane can be quite a challenge too.

So with the Intermediate Level cleared, perhaps the next ICT I can start on the Advanced Level. (Actually I already got started, but couldn’t finish it before I had something else to attend to…)

This ICT has come and gone quite quickly, partly because it was interrupted by the arrival of Baby #2. We were slightly concerned about the possibility of H1N1 developments drastically affecting the duties and schedules. But fortunately, the ICT has passed without any change in H1N1 operating status.

We got a bunch of RSAF badges. Yet more freebies again. It’s part of their 40th anniversary celebrations. The 40th anniversary is something last year, actually, so I imagine they still had a great bunch of freebies which they’ve not yet managed to get rid of. We played our part in the 40th anniversary by helping to clear inventory.

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New SAF New Balance Shoes

Zit Seng — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:35:57 +0000

I’m surprising myself by writing something about SAF PT shoes. But the new SAF New Balance shoes are pretty good, so it is something worthwhile to write about. It looks quite unique (in a good sense), and the mesh material that covers most of the shoes make the shoes very airy and comfortable to wear.

The New Balance shoes weigh about the same as the Brooks shoes, the other brand of shoes which are also available at the eMart. The New Balance shoes also seem to be more comfortable for me, probably because it is broader at the toes than the Brooks shoes are. The Brooks shoes seem to be broader at the base, which could mean that it is more stable (I’ve not actually tried it so I can’t really compare it with the feel of the New Balance). I think the New Balance shoes are more flexible too.

But what is most interesting about the New Balance shoes is the mesh material that covers most of the shoe. You can actually see through the mesh. That also means that the shoes breathe really well, and lots of air gets through as you run in them. I think there might be the psychological feeling with cooler feet that makes you feel lighter and thus run better.

I took the shoes out for an early run yesterday morning. In the early morning, the air is cool enough that I don’t think the mesh material made any difference anyway. But I imagine that it could make a little bit of difference when you’re using it later in the day. In my camp, the IPPT 2.4km run usually happens around 9:30am or 5pm. At those times, the mesh material probably would feel good if the sun is shining strong.

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Annual Necessary Evil for Singaporean Men

Zit Seng — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:30:26 +0000

There is a certain even that is an annual necessary evil for Singaporean men. At least almost year, and for many Singaporean men. It’s reservist service, or In-Camp Training. Some like it, don’t like it, but almost everyone has lots to complain about it. In fact, it is so strange that even those who are not serving are part of the complaining lot.

The biggest dread of my reservist is that it is too long and it is too regular. It’s always been 3 weeks (this year there was a small little concession of 2 days). The reaction we get from our bosses and colleagues are:

I thought you just went recently only?
How come it is so long again?
How come you always have to go reservist?
How come your reservist is longer than everyone else?
Why other people don’t have so much reservist to serve?

Yeah and the list goes on and on. The trouble with having it regular and so long is that you always seem to be perpetually in reservist. You see, it is not just those who are serving that complain. The colleagues complain too. (As do the families.)

Think about it. There are only 52 weeks a year. Take away 28 days leave (that’s for me), 6 days of child MC, 6 days of child care leave, making a total of 40 days. That is 8 weeks off. If the conditions are right for public holidays, you could be off for another 2 weeks. If you take a couple of days MC, say 5 days, that’s another week off. Effectively, there are only 38 weeks left to do work.

Three weeks of reservist is plenty of weeks.

This blog post came about because, well you guessed it, I’m in reservist again.

This time, there are many things different. Some changes in people, some changes in working arrangements. Changes also in family and transport arrangements.

The weather has been one significant change too. There was a time when 34 degrees celsius was “abnormal”. In fact, anything above 32 degrees celsius was rather unusual. These days, 34 degrees celsius is becoming quite commonplace. The weather is really so super hot. The air-con in my bedroom (at home) doesn’t even feel cold enough at night… or maybe it needs refilling of its refrigerant.

One good thing, though, is that the activities planned for this ICT are not any worse than before. That’s really a good thing.

The SAF has “e”-fied and “My”-fied so many things: eSelf-Update, e-PREP, My Deferment, My NS Booklet, etc. How about “eReservist”?

Let’s serve our ICT online by logging in to ns.sg! That will be our 4th generation SAF.

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Mindef’s Concern Over Facebook

Zit Seng — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 12:17:09 +0000

I’ve been expecting some action from Mindef for some time. There is so much on Facebook about our military organizations, reservist units, operations, training, etc. My reservist flight has a Facebook group. So does the squadron, and some sort for the air base too. I was quite amused when I first discovered it. Particularly since even photos, even photos of myself (not taken by me or uploaded by me), appear in the groups. There’s nothing confidential or sensitive, but I just thought it quite interesting to learn about their existence in Facebook.

I’ve been wanting to repost some photos. It wasn’t so much the copyright matters that worried me so much, but more so about potential objection from Mindef. On the one hand, if it can already be found publicly online, would it really count that I am the one “leaking” information? Yet, I could be accused of helping to propagate sensitive military information. So I decided not to post anything. I’m not surprised that eventually Mindef put their foot down and took action, even if it is just issuing a warning.

Facebook is not the only Internet outlet for military information. I was quite surprised to learn many things about our own military from places such as Wikipedia. There is so much that, while on the ground you’re told is “secret” and that you’re not to tell anyone about it, yet you find exactly the same information, possibly even more detailed, somewhere online. Guess what else you get to learn from Google Earth?

Clearly there is no way Mindef can control or censor the Internet. They need a new way to manage their operationally sensitive information. It is going to be quite impossible to expect all our national servicemen to comply with their directives. Already simple matters like camera phones in camps are quite impossible to control.

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RSAF 40th Anniversary

Zit Seng — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:46:13 +0000

It’s the RSAF’s 40th anniversary this year. The last couple of years, the RSAF (and to some extent Mindef as a whole as well) seems to be making lots of effort to reach out to its “men” in more personal ways, to re-invent itself and to run itself like a modern private corporation. This is not bad, of course, since there are certainly some things that military organizations can learn from the private sector too.

So I was not surprised to receive their 40th anniversary commemorative book which charts its history and progress in the last 40 years. I think of all the things that we (Singaporean men) hate about serving national service, I must admit that the RSAF seems to have run things well. Even in the trivial little things, like TV advertisements. I thought the RSAF TV advertisements where inspiring and makes us feel proud of what they do. The Navy advertisements make naval warfare look like fun and games. Not quite the right image to project, I’d think, but they are nevertheless quite good too. The Army advertisements are rather uninteresting (at least to me).

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