Monday, December 28, 2009 . 9:00 PM
Back from the MRT camp and solo nightand WOO! it was great even though it ended abruptly.
Will tell you the full story now.
Oh by the way MRT camp stands for:
"Meerkat Resilience Training" Camp
It's gonna be a pretty damn long post,
I'll talk about it everything here okay?
Because im not really that active with people cos of the camps already.
So this is the only place i can share my days spent :)
Start things of with Christmas Eve's Solo Night.
We were given very limited equipments to bring into the forest.
But i shouldnt type too much here :)
Just in case next year's solo night participants read it.
For those that don't know, its part of our Venture Initiation Programme.
Where we 'upgrade' from Scouts to Ventures.
So the Solo Night means we spent one night out in the forest alone
with very limited equipments given.
3 components to pass the test:
Shelter.
Fire.
Eat.
So yeah, i completed it and... it means
I SURVIVED ONE NIGHT ALONE IN THE FREAKING JUNGLE!!!! WOOOOO!!!
K as usual....
Alot of stupid things happened.
Firstly, i didnt know my matchsticks were suppose to light up my candle.
-.-
I was trained to directly light up the tinder with freaking matchsticks itself. LOL
But it rained in the morning so all my leaves and twigs were wet.
And after i reached my 3rd matchsticks, i finally realised what the candle was used for.
with only 2 matchsticks left, i attempted but freaking failed.
So have to walk to justin's campsite to light up my candle and chiong back to my
firepit and only then did i successfully started my fire.
Then the freaking mosquitoes finally got chased off by the smoke.
...
Afterthat i cooked my dinner and miraculously went to sleep in my shelter
after eating.
The second stupid thing i cant type here. Cos next year i'll be repeating it to the stallions.
Hahahaha but it's really a HUGE HUGE uber scam. ARGH!!!
Mathew and I thought we entered another DIMENSION where time stops or something.
ARGHHH!HHH!!!
Okay but generally, solo night ISN'T easy as what i thought.
I initially went in to the camp carrying a 'aiyah no kick la' attitude.
But actually there was really a challenge to it.
Sometimes through the night alone,
we could always hear sounds that are alike to footsteps.
Like the cracking of twigs on the ground,
then will make you paranoid and look around the whole forest.
Although YOU know it that you can't see anything but dark shapes of trees
in front of the night sky, and radius of the pathetic light your campfire provides
in the pitch black forest.
It's only then where you think logically, and tell yourself it's the steps of animals,
probably boars or squirrels and monkeys moving through the floors.
But what is it actually..... nobody knows right?
It's the feeling of paranoia in the Solo Night that actually give the challenge
to whoever that'll participate in it. And i think that's a challenge that...
Only the strongest of minds can overcome.
Welll... i didnt cos i definitely felt paranoid in there. hahaha
But it was a definitely good experiece for all 5 of us :)
Immediately after the Solo-Night camp,
we took the boat back to changi vill, our reporting place for the next camp.
The MRT camp.
Meerkat came down and started the camp and gave us our instructions and stuff.
Then i shall skip all the way past our lunch to the official start.
From bishan, we did alot of urban hiking until we finally reached our end point
which is rifle range round at lower mandai area.
Gaoyang calculated 28km within 9hours.
So this means we actually completed a CCA hike distance within 1 day. LOL
Plus my leg havent recovered from the Venture Cord hike.
But i changed my walking pattern and yeah, doesnt hurt that much even though
i still feel pain cos of the incomplete recovery.
Then we went to rest at the park near the rifle range road.
The next day was the day we really learned alot.
Meerkat presented to us our survival kit, new jack-knife (I still love my own one)
insect repellent and candle.
Then we learned about jungle trekking and actually finding checkpoints inside the jungle itself.
"Scouting, they do urban hikes. Venturing, we do jungle hikes.
If you can get lost in the urban areas, what do you think about the jungle?"
so yeah... it is indeed a very important skill for us to master.
Pacing, Plotting, Navigating and adjustin from the 1:50000 map
to the 1: 10000 map.
Hahaha super fun and interesting and cool.
It was indeed an achivement went we manage to find 4/6 checkpoints in the reserve.
It was the jungle that the OCS used in their training too and the checkpoints were the same.
OCS wildcats BOAR, KILO, MALT, NEON...
Ask any relative/friends that've been to Officer Cadet School in their army days.
Im sure it'll ring a bell to them :)
Yeah mroe funny things happened, like the snake attack at the pavillion
where one tree snake scared the shit out of 10 16yr old++ BOYS AND 2 FULL GROWN MEN
And the funnier thing is that we shouted the same vulgaritiy TOGETHER! LOL
And there was this lag time of 2 secs where we stare at the snake,
and i was eating my curry chicken, probably the only one not aware.
Then suddenly "CH** B**!!!" then all jumped away from the pavallion.
Then i was like WTF?! and i got freaking shocked till i spilled my canned curry. LOL
And afterthat we were like laughing continuously for 5 minutes or so... haha hilarious man.
The next few funny things that happen were during the time we corssed a river from
MALT checkpoint to NEON checkpoint.
gaoyang wanted to throw his bag over, so he could get to the other side easier.
but while throwing over, his inertia overpowered him then he flew into the river HAHAHA
And his shoes went totally wet. Priceless man hahahhaa.
Then immediately after that, terry tried to go up the ledge but ripped a hole in his pants.
LOL the JJ started laughing like mad.
Then during mathew's turn, his entire pants from his crotch to thigh ripped apart.
Super sad case. LOL then JJ laughed even harder.
Hahaha more epic moments happened inside, when mathew's leg got stuck in mud
and when everyone used the bride and mathew jsut waded across the river cos everything
was wet and he had a huge hole in his pants. LOL
However, justin got sick with flu and he couldnt continue anymore.
Worm had heat rash on his back.
Mathew had rash too.
Dongkun left before the jungle trek started cos of an important dinner.
Renwei fell down and cut his shin on a wooden ledge.
So meerkat gathered us and told us that the camp would end at that point.
KInd of sad cos we really enjoyed the camp and definitely learned alot
from the jungle bashing and trekking. New experience and stuff.
And we know that he's got alot more to teach us, bt we really couldnt continue.
So we waited for Fareeq sir from 3pm all the way till 2am.
While waiting alot of things happened too. haha.
Like how justin raped terry on the hammock,
and how terry accidentally pulled my quick release knot for my hammock
while i was sleeping SO WELL, and i freaking flew off the hammock. LOL
Then Fareeq came at around 2am and fetched us home at around 4am.
Yeah good times and good experiences to share with you for these 2 camps.
Definitely learned alot and had a pretty damn good awesome time with everyone.
Sometimes i feel that our CCA really gives super good training and memories
to develop us mentally and physically, giving us skills that are really essential
for not just army, but really just about anything.
It really isnt a CCA which 'Train you for army"
Heard it so many times before, but really do they train you for army?
think about it carefully man.
Unlike them, Wichita "Train you for life." hahaha
Okay Survivor Camp is tmrw.
Finally got everything settled.
So excited to be the organiser. Hhahaha hope everything goes well.
STALLIONS! HANG ON TIGHT TO THE THREAD OF SURVIVOR!
FOR... THIS IS THE CAMP WHERE THE BEST OF BROTHERS....
TURN
TO
ENEMIES!
HAHAHAHAHA FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!