Now that you’re past confinement, training has probably ramped up in intensity and hopefully you’ve adapted well to the military environment 🙂
From now onwards, you’ll be exposed to many new activities and will have to push yourself. Below is a list of upcoming activities that you’ll go through in the time you spend on Tekong.
Rifle Presentation
See full article here.
Basic Close Combat Training (BCCT)
Ten combat lessons, where you learn to punch, elbow strike, kick and knee jab, strike with rifle etc.
Standard Obstacle Course (SOC)
A standard part of NS, as shown in Ah Boys to Men, comprising of 12 different obstacles (as shown below). The good things is that the time limit has been removed and so everyone “passes” SOC during BMT. So just go ahead and enjoy learning how to clear the various obstacles but also STAY SAFE !! (I had a platoon mate who popped his shoulder after slamming into the low wall because he didn’t jump properly)
Live Range
Marksmanship is pretty much a fundamental of being a soldier, so this is obvious. Interesting points include the Individual Marksmanship Trainer, which is the most realistic arcade shooter ever designed to simulate your live firing.
Be prepared to sleep at 3am on this day, because range procedure takes up a lot of time, especially because there is a night shoot as well.
Field Camp
This is generally considered the toughest hurdle that a recruit has to overcome, being the test of all the field craft he or she has learned to date. Full article here.
SITest
Taking place on the last day of outfield, this is the more relaxing part of outfield, and your first taste of the MATADOR – an anti-tank weapon that you have to carry everywhere, weighing 9kg. In summary, you spend your time in a group moving from station to station. You simulate scenarios like crossing a river, bombing a bridge, rescuing a prisoner and other interesting ones. My main advice on this point is to learn your stuff well! Knots, explosive circuits will all be used in the course of this activity.
Example of a station:
Mission is to bring ammo box across the river. Notice that no one said that all your men must get across also, so you can just get one guy to the other side and construct a rail to slide the ammo box to him.
On this note, time is tight on many parts, because they want to test how you respond under pressure. They may tell you that you have half an hour, but five minutes later, they will announce a sudden enemy unit approaching. Always assume that the time they give will be cut short.
There will also be a segment where you’ll be asked to plan a mission out by writing out an official government paper. For more details, contact me
Hand Grenade Live Throw
Don’t need to think too much, just follow the instructions here. The explosion is pretty loud, so make sure the issued earplugs fit well in your ears. Alternatively (highly recommended), you can visit emart to purchase a better pair of earplugs using your credits. Also, if you throw wrongly, the grenade may fail to detonate and you will have to crouch for half an hour.
Route March
The best advice I can give for this is to realise that, ultimately, you will reach the end. You can feel like crap along the way but it’s a confirmed, don’t-need-skill event.
Tips:
Don’t eat/drink too much before your route march (I vomited nearing the end of the 16km route march because i drank too much water before starting)
Consider buying a new pair of socks (for 24km) and anti-abrasion cream if you want an easier time.
IPPT
The Bread and Butter physical component of BMT. For the enhanced batch, you’ll go through 2 rounds of IPPT with the 3rd being optional.