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Tuesday, May 30, 2006
=)

It feels so nice to be at home during the weekdays...even if its only for the evenings...

=)


Seth wrote on 9:46 AM.
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Monday, May 22, 2006
smOkE anyOnE?

Ever put on an IPE (Individual Protection Equipment, or at least I think that's what its called) suit before? Its a full body suit that supposedly protects your entire body from contact with any chemical, biological or radiological agents present in the surroundings...

From the moment its put on, the suddenly rise is temperature is definitely apparent. Next comes the mask.

Think claustrophobia.

Your vision is reduced to 2 holes in the mask. Maybe 50% - 75% normal vision range? Breathing gets a little difficult. Your voice gets muffled up and conversation is difficult. You can hardly even hear yourself speak! Your face starts heating up and you can feel the edges of the mask getting steadily damp and wet as you continue perspiring more and more. Oven anyone?

Every part of your body is cut off from the outside environment. Think of it as your personal sanctuary. Your cage.

So yesterday was the day we were thrown into a smoke chamber and exposed to something called CS gas? I'm not entirely sure on the name...anyway, I wanna thank the SAF for being so proficient at reusing equipment. Just in the first 2 details alone, out of 24 ppl, 5 of us had faulty masks, or more specifically, faulty diaphragms in the mask...as a result, the moment we stepped into the chamber, we could smell the gas.

My case wasnt so bad. As I entered, I could smell a strange smelling gas. My noses started feeling an irritation, and my slowly my throat started feeling itchy. "Huh? Wasnt the mask supposed to block out all these stuff???" My condition steadily deproved until I felt I would not be able to withstand it for the entire duration and immediately sounded out and left the chamber.

As for my friend however, during the first few seconds, he could immediately feel the irritations...furthermore, he said his skin felt a strong burning sensation shortly after that, and he too left the chamber. It was only then that the officer found out the reason why our masks were faulty...

Just from that experience alone, it gave me a certain fear and reluctance to enter the chamber again; but we had to. After the first detail came out, they replaced our diaphragms and we proceeded in again. This time, I was relieved when I breathed inside the chamber. No irritation or funny smell whatsoever! Though we could see the smoke all around us, we could breath normally as if we were outdoors.

So to test the efficiency of our suiting up, we were told to do a few exercises inside. A few basic stretching exercises followed by jumping jacks. How I dreaded what would've happened if my suit just suddenly fell apart!

Anyway the worst part of all was the final part. We were told to remove our hood such that our necks and ears are exposed to the gas and wait for our turn, in which we would take off our mask and say out our NRIC, rank and name. Only then were we allowed to leave the chamber.

The waiting part was absolutely suffering! As we stood there like some dumb freaks, I could feel a tingly sensation on the exposed part of my skin. This slowly turned into a burning sensation. A strong burning sensation. Luckily, I was third in line. Sometime during the lessons conducted the day before, I remembered them saying to close your eyes and hold your breath while exposed to gas, so that was what I did. Only thing was that I forgot to take a deep breath before I took out my mask!!! OMg. Hence I struggled through my words, still clearly speaking out though, and finally dashed to feel for the door, with my eyes still closed. "Open your eyes and see lah!" LOL. One of the sgts inside told me to look for the door.

Freedom!

The feeling of getting out of there was ecstatic! You could immediately feel the cool air gracing your face. However, just as quickly as the wonderful feeling started, it ended. The after effects of the gas was devastating! This time, not only my necks and ears were burning, all the parts of the skin on my face were feeling the same thing! My eyes felt a slight irritation, my nose felt as though mucus would start dripping out soon. We went as far from the smoke chamber as possible. I never felt so helpless! We could do nothing to ease our condition except wait. We werent allowed to touch our faces, as our hands were contaminated as well. So all we could do was stand and wait. Wait.

Until finally the burning sensations died off, and we proceeded back.

All in all, it was a very memorable experience. I really applaud the combat engineers on being able to go through all these. If I was ever asked to be a CBRE combat engineer, read between the lines! Go figure.

Anyway, 1 more week to passing out of BSLC! Now the only way I can fail this course is if I misfire a round during live firing on Monday...haha.

From lowly maggot to not so lowly higher ranked maggot. lol.


Seth wrote on 4:23 AM.
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Sunday, May 14, 2006
rAndOm gArblE

Our school's motto:

"With pride we lead!"

Our OC's version:

"With pride we lead,
got time we sleep,
got training we report sick!"

Lol.

Joker sia.

We were issued our CPL rank on Thurs...quite elated when we received it. Our long hard journey has finally started paying off.

Past 4 weeks have been hell!!

Compared to BMT, this is plain torture! To think I used to think that BMT was tough...yea rite~!

Tired...tired~~~!

We are becoming like mules in the army...MULES I tell you! Keep carrying stuff at least 15kg and above and chioinging all around the place...so much so that now route march FBO is relatively light! Can u imagine that? Now the only thing I have difficulty handling in route marches are the blisters constantly bugging my feet... O_O Anyone have any ideas on how to prevent blisters?

Every book out is a much needed rest for us. If the past few weeks haven been long weekends...I dunno how much I could have taken...

So now there's only 2 weeks more...grandslam, rappelling, chemical defense (where they throw you into a smoke chamber), additional obstacle course and 28 km march to go! After that, BSLC is all over!

LO_Oking forward to it.


Seth wrote on 4:25 AM.
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