..:: 406. The One With ETEP ::..

the most painful moment was at the airport seeing the cadets coming back from thailand and warning us of the hot weather back there.

2 weeks passed so fast and here i am back in singapore. 'fought' etep aka EX SAPPERSTAR, spending 2 weeks in thailand was dreadful even the rest and recreation (R&R) did not entice any of us.

the weather for the first few days could not get any hotter. I could get sunburnt by walking around in the camp. The bunk was like sauna. then i think it helped when we went to pray in the temple for good weather and success in our missions.

Perhaps pray a bit too hard, the first two days were drizzle to showers. As u all know first few days meant deployment so whatever we dug became waterlogged. My men had to suffer under the cold weather, many were shivering throughout the night. I pitied them, the commanders however were at the tentage busy planning for our missions, updating maps, etc. A few men from my coy got hypothemia and had to send back to medical centre in camp.

The pace of the whole etep was so fast, i was so engrossed in meeting mission requirements and timing that the week passed so fast. My whole platoon was really put under battle stress, had sudden orders for us to do 'special' mission, which i had to AOP to my battalion commanding officer (CO) in a short span of 30 mins.

I'm glad my platoon did well, they fought etep hard and i guess the main motivation came from being able to 'ORD' soon. most importantly, my platoon no one fell out! it's one achievement cos my platoon got a few guys got medical status, back prob and stuff, but i insisted them to follow along and see their limits. i'm glad they are as motivated as me to complete ETEP. engineer training evaluation programme.

during this period, i really bonded with my men even R&R i was sitting with them for meals and when they are civilians, they have a lot to offer and teach. After all, all my men were older than me, some as old as 23.

Pics update coming up.

i miss sitting in my office. my mailbox confirm overload.