What is happening? There is a run tomorrow and I am running my ass out with the Brits, not that I don't enjoy it but I am just not use to the enthusiasm that they have. The fact that they want to put in more effort to improve, not being afraid of having a sore muscle on the run the next day. This is not new but I feel that I am still not getting use to it, still feeling a little bit of a culture shock. But all it does is to make me stronger, so no harm done I guess, not like I was hanging out, I was actually feeling quite good. Maybe I am just getting use to the change in culture I guess.
Thursday! Ms Yang has not replied, the boys are going out on a lash. What am I suppose to do? Go on a lash and get wasted on a Thursday night right before Ex Druids Ridge? I am lost, must I really do this to fit in? I would rather just have a day off, go to the gym, go shop around London and then be back. Hmm..
Dear, I have a confession to make. Don't know why we did not discuss this but I think that its a little bit difficult at times. I think we did touch and go on this topic, just like I feel that I am too competitive and I am tired of being competitive, having to represent Singapore and the need to do Singapore proud, I feel that I am not enjoying myself as much as I want to. I find it a little stifling at times, I am sure I told you this before, I feel like I speak to you more in few hours than I do for a week here. At times, I just want to complain, but I just don't know who to go to. I do miss you a lot, especially during the weekends. I know you are having a camp now, so don't worry, reply me when you are free ok? I feel better typing all these out! Thanks:)
Monday, 25 June 2012
Monday, 18 June 2012
to my dearest
Hello dear! I'm blogging again in a very long time! To be honest I actually forgot completely about this blog because we always communicate via Facebook or Whatsapp or Oovoo. And the occasional email. But I'm really glad that you're making good use of this blog! It's nice to see you updating about your life over there and your attitude towards your peers and any events that you may have.
So I'm going to blog more often too! I'm going to update about my work and stuff, although there isn't really much la. Not as exciting as your life over there! Tomorrow night I'm going back to Tembusu to play floorball. Really looking forward to it! I always feel really happy when I'm meeting up with my friends to play together. They're a really fun bunch of people :) I feel very fortunate! Sigh. That's why I always hope that you can come and meet my friends! Cos I love all of y'all. But things never really turn out the way I hope they would. I guess that's only to be expected though... so it's okay! One step at a time :)
Okay. I'm not feeling very well tonight. After work, my eyes hurt and I had a headache. But I still had to go meet my friends to discuss orientation. Heng they ended the dinner meeting early and I reached home at around 9.30pm. I brought my laptop home today to do some research actually because I felt that my work was getting a bit meaningless. Everyone's working on this really cool big project and I'm stuck with Facebook... which hardly anyone cares about. So I wanted to do some research and come up with some ideas but I'm just too tired tonight. I guess I might go to work earlier tomorrow morning and research instead.
I'm going to bed now! Love you dear! <3 Reply soon!!
So I'm going to blog more often too! I'm going to update about my work and stuff, although there isn't really much la. Not as exciting as your life over there! Tomorrow night I'm going back to Tembusu to play floorball. Really looking forward to it! I always feel really happy when I'm meeting up with my friends to play together. They're a really fun bunch of people :) I feel very fortunate! Sigh. That's why I always hope that you can come and meet my friends! Cos I love all of y'all. But things never really turn out the way I hope they would. I guess that's only to be expected though... so it's okay! One step at a time :)
Okay. I'm not feeling very well tonight. After work, my eyes hurt and I had a headache. But I still had to go meet my friends to discuss orientation. Heng they ended the dinner meeting early and I reached home at around 9.30pm. I brought my laptop home today to do some research actually because I felt that my work was getting a bit meaningless. Everyone's working on this really cool big project and I'm stuck with Facebook... which hardly anyone cares about. So I wanted to do some research and come up with some ideas but I'm just too tired tonight. I guess I might go to work earlier tomorrow morning and research instead.
I'm going to bed now! Love you dear! <3 Reply soon!!
Friday, 15 June 2012
This week felt really long. Dinner night, Company Prayers, Platoon socials, can't wait for Sunday to come so that I can have a little bit of "me" time. Despite the fact that I have to revise for PRACTAC and prepare for a presentation due next week.
Platoon Social: Go-Karting. It wasn't as boring as I thought, the previous knowledge I had about Go Karting was driving a slow kart around and bumping in the rest of the karts on the track, but what we did yesterday changed that my views entirely. It was thrilling and fun, although I wasn't as fast as I wanted myself to be.
One more week and we will be half way through our CC. About 50 more days to home! I don't really know why I am always counting down. BE POSITIVE!!
To be continued..
Platoon Social: Go-Karting. It wasn't as boring as I thought, the previous knowledge I had about Go Karting was driving a slow kart around and bumping in the rest of the karts on the track, but what we did yesterday changed that my views entirely. It was thrilling and fun, although I wasn't as fast as I wanted myself to be.
One more week and we will be half way through our CC. About 50 more days to home! I don't really know why I am always counting down. BE POSITIVE!!
To be continued..
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Nearly the end of Week 6 of the Intermediate Term. Had a great dinner night, was not as boring as I thought it would be. I think as long as you are willing to open up and speak to people, there will definitely be some common topics that we can all have a good chat about.
PRACTAC next week, the test of Orders and Estimate really, really want to just get it over and done with, but the fears or not doing well and not finishing in time are just creeping all over me. Hopefully it all goes well.
This week has been pretty good really. Monday was Ex Eagle Strike, orders process again, didn't manage to get to deliver a summary paragraph but I did rehearse through it in my room, hopefully that helps! Then they left for Regimental Visits and we are here to prepare for our presentation the next day. Was quite pleased with my presentation yet I felt some of the Overseas Cadets did not put in much effort into their own presentation. Especially some of them who took on very biased stance or hold a rather narrow perspective of the topic they were given. Looking at all the Overseas Cadets made me realized that the pool of us is really quite small as compared to all the British Cadets in the cohort. But it still seem really difficult to do well, who knows the competition could be the US cadet or my very own peer from Singapore.
Just got my PB last week and I was in the Middle Third. Glad and contented, my peer got the same stand as I did. But he but he has always been doing better than I did. One day he said, " Oh I am not going to give chance, I am clean sweeping everything." Well, he does blend in better with the crowd, slightly fitter, placed in a better position I guess. But that doesn't mean I stand no chance. Even if I know I am going to lose, I won't let him win easily. Where is the fun without competition?
Glad that we are nearly half way through the course, just got to get over Victory Building Duty today and PRACTAC! All the best to me.
PRACTAC next week, the test of Orders and Estimate really, really want to just get it over and done with, but the fears or not doing well and not finishing in time are just creeping all over me. Hopefully it all goes well.
This week has been pretty good really. Monday was Ex Eagle Strike, orders process again, didn't manage to get to deliver a summary paragraph but I did rehearse through it in my room, hopefully that helps! Then they left for Regimental Visits and we are here to prepare for our presentation the next day. Was quite pleased with my presentation yet I felt some of the Overseas Cadets did not put in much effort into their own presentation. Especially some of them who took on very biased stance or hold a rather narrow perspective of the topic they were given. Looking at all the Overseas Cadets made me realized that the pool of us is really quite small as compared to all the British Cadets in the cohort. But it still seem really difficult to do well, who knows the competition could be the US cadet or my very own peer from Singapore.
Just got my PB last week and I was in the Middle Third. Glad and contented, my peer got the same stand as I did. But he but he has always been doing better than I did. One day he said, " Oh I am not going to give chance, I am clean sweeping everything." Well, he does blend in better with the crowd, slightly fitter, placed in a better position I guess. But that doesn't mean I stand no chance. Even if I know I am going to lose, I won't let him win easily. Where is the fun without competition?
Glad that we are nearly half way through the course, just got to get over Victory Building Duty today and PRACTAC! All the best to me.
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Leadership
That was the topic we were on today. Major Nathan played Episode 7 of the Band of Brothers, even though I have the box I haven't had time to finish it, so I have never been across the episode, however, this one episode displayed the ethos of many characters in the series. However, I notice that there are always good and bad officers, be it in the Singaporean, British or the US army. All the system does is to sieve out the better officers while some just slips through the system. Yet, it is heartening to see that there are indeed more good officers than bad ones. Then again, the method of judging an officer differs from country to country too. Does doing well as a Cadet has a correlation as to whether you will become a good officer in the future. Maybe to a certain extent, with the fact that most commissioning courses tests the Cadets to the limit and doing well in it meant that one can handle both mental and physical stress. But what about the average Cadets, will they not do well in the future? I guess not. What is more important would be the spirit of learning, to never stop learning or be complacent. No one will be an eternal winner, but we can always have the spirit of learning going on, at least then you know you are moving along and not stagnating or 'marking time'.
C2DRIL was what our Commandant live by. Selfless commitment, courage, discipline, respect, integrity, and loyalty. These are the values and standards that he holds dear to himself and I guess every officers should have some core values that they live by. These will be the bedrock or foundation of their career, when shit happens, they know that they can rely on such values to make a decision. A decision that might not be right, but a decision nonetheless, so at least things will continue moving and not stagnate.
All in all, easier said than done. And those that emerge from the shittiest situation will be the epitome of a great officer.
That was the topic we were on today. Major Nathan played Episode 7 of the Band of Brothers, even though I have the box I haven't had time to finish it, so I have never been across the episode, however, this one episode displayed the ethos of many characters in the series. However, I notice that there are always good and bad officers, be it in the Singaporean, British or the US army. All the system does is to sieve out the better officers while some just slips through the system. Yet, it is heartening to see that there are indeed more good officers than bad ones. Then again, the method of judging an officer differs from country to country too. Does doing well as a Cadet has a correlation as to whether you will become a good officer in the future. Maybe to a certain extent, with the fact that most commissioning courses tests the Cadets to the limit and doing well in it meant that one can handle both mental and physical stress. But what about the average Cadets, will they not do well in the future? I guess not. What is more important would be the spirit of learning, to never stop learning or be complacent. No one will be an eternal winner, but we can always have the spirit of learning going on, at least then you know you are moving along and not stagnating or 'marking time'.
C2DRIL was what our Commandant live by. Selfless commitment, courage, discipline, respect, integrity, and loyalty. These are the values and standards that he holds dear to himself and I guess every officers should have some core values that they live by. These will be the bedrock or foundation of their career, when shit happens, they know that they can rely on such values to make a decision. A decision that might not be right, but a decision nonetheless, so at least things will continue moving and not stagnate.
All in all, easier said than done. And those that emerge from the shittiest situation will be the epitome of a great officer.
Monday, 28 May 2012
I have decided that I should blog when I can, and use it as a way to rant or just to reflect upon my day. After Ex First Encounter, we are launching ourselves into the Faraday Hall stretch, lots of lessons and "intellectual stimulation". However, I still have yet to recover from the sleep lost from Ex First Encounter, still feeling slightly lethargic and not being able concentrate during lectures and lessons.
After going into the Gas Chamber today, we had two periods of PT and then a whole stretch of lessons. The lesson by my CABS (Communication and Applied Behavioral Science) tutor on creative thinking was good. The fact that as military commanders we need to think out of the box and at times consider a different approach to a certain situation was what we needed. Especially as Infantry officers, sometimes it is not simply about taking the objective from the left, right or center, creative methods could be applied into tactics and most of the time that is how you win a battle.
DIA however was boring, there seem to be no value add to the lesson, partly it might be due to the fact that I am not very well versed with the current terrorist situation all around the world but the tutor simply asks for input from the ground and does not really give us much information during the lesson.
In any case, it has been a tiring day. The problem with Sandhurst, too much curriculum, too little time, always rushing from point to point. Start of the Faraday Hall stretch, hopefully it gets better..:)
After going into the Gas Chamber today, we had two periods of PT and then a whole stretch of lessons. The lesson by my CABS (Communication and Applied Behavioral Science) tutor on creative thinking was good. The fact that as military commanders we need to think out of the box and at times consider a different approach to a certain situation was what we needed. Especially as Infantry officers, sometimes it is not simply about taking the objective from the left, right or center, creative methods could be applied into tactics and most of the time that is how you win a battle.
DIA however was boring, there seem to be no value add to the lesson, partly it might be due to the fact that I am not very well versed with the current terrorist situation all around the world but the tutor simply asks for input from the ground and does not really give us much information during the lesson.
In any case, it has been a tiring day. The problem with Sandhurst, too much curriculum, too little time, always rushing from point to point. Start of the Faraday Hall stretch, hopefully it gets better..:)
Friday, 27 January 2012
Hey dear,
Just came back from route march. Saw two British cadets quarreling with one of the foreign cadets from Nigeria. Don't know whether it is done on purpose or that we cannot comprehend what some of the British cadets are saying, but I feel that some of the instructors seem to be more harsh on the foreign cadets than the British ones. The fact that the other three foreign cadets in my platoon do not have a good grasp of English causes the platoon to have this animosity towards foreign cadets, seeing us as people who do not understand English, thus not being to comprehend instructions as quickly as they can thus slowing the platoon down. This makes it really hard for me to communicate with them as I feel that they have this negative impression about foreign cadets. And I do not know how to better communicate with the rest of the foreign cadets as I get frustrated sometimes too. HELP!
Just came back from route march. Saw two British cadets quarreling with one of the foreign cadets from Nigeria. Don't know whether it is done on purpose or that we cannot comprehend what some of the British cadets are saying, but I feel that some of the instructors seem to be more harsh on the foreign cadets than the British ones. The fact that the other three foreign cadets in my platoon do not have a good grasp of English causes the platoon to have this animosity towards foreign cadets, seeing us as people who do not understand English, thus not being to comprehend instructions as quickly as they can thus slowing the platoon down. This makes it really hard for me to communicate with them as I feel that they have this negative impression about foreign cadets. And I do not know how to better communicate with the rest of the foreign cadets as I get frustrated sometimes too. HELP!
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