Freestyle Drill Course 2012

Day 1: Shit. Running really late during the first day of the course! Grabbed all my stuff, don on my No.4 uniform and ready to burst out of the house. Luckily, my mum decided fetch me there after much considerations. ANGEL!! Once I reached Amoy Quee Camp, I strolled to the Multi-purpose hall, LIKE A BOSS! However, some damn dicks start yelling and shouting, "EH!! DOUBLE UP!! WHAT TIME ALREADY?!?!" And hence, I have to kneel down and leave my pride gently on the floor.... "OI!! I SAID DOUBLE UP RIGHT?!" *Immediately sprinted at speed of light*

Sat down on the floor with a whole lot of cadets sitting straight and keeping real quiet. I looked left and right, whew... My wonderful FSD AIs (Auxiliary Instructors) are here! Soon we were rushed to the parade square where we mustered and took our attendance. After which we proceeded to the storeroom and carried hundreds of chairs out, arranging them neatly in the hall. The entire morning was totally boring and useless since they have to settle all the admin issues. Bored bored bored, all the way till late afternoon when we are giving our individual teams. My team consists of all Air cadets and was named Delta 2. Looking at the 'why-am-I-here' expressions on their faces dampened my good spirits that day. None of them talked. None of them interacted or even introduce themselves well... Pfft.... I thought to myself, this entire course is gonna be even more boring for me...

I have 2 other AIs, Zul and Phikanes. We got well with one another very easily. Surprising thing is that we are from Sea, Air, and Land unit,  and also Chinese, Malay, Indian. A diversity of background! We taught the cadets static US drills and got them the practice and stuff. The first day just went by slowly like that.... Sigh...

Day 1 group photo! :)

Day 2: Rushed all the way to camp. I WAS EARLY! AWW YEAH!! All the latecomers were dealt with pretty severely... Urgh... We were once again mustered and given a series of instructions by the seniors. I wasn't pretty much listening because I was busy thinking of ideas to get my team to bond. The AIs were dispatched to take the attendance of our cadets and then report to the OIC. Hmm.... Total strength was 11, but present strength was 10! ONE GUY IS MISSING!! Argh... Must be him. That one cadet who was weak in his drills and showed to enthusiasm in anything he do... I gave him call to ask of his whereabouts. He picked up the phone at first, but after I asked him where he is, he hung up on me. I tried calling again, but he switched off his phone. I was pretty furious. Oh well, he will get Out Of Course anyways.

After a period of time, he came in late. He reported to me and told me this: "At first I didn't want to come, but then..." WTF? First time hearing a cadet saying that. My school's cadets would never give such excuses unless they want to watch their platoon mates suffer the punishment we meted out.

Fast forward to the day's training, nothing much, no signs of engaging interactions yet. My jokes were pretty much taking effect though :) We named the team, Unicorns, weird right?? Soon after lunch, a new cadet came and join us. He was a tall and slim guy with that bookworm look. I did a few tests on his US drills and to my utter surprise, he executed them correctly! I got him to join the team, and begun my lesson on marching. During the selection for an IC, this guy stood up amongst all the others and delivered his voice clearly and loudly. Immediately, he was appointed as the IC, since others didn't even want to try...

Soon after, we started planning our performance or rather, our routine. Phikanes, decided to help them with the reporting in. Looking at their performance, I have a glimmer of hope for the team to secure a top 5 placing during the mini-competition.

I decided stay in till the course is over in the camp. Took me sometime to find a comfortable bed in the Cadet Officer bunk. Settled all my stuff and wanted to book out of camp with my buddy, Hassan, to have dinner outside. While I was changing, I realized, I FORGOT TO BRING MY CIVILIAN CLOTHING!! Luckily, my No.3 pants saved me! :) I booked out of the camp with Hassan and went to his house to chill.

Day 3: Our team spent the whole day at a deserted parking lot behind the NCC Council Room practicing and choreographing our routine. Phikanes was in charge of the whole thing while Zul and I just chill under the shade, blasting the music for them to practice. During the afternoon, it started raining heavily and was categorized as Cat 1, lightning alert. We continued practicing in a cramped space under the shelter. We were racing against time! Soon, all activities will be cut, no matter whether you've finished your routine or not. In the end, we have completed 3/4 of the routine and was prepared to be dismissed. No choice, we got them to come early the next day to cap of the performance.

At night, I went home in my No.4, dumped it in the pail and had a hot bath. I changed into my awesome jeans and shirt before heading off. Once in the camp, I went into the admin room to chill out. AIRCON IS WHAT I NEED!! The AIs and seniors all gathered in front of the computer and started watching videos. Suddenly, one of them played a live ghost experiment video in Indonesia. I was damn scared when I saw those things appearing behind the trees and stuff! I hid behind the chairs and peeped at the screen.... OMG... OMG... OMG!! WTF... Now I so scared and suspicious of trees at night... I couldn't go to sleep alone. So I joined beds with other people and instantly knocked out.

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FSD AI Group Photo!! P.S: I'M IN FRONT!!

Last Day: Woke up sleepy and fatigue, but still, I changed into my smart No.3 uniform and head off to the training area with Zul. The atmosphere was tense with all the cadets since time was running out. The practice began and soon we capped off the routine properly with style :) I was chilling around under the tentage while watching other teams screw up badly >:) Sitting down there praying hard that my time would do very well and other teams would screw up :) Evil intoxicated my blood!! BWAHAHAHA!! 

Very soon, it was my team to perform we did a team war cry and got them to prepare themselves at the parade. I was nervous and a Nervous King!! Shoving the IC of audio away just in case they stopped the music wrongly. My team did pretty well, but after seeing other teams, hopes were leaking... When announced that the top 3 team will compete again, we were nibbling on our fingernails already. "..... Delta 2" WOOTS!! WE ARE THE TOP 3 TEAMS!!! We rushed them to our practice area and got them to practice over and over again, correcting their mistakes through yelling. Can't blame us, tension was high :/ 

When it was my team to perform, they executed everything perfectly! IT WAS BETTER THAN EXPECTED! AWESOME!! Finally the prize table was brought to the front. The announcer began: "... The first runner up will be.... CHARLIE 5!" It took us time to figure this out, if they were 2nd..... it means.... WE ARE FIRST!!! OMG OMG OMG!! WE ALL POUNCED UP AND DOWN!!! We rushed to the front where everyone can see us and bullshit-ing them for not getting champions :) Awesome thing is that for the AIs, we were presented with the 'Best Instructor' plaque! 

Receiving the 'Best Instructor' plaque from Sergeant Major 1WO Christopher Bryan :)

Champion trophy and the 'Best Instructor' plaque!

All in all, the entire course was fun and exciting! Made lots of friends there and had a memorable experience being the instructor of the champion team :) 3,2,1.... UNICORN POWER!!

UNICORN POWER! DELTA'S PRIDE!