2 WEEKS CONFINEMENT GUIDE

[bingyuan]

General

• Missing home: For the Jan people, this may be harder because it most likely presents itself in your loss of appetite and sleep, which is crucial 'cos unlike obese batch, you don't take things slow and easy. I don't deny I cried a few times during the first three days but after a while things should work out fine as long as you mix around with your section and talk about your problems 'cos it's very likely everyone faces the same issue. Don't hesitate to approach your PS or PC to talk about it if it persists.
• Mixing around with people: This time, the Jan people should have it easy 'cos most, if not all, of the recruits are from JC so it's easier to talk to them. If you know you're going to meet others who aren't from the same sheltered JC environment, be mentally prepared to see a world you've never seen before.
• Time: Timing is very important in the army. (Lol I sound like my sergeants.) Seriously, ultimately you will suffer if you are late for activities 'cos it only means less free time for you at the end of the day and also very rushed meals. You MUST bring a watch there 'cos clocks are a rare sight in BMTC. I've only seen clocks in my bunk, the platoon offices, the canteen and the swimming pool; so you must be able to tell the time all the time.

Food

• Types: Breakfast is usually the worst meal of the day; usually they serve beehoon or kwaytiao which is damn dry and something you do not want to eat after your morning run. To make up for this, they always offer bread as an extra item (together with all the spreads - margarine, jam, kaya etc.) but this is subject to availability (i.e. if you come late ... too bad). Lunch and dinner is usually better and is typically 菜饭 with 1 rice + 2 meat + 1 veg + 1 soup + 1 dessert. Rice is the staple (rarely seen noodles as the source of carbo) and dessert is usually fruit, if not tauhua, jelly or icecream. Also, the meat tends to be cooked with chili or curry so for those who can't stand spiciness, you better start now.
• Time: The minimum time given is 20 minutes, starting from the time your sergeant dismisses you till the time you fall in after your meal. After subtracting time for queuing up, finding a seat, getting your beverage, returning the utensils and finding your platoon, you have slightly less than 15 minutes to eat. So please don't talk (excessively) while you eat unless you eat your food without chewing.
• Quality: Seriously, the food is very nice. Don't complain.
• Fussypots: If you're very picky about your food and you feel embarrassed about others seeing a huge heap of unfinished food which you deliberately avoid, this is for you. Either, (1) ASK the aunty or uncle to give you less of what you detest or (2) just throw it away and get used to the probing people ask. As far as I know, your sergeants won't really check on your food so don't feel pressured to eat everything.
• Balanced diet: Ya, make sure you eat enough of everything unless you have a contingency plan for it. I have a section mate who didn't eat rice for three days (trying to lose weight fast) and he nearly fainted during circuit training on book out day. As for me, 'cos I avoid the veggies so I try as far to ask for bigger fruits.

Life as a soldier / Daily routine

• Instructions: Do as you are told and you will have a good life. Of course, that's said easier than done 'cos the golden rule doesn't take into account of whether you can actually accomplish it or not. But as long as you show that you are doing your best, your punishment should be lighter.
• Mistakes: If you are a blur kia or gong kia, make sure you make ALL your mistakes within the first two weeks. At most your commanders will tick you off, if not teach you nicely, and learn from it. Once the two weeks expire, please don't try to make any more mistakes.
• Sleeping hours: It is mandatory to sleep from 10.30pm to 5.30am in order to get 7 hours of rest every day. You get scolded for sleeping too late or waking up too early so plan your time well. If you seriously have a lot of work unfinished (e.g. haven't finished securing your fieldpack) it is always better to do wake up earlier to do it than rush through the night and sleep late. One reason is that sergeants mind the sleeping late offence more than the waking up early offence; another is that you should be considerate and let not deny others the chance to slip into dreamland quickly. But whatever the case, the keyword is tactical.
• Morning exercise: Before breakfast, you will be required to do some exercises (called 5 BX) and a run. I'm not sure if the non-obese non-PTP peeps need to do this or not. This is the one that determines your duration for breakfast.
• Area cleaning: In between breakfast and first parade, you need to do area cleaning. You will be assigned randomly to either bunk, toilet or ground floor by your PS. Pray very hard you get bunk. Haha.
• Marching: Your platoon must always march when moving from point to point. Try to learn the commands before going in otherwise you'll feel damn confused, especially if you're not from uniform groups. Things to note: always swing your arms (to shoulder level when you swing them front and as far back as possible when you swing them back) and don't drag your feet as you march. And obviously, try to keep in step. This will get harder eventually 'cos as you sing songs for long distance marching, the "left, left, left right left" timing will not be given frequently so try to develop the rhythm as early as possible.
• Greetings/Salutation: Try to recognize the ranks of all commanders so you can greet them appropriately. You will be not punished during the first two weeks for failing to do so but hoho, once confinement is over, you can be confined for not greeting properly.
• Rushing here and there: It is common to receive instructions for you to change into your smart uniform (shirt with folded sleeves) right after PT and be given only 10 minutes. Woe betide those whose bunks are on the top floor (like me). Some tips for this kind of situation - (1) always ensure you have at least 1 set of smart uniform on standby for you to put on quickly (2) wear your uniform in this order: pants and belt, socks, shoes, garters THEN the shirt (rationale being you can wear your shirt as you run down the stairs to fall in)

Reporting Sick / Chao Keng

• Report sick if you're really sick: Report sick only if you really are sick and not because you don't want to do route march later. You only stand to lose if you miss lessons. The converse is true: if you don't report sick when you really are, you can actually be charged for it. Also, the protocol for reporting sick is damn troublesome.
• Medical center: Another reason why you should not report sick for the slightest reason is that MC is very slow. Waiting time can be last from 1 to 3 hours and collecting your medicine is another 1 hour. You should be ashamed of yourself if you don't find the time wasted on waiting unproductive.
• Sick bay: Try to avoid ending up in the sick bay 'cos it's very boring in there. Also, being in sick bay almost always means you must be put on IV drip.
• Chao Keng: If you really want to chao keng, don't do it on a weekend. The MO on the weekend is not the usual Tekong MO but specially called in from mainland so he's especially nasty to those minor cases who come to him, i.e. you'll get thrown into sick bay very easily. This gets progressively more problematic in future 'cos it means you don't get to book out.

Bunk

• Cleanliness: Your sergeants will check your bunks regularly, especially in the first few weeks. Try to develop more meticulous habits such as cleaning up immediately after you dirty a spot; it helps you and your section A LOT in the long run. Also, try to be more wary of spots that get dirty easily and are always prone to inspection (e.g. door frame, bed frame, window grilles and sills, top of cabinets etc.)
• Locker: Occasionally, your sergeant will ask to inspect your locker as well. They will slowly teach you how the locker should be placed. You are strongly recommended to keep the locker in that ideal look as far as possible to save on time in arranging your locker in future. For example, always keep 1 set of folded uniforms (also known as Smart No.4) for showing purposes and wear the other sets; this principle also applies to your PT shirt and shorts etc.
• Bed: The toughest thing to maintain in your bunk is the bed. You are required to straighten the bedsheets once you return from breakfast and keep it in that way each time you leave the bunk until after dinner. Which means you can't sit on it once its straightened unless you have the time to re-straighten it.
• Sleep: The bed is quite comfortable but there are generally three things that prevent you from sleeping well - snoring, night flights and stress. Go figure.

Paranormal

• My company is Apache and its reputedly one of the cleaner companies around because its next to the sergeant's bunk. Gryphon and Kestrel companies are supposedly the dirtiest ones around. No one has reported seeing anything out of the ordinary except for one of my section mates who claims to see dark figures in our section in the middle of the night.
• On one night, another section mate and I heard a female voice calling out to us in our dreams, telling us to wake up. The odd thing was, this female voice was rather accurate for within the next few minutes, people's alarm clocks began to ring.
• Gryphon has had at least 1 serious incident in our batch. 1 guy heard a female voice in the staircase and reported it to his sergeant. His sergeant told him to rest downstairs for a while before going up. However, shortly after his sergeant found him sitting in an unnatural position on a stone table, speaking in Teochew with a female voice and later doing opera moves. The fellow eventually moved towards a river and was poised to jump in until the sergeants finally found someone who spoke Teochew. We were never told of the ending but let's assume everything went fine.
• The sick bay is also not very clean. I was admitted there once and the fellow queuing up before me begged not to be admitted there 'cos he was scared of 'things'. I dunno if it's because of what that fellow said but in my sleep I heard a female cackling in the typical evil tone in my dream. Of course I tried scream and thrash about in my bed but I couldn't due to sleep paralysis. This may not be a paranormal experience 'cos according to the patient next to me, the medics happened to be laughing at a joke just before I screamed.

Stuff to buy [revised from earlier]

• Snake powder: Okay I dunno what's it called in English actually. It's like talcum powder which you rub on your body when you feel hot 'cos it has this cooling sensation on your skin. The snake comes from its brand name. Not only does it bring comfort on hot days, you can also use it to powder shirts that are slightly damp from your sweat to dry it and make it smell nicer; very important for socks.
• Safety pins: This is for you to secure your bedsheets to the mattress. Personally I've never tried it 'cos I fear constant stretching of the bedsheets in its secured position will rip it instead but apparently its a little trick that's been handed down from generation to generation.
• Insect repellent: 'Nuff said. If you're interested, we have seen lots of pests around, ranging from mosquitoes, houseflies (NOT at the cookhouse), bees (IN the bunk), rats (in someone else's bunk) and some lucky ones saw a black cobra in the drain one day.
• Feather duster Magiclean dust wipe: No kidding; this baby will make your bunk cleaning SO MUCH easier.
• Toothpaste: The army provides you with one already but this one is for you to clean shoe polish stains on the floor. Squeeze a bit on the black spots and rub furiously; your floor now looks clean and smells clean.
• Rag: Also, for bunk cleaning purposes. Don't count on your sergeant to give you rags 'cos these are subject to availability. You don't want to end up wiping the top of your lockers with your PT singlet.

[NEW] Toilets

• Showers: Without doors. So yar you get a lot of 'free shows' (eww) ... There should be 7 or 8 cubicles.
• Hot water: Non-existent. Anyway, showering with cold water basically makes you want to jump out of the cubicle asap so that others can use it. But it also means your soap lather is harder to rinse off so be more thorough.
• Squat or sit: Fortunately, both types of toilets are available. If I'm not wrong it should be 4 squat-type and 3 sit-type.
• Basins: There are only 4 of them so you gotta figure ways to let 50 people brush their teeth in the morning in <15 minutes.

If you want other areas, just leave a note and I'll see what I can tell you without getting into trouble.