3 Most Valuable Lessons in BMT

The first most valuable lesson I have learnt in BMT is leadership - how to lead a group of men, where some may be hard-headed. I was given a chance to be the platoon IC and during my short stint as an IC, I have learnt that to lead is easy, but to lead effectively is a challenging task. I have learnt that as a leader, you have to be an exemplary role model, and that means doing things consistent to your principles and values. It also means taking up more responsibilities and not an opportunity to slacken off. Leadership becomes challenging when people are at their worst ends, and do not cooperate with you, and that is when you need to convey your messages and intentions effectively and empathise with the lot. Leading is also not just getting things done, but also motivating men under you to push themselves to the best of their abilities, and not give up in times of hardship. In BMT, we are all guys and in this environment, people may try to overpower one another to rise as an alpha. Thus I have learnt that it is important to earn the respect of your men before you are able to lead them effectively. It is also essential that we do our best to know our stuffs before men can  trust themselves to listen to us.

The second most valuable lesson that BMT has taught me is discipline. BMT is regimented and it is expected of us to maintain a high level of militiary disciple. Disobeying them will mean having to deal with the ramifications. Just as in the outside world, discipline is not easy to maintain as we tend to procrastinate and derail. BMT has taught me that we have to get things done even though we don't feel like it. I have learnt that discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most. Through little things like hand-washing our own clothes and ensuring high standards and cleanliness of our bunk, I have learnt to exercise self-discipline, which will translate to a better me in the outside world in dealing with any kind of responsibilities and getting down to them.

The thrid most valuable lesson I have learnt is the importance of giving. The cameraderie and brotherhood I have found in BMT have taught what selflessness is as I saw how my band of brothers sacrifice for each other. In times of need, we have to be there for each other, and encourage one another. It is indeed easy to slacken off and not bother, but it is important to always bear in mind that there are people around who needs you and your best.

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NS Field Camp Reflection

This is my reflection for my NS assignment and I thought it would be good to copy paste here so I see it in the future (did it on the NS tablet)

As most of us have watched Ah Boys to Men or have friends who been through field camp, we expected it to be the toughest part of BMT and prepared to toughen ourselves up for it. There are various ups and downs thoughout this camp.

One thing that didn't go well is the weather. It rained almost everyday but thankfully none over the night. I regretted not ziplocking my ziplocks properly which resulted in some items getting drenched - this was indeed an experience to be remembered, where I was flabbergasted upon seeing my field pack completely immersed in a pond of muddy water in my shell scrape. But to be honest I was pretty disappointed about only being able to sleep in my shellscrape for only a night as I found it cosy. There was frequent Cat 1 which disrupted our practices and activities, but these are moments I savour as I munched my snacks away and took short restful micro naps. Besides the torrential rain, there was the daily scorching sun burning down on us every afternoon, leading to a bunch of us suffering from heat injury. I had high temperatures almost daily as high as 38.6 deg C which made me feel fatigue and dizzy, but I never visited the medic as I wanted to participate in the IFC practices which i needed. Those times are indeed tough for me as I felt weak and struggled to keep up as much as I can. It was disappointing for me as I wanted to give my best and push myself. Another thing that didn't go as well was how our coy's movements were sloppy and a handful did not bother enough to express a sense of urgency. Everyone is indeed tired from the whole ordeal but we still had to meet timings. We also had an unfortunate incident of a platoon mate losing his rifle's magazine in the evening when it was pitch dark but we managed to find it after combing the forested areas systematically. If that was not enough, another of my section mate lost his magazine too during the battle course but managed to find by himself, saving the trouble of getting the whole platoon to search together.

Moving on to things that went well, I would say shellscrape digging was easier for us as it rained the day before and previous coy actually went there before. However it still wasn't easy to complete it and majority of us did not finish within the alloacted 3h. The individual field craft test also went pretty well for us as most of us passed it without doing a second attempt, despite having our practice time cut short due to lightning alert. It was also encouraging how each of us helped one another during hard times and carrying the jerry cans from point to point.
I feel that what we could have done better was moving faster from point to point as well as meeting the timings stated. We should also care more for each other as this is the hardest when everyone is shag and people become more self-centred. To go fast, we go alone; to go far, we go together. I also think we should work more on our resilience and don't give up easily especially when met with the tiniest hurdles during our hardest times.

I think my greastest takeway from field camp is knowing more about myself and my limits when i am faced with challenges which pushes me out of my comfort zone. Life only begins when we step out of our comfort zone and this cannot be denied as only when we challenge ourselves do we grow as a person and get stronger. I tend to panic easily when faced with a challenge and will not be able to stay calm, thus affecting my ability to carry out that task. Thus, I need to work on my composure. I need to improve my mental endurance too as I tend to fumble when I feel weak from heat injury or physical exhaustion. This field camp has gave me much discomfort in many ways but I am thankful for that as they made me stronger. Yes those times are tough, but tough times don't last; tough people do.

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