This is my story...

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Meaningful and Memorable experience in Mohawk

It was a series of allusive events which led me to what I am today, a Mohawk warrior or maggot which most of the instructors loved to call us. Although I was from the Pes C batch, (33rd Modified BMT batch), the training was not facile after all. Most of the things done were not within our syllabus, however those were in were made to be more strenuous and demanding for most of us. We came back to the bunk shagged.

The first few days were hell. I cannot sleep properly, I was expected to wake up at 0530, I was expected to do physical training at an ungodly hour of 0600, our section was expected to standardize everything we do, for instance the arrangement of our boots, our shoes and slippers/sandals and we were expected to fall in right on time, not a minute late or something like that, with our water bottles filled and drank before our morning exercises, which most of us known it as the 5BX.

A few days later the IPPT Category test came. Oh my god! How long have I not been exercising and they wanted me to take the test all of a sudden! I was stunned for a while; nevertheless we still have to go through it. Overall it was ok, I failed though, however it was a good experience which differentiated the IPPT test in the army from the NAPFA test from my schooling days.

We had lectures, lectures and more lectures. Lectures which differ from normal ones like Math and Science; these lectures taught us about army; how are we suppose to dress up, how are we suppose to behave, how a first aid was conducted, how a rifle worked, how a grenade worked, the structure of the army, personal hygiene and cleanliness and much more.

Initially I thought the instructors were a bunch of heartless people who only found satisfaction from penalizing us on the tiniest details we have done wrong. Punishments ranging from pumping positions holding there lasting for more than half and hour, shouting and screaming at you in front of the whole platoon or company, repetition of stuff being done if it did not met the time frame given, confinements and guard duties. It was totally different from the punishments given from schools, because in schools you can give that don’t care attitude and still got away scot-free; in the army there is no such thing.

Nope, the instructors are not mindless machines trained to give us hell for the rest of our lives. In fact, they showed a lot of concern and welfare (maybe this was because we were from Pes C) and given us much benefits of doubt. Time and again interviews were conducted by the PC to find out how we were moving on and if we were used to regimental lifestyle. If we were unable to attend our training, they gave us the welfare to rest one corner or something like that.

The rifle, yes the one thing which you never ever want to lose it in your entire life. It was so important and sacred that a solemn ceremony was conducted to bestow the weapon to our safeguard, and time and again this tool (though it was already more than 30 years old) MUST be with you no matter where you go. Maintaining it was another problem (I said problem because it was hard to maintain it) and you will get charged or something like that if the rifle screwed up.

Route marches were generally fun; though the distance was short at least I had a lot of fun walking together with my platoon and singing songs to keep our morale high and keep on going to complete the marches. The longest march was the 10km graduation march which was conducted near POC, and it was a great experience because we got to explore parts of the island which we had never gone before; places such as the reclaimed land which was a mosquito farm and the old school.

It was a fun experience holding a real rifle firing live rounds. Range was what I am mentioning about. Never in my life had I hold a real rifle and fire live rounds which can KILL. Initially when the rifle was bestowed upon us it looked like somewhat a toy to me, however when range came, it fired out life rounds which impressed me during the first few shots. This baby could do something! Targets were mounted and we had to shoot a minimum number of them in order to pass, in my opinion it was rather easy when you follow the procedures and techniques mentioned by the instructors.

One of the most mind draining events was the field camp. I could say it was the most significant and cogent event of the whole of my BMT life. Although we only had 4 days and 3 nights, we were not spared from the calamitous weather and the wraith of our instructors. Some said Pes C field camp would not be as tough, but I thought otherwise. Firstly the weather drained our morale; bashas were drenched and we were not spared either. Drills were conducted time and again and we were again punished for the slightest mistake made, and the punishment was really tough. Yes it was a memorable experience.

BIC is a course which stimulates a real war event whereby you have to leopard crawl all the way for 70m through obstacles. 70m looked short but when you crawled it for the first time it took me eternity to reach to the end of the other side. Sand entered my body and I suffered abrasions on my elbows. It was a good experience nevertheless.

You only get to throw a live grenade once in your life, and that occurs when you are a recruit. The impact was GREAT, explosions and the percussions can be felt within 70m to 100m radius. If I had the chance I would want to throw again.

In conclusion, life in Mohawk is indeed tough, but along the way, new friendships are forged, new lifestyles are practiced, new lessons are learnt, a civilian transformed to a soldier is a great lead forward, for everything will be different entirely, and the most important thing is friendship, especially with your buddy, because only through that way your regimental life will seem to be more carefree and relaxed, your mental toughness will increase to a level you will never expect and trainings which may seem to take a day pass quickly, and before you realize it, it is moving towards the end of the basic course soon, crafting a person who knows nuts about military life to a soldier, a disciplined and well-trained Mohawk warrior.

Rambled by kaSh at 11:08 am