Saturday, April 16, 2005
i was watching tv last night. yes after my studying hour. watched an episode of some crime night thing on discovery channel. was about some paramilitary orgamisation regarding some domestic terrorism in the us. anyway it brought back interesting memories during NS. in particular ocs. in fact, one of the scenes triggered a memory which i had almost forgotten. so i better write it down now lest i forget about it totally.
anyway i was already in faocc by then. so we were doing some fo (forward observer) exercise in groups. so the initial phase was to be inserted in the cover of the night. so we had to navigate thru the greens of pasir laba to reach our op. anyway i cant even recall who was in the same group as me but i think we decided to risk it and not bash through the jungles. so we skimmed the forests along this major road which was supposed to have an armoured patrol. thankfully we didnt encounter anything. well anyway on reaching about 300m from the base of the hill we were suppose to climb to set up our op, we were so elated that we got there without incident that we basically came out of the forest and started to walk in the open to the trail leading up the hill. then suddenly we heard someone shout "HALT!". so we all froze and we knew we were caught but instinctively someone wispered "1,2,3..." and we all made a dash for the vegetation fringing the trail up the hill. whilst running the 100 odd meters to the vegetation, there blanks were fired and thunderflashes thrown at us. adrenaline rush. we all literally dove straight into the bushes and started to crawl deeper into the vegetation. then we heard the sound of people bashing through the vegetation and the noise of engines raring along the trail. so we pushed ourselves laterally into the vegetation and then froze there. there we waited for i dont know how long before the headlights of the vehicles disappeared and the sound of menacing footsteps vanished. then we waited somemore just in case before we made our slow climb up the hill. hahahaha i think that was the initial time we actually did something like that. beacause in the army, when you are training, normally you are expected to react in a certain way like if you are in a confined space and ambushed then u charge towards the fire etc etc. and because instructors are usually around, you really need to follow these guidlines. but for the insertion exercise, we were left to our own devices so i guess we behaved according to our instincts (and luckily we got away with it this time. otherwise we would have to redo our insertion again). well i dont know but yea it is a rather terrifying experience to be standing in the open looking at the trees around you and hearing a voice coming form them without even being able to tell where the voice is coming from much less see the person shouting at you. i mean it's already nerve wrecking enough if it's just a simulated exercise, but what more if it happens in real war. then i guess the fight or flight response will try to overwhelm you. but yes now that i think about it, it does bring back nice memories. good material to chat over lunch with my buddies too! haha
anyway, as for studying, i'm a little behind time. i'm actually only starting on galois theory after i finish this and i'm supposed to be doing exercises now. well nevermind. anyway nus sent me a funny mail yesterday. the title of the mail reads "Offer Letters - Aug 2005 Intake" anyway it doesnt say if i am accepted or not. but rather, just informs me of the enrolment date for graduate students. so i dont know if i am accepted and if i got the grant. oh well shall wait for the letter in the mail. ok back to galois for me now. ciao!
{1:29 PM}
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