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BASIC TRAINING
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EIGHT
whole company would be led at a run out of the main gate and along Upper Jurong Road
towards Tuas for a distance of about two km and back. Alternatively, the Duty Officer would
choose to exit by the back gate between ‘A’ and ‘B’ companies and go up to spot height 175,
one of the knolls of a hill feature flanking Pasir Laba Road to the east, which came to be
known as Good Morning Hill. In the former instance, passing the old pigsty that used to be
sited at the main gate early morning every day, the trainees could be forgiven for thinking a
lungful of that balmy air was prescribed tonic for good health in the military. During every
5 BX, there were always a few who would slip off en route to the gates and return to the
barrack room to carry on with their rudely interrupted sleep, but obvious as this ploy was,
and easy as it would have been to pre-empt it, the Duty Officers did not seem to have caught
on. On returning to the company lines after the run, many cadets would go back for a few
more priceless minutes of sleep, but others would proceed to their morning ablutions at a
relatively leisurely pace without the pressure of fellow trainees milling around for the toilets
and showers. Those who had been excused from 5BX on grounds of illness were expected
to report sick and if found to have been feigning illness, would get extra weekend duty. One
trainee whose tonsils always looked inflamed ended up having them removed surgically on
the instructions of SAFTI Medical Officer, CPT (Dr) Seah Cheng Hock, when he excused
himself from 5 BX one morning, though that was during the officer cadet phase. 5 BX
remained with the trainees through officer cadet training except that with the frequency of
late night training, the occasions were reduced.
VI. ELEMENTS OF PHYSICAL FITNESS TWO:
THE STANDARD OBSTACLE COURSE (SOC)
5 BX was not so much a part of physical fitness as was instilling a discipline of getting up
early, un-kinking the knots in the body after heavy sleep and promoting alertness at the crack
of dawn. By itself, it was a good daily aerobic workout for what is now popularly recognised
as the cardio-vascular system, except that it was not conducted on the mornings after late
night training. But, making the soldier physically fit requires improving muscular strength,
stamina, dexterity and nimbleness when faced with battlefield obstacles or hazards. The overall
programme thus included the obstacle course, which addressed these requirements, while route
marches and runs built up the stamina as well as the mental toughness to carry on against an
overwhelming urge to quit. The latter two activities in any case are classic infantry tradecraft.
Initially, nearly every recruit dreaded the obstacle course and some throughout. That dread was
manifested in the persons of WO2 Khutalib, the senior Physical Training Instructor and his
henchmen, Staff Sergeant Lim Boon Chor, Sergeant Justin Hendricks, Corporal Pachimuthu
and Lance Corporal Rafique bin Senan. WO2 Khutalib was a big dark man, agile, fast, inclined
to risqué observations including his own prowess and he thoroughly enjoyed his work. The
other four were slim, without an ounce of surplus fat on rawhide bodies. Dressed in the
coveted white PT uniform, they never seemed to sweat or tire even in the heat of the noon