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APPENDIX II
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APPENDIX II
As the course progressed into the first two weeks, most of the military trainees felt that the
individual lessons conducted were not relevant to them and became rather bored. Some of
us attempted to inject humour during the lessons to make up for the boredom. We felt that
the training level was too basic and was more applicable to beginners. From time to time,
some of the trainees expressed their unhappiness with the lessons that were conducted. The
field craft lessons on personal camouflage and basic movements for reaction to enemy fire
on top of Jurong Hill, had problems. During a personal camouflage lesson, it was noted
that one officer just had a stem on his shoulder while another was so over-camouflaged
that he appeared like a walking tree. At a basic movement lesson, very few would want to
do the leopard crawl, but practised the dash to hide. The technical handling lessons on the
self-loading rifle which we had been using since 1962 and the Konfrontasi Operation, were
lessons for recruits. Of course, there were instances of lighteartedness during the lessons.
Once, during the stripping and assembly lesson, one NCO had fixed his rifle wrongly and
jokingly laughed, saying that he had an extra-long rifle. In another incident, an officer was
caught wearing a toy helmet. The instructor joked with the officer telling him that he could
not associate with a toy soldier. Map Reading and Compass lessons were introduced on Hill
226. Here again, the lessons were for fresh trainees. These were followed by day and night
navigation exercises from Woodlands Road through Marsiling cultivated land to Sembawang
Road at Gampas.
Most of the Israeli advisors were not fluent in English. They made errors in their expressions
when conducting lessons. One frequent error was “Down lie” instead of “Lie down”.
They were gently corrected by LTA Rajaratnam, LTA Earl Robson and 2LT James Chan.
These SVC officers were English teachers by profession. Whenever they had to conduct
lessons, the Israeli advisors would glance at them for approval. 2LT James Chan would react
immediately with a thumbs up. This lightened the atmosphere and added humour and fun
into the lessons. Though the advisors were not proficient in English, their delivery of the
lessons was not affected as their instructions were driven home with clarity and simplicity.
Up until this stage, we were not really convinced that the course was really relevant to us as the
lessons seemed to be too elementary. The trainees grumbled even more when they realised
that they had to do basic foot drills on the open space next to the school. The next physical
event was the commissioning of the obstacle course. On the day of execution, I became the
first casualty in the course with severe cuts under my chin and shin when running across
the swinging platform which snapped at the hinges. I was sent to the Singapore General
Hospital for treatment and stitches. Later, we learned that the obstacle course items had
not been tested for safety. Besides the training discomforts, the Spartan living conditions—
sometimes no water for bathing—and the poor standard of food and hygiene added to our
growing misery. Our daily silent protests were eventually noticed and were taken as serious
feedback and brought to the attention of the management and the MID.
VII. UNHAPPINESS DURING TRAINING