A day trip back to Tekong!
I was earlier informed that I need to go back to Tekong today. I thought the purpose was to endorse my MC and perhaps pack up my belongings in Tekong. After all I still have 4 more weeks of MCs! So this morning, I was a bit surprised that I would essentially be booking in with the rest of my company - while they are in Smart 4, I am in civilian attire, and together with my crutches, I stood out among the crowd, so to speak.
Then came the process of booking into Tekong. After arriving at TFT, I met up with some of my section mates, and we had a bit of chit-chat along the way out of TFT. I told them, it's only my second book in, and they are already more than halfway done with BMT. In return, they joked that in my civilian attire, I could pass off as one of the commanders. But my botak head would give it away ...
While the rest of my company mates formed up, ready to march off to coy line, I was standing behind, only to be told that I should have followed the other sergeants back to coy line. But since they left a while ago, I was told to just follow the company back instead. And so as they marched off, I followed behind them, and then when nearing coy line, I just took the shortcut through the safety corner, and sat and waited on a bench outside the coy HQ. Next to me was packets of food. Indented breakfast? Turns out it was indeed breakfast; the platoon ICs were told to collect the food and everyone else was to go up to the LT, myself included.
And then I realised that I probably wouldn't be endorsing my MC so soon (endorsing MCs should be done in the afternoon, I recalled!). Instead, we were told to appraise our section mates for leadership assessment. The sergeant giving instructions said everyone should be appraised, since no one has officially been OOTed yet. But I thought the following:
- With my 7 weeks MC, which virtually guarantees that I'll miss out on all the kigh-key activities, I would most certainly be OOTed.
- Since I would be OOTed, there really is no point appraising me. (I told my section mates who were near me to go ahead and rank me last, since I wouldn't be going to command school any time soon ...)
- And lastly, how do I appraise my section mates based on just 4 weeks experience? I missed out on field camp - the one ultimate high-key activity that would really allow me to assess my peer's leadership capabilities ... (In the end I just randomly ranked my section mates ...)
After the 2 surveys, we had our (indented) breakfast. And then later, while the rest of the company were being searched for contraband items, I sat outside the coy HQ. I was told to wait for lunch (ie. I would have packed lunch); while the rest went for lunch (yes, less than 1 hour after the indented breakfast), I sat and waited. And waited. And waited. Until my lunch came, and I quickly ate it, so that I could quickly go and endorse my MC.
The wait at PTMC was horrifying! Worse than polyclinics! I waited half an hour just to get registered (meanwhile I was talking cock with some other recruits wondering why I was in civilian attire), and then I went up to the second floor to wait, round 2. After an hour or so, I was called to scan my MC, and then came waiting, round 3. Rounds 2 and 3 probably lasted 1 hour each. In the meantime, I did some Sudoku puzzles (thank goodness I brought along my Sudoku book!).
When my number was finally called, I went in to see the MO, only for him to tell me that he needs to see my first MC, which was at coy line. I wanted to go over to get the MC, but the medics decided that I should wait for my MC to be delivered over to PTMC instead. Thus came waiting, round 4. When my MC finally arrived, I went in to see the MO, and he gave me a bunch of (OOT) documents to sign. He told me that my MC had to be endorsed by a medical board, when it will be, he did not say.
After that (and the returning of my crutches), I could return back to coy line, probably to wait for dinner, I thought. And I was right, though I had to wait, again ...
After my dinner, an new off-pass was issued to me, and I was told I could go back home now. But before I left, I asked to go to the toilet, which I did, and I also stopped by my bunk to say goodbye to my section mates (and pick up some belongings that I wanted, but did not bring out of Tekong when I booked out 3 weeks ago).
And then I made my way back to TFT. There I met another fella who was also going home after a day trip to Tekong, also to endorse his (1 week) MC. Yay, another bookout buddy for this bookout! :) We had a good chit-chat session as we took the 1900 hrs ferry out of Tekong ... and then I also happened to see my CSM boarding the same ferry as me! Hahaha what a coincidence!
As we walked out of SFT, somebody asked me if I was from P coy. I said yes, then he started asking about what happened in the day at P coy. I presumed that he was from P coy as well, so I answered him to the best of my abilities. He then asked if his Smart 4 looked OK or not, explaining that a niao security trooper had spotted him and wanted him to "wear his Smart 4 properly", and then go back to him to see if it's up to his standard. I told him it looked OK, adding (for fun) that our CSM was on the same ferry as me (Didn't you see him walk past just now?).
He then went to the niao security trooper to get his approval, so that he can board the ferry to Tekong. And we went out to the guard post, showed our off-passes, and asked the guard there if there were shuttle buses. He said, "no, not at this time. It's rather late liao ... Later on, my bookout buddy commented that the guard at the guard post was much better than the niao security trooper we saw just now - this I agree with him as well ;)
We then made our separate ways home. And that kinda sums up my day trip back to Tekong, characterised by plenty of useless waiting times. Though I'm pretty sure that after my MC ends, I would still have to go back to Tekong, even though my company would have POPed by then ...
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