monday was exercise "Gypsy 2" in the forest of Mandai. couldn't find the check point and it was demoralising. it's not that we are lost, it's just that we couldn't find that stupid tree in that stupid forest during the day. though we found our night checkpoint at night.
that is where the funny part comes. we are forbidden to walk on the road but who cares? we followed the road to our checkpoint and found another group of soldiers sitting beside the road trying to radio to HQ. our checkpoint was just beside the road, about 50m into the forest.
"what happened? why u all sitting here?" "got snake inside."
it was my last checkpoint and i wanted to end the exercise early so i decided to go in. some of them were afraid of the snake. few of us decided to go in, take note of the password of the checkpoint, while the rest of the group stayed outside. did'nt take long for us to find the checkpoint. i wrote down the password and we quickly went back to the road.
there is a "Rover Drill" where we were not supposed to be seen by oncoming vehicles. and we were not supposed to be on the road so if our commanders happen to drive by in the Land Rover, we are goners. we were sitting around the bend beside the road. suddenly we saw headlights from a vehicle approaching the bend. and Farhan shouted.
"ROVER!!!!"
1 SECOND WAS ALL IT TOOK FOR ABOUT 15 SOLDIERS TO DISAPPEAR FROM THE ROAD INTO THE FORES! 1 bloody second and everyone scrammed.
end up, it was just a golf buggy (Singapore Island Country Club was just beside the forest).
