Confessions Of A Demoralised Commanding Officer
Today is the second day of my in-camp training.The title is referring to me.You'll know why by the time you finish reading this post.
Praise God,my dad fetched me to camp today.If not I'll have to wake up at 5am and leave home by 5:30am.I reached camp at 0715 hrs.It was raining heavily,I had to run from building to building as there was no shelther to my destination.
Since I was early,I went to eat breakfast at the Specialists' Mess.Had 5 chicken drumlets and a chicken burger.Was quite satisfied after that.Why I wanted to eat so much is due to the sucky cookhouse food.I rate them extremely poor.I skipped lunch today as the food is really atrocious.
I received my test paper today.Was a bit disappointed.Almost got a perfect score.I got an MCQ question wrong.Darn,got 98 instead.The highest score was 99.5.
It was war game time again at around 10am.The whole group decided to norminate the 2 with the highest test scores to be the commanders,one for the enemy force and the other as the attacking force.I was made to be the Commanding Officer for the attacking force.I don't exactly like this appointment.
I have 3 Company OCs,2 Fire Support Officers and 2 Scout Section Commanders under me.Our mission is to inflitrate the enemy's base within 4 hours and to attack them from the West.Before we started,we discussed the strategy.I was in a pretty tired mood today,I tried to accept suggestions from other team members and briefed them what do to.Make sure they know what to do.
The game started off quite well,our scouts gave us the locations of the enemy forces,we tried to bomb them with artillery.We managed to have 12 kills,according to the first report from our scout.AND THEN....................SOMETHING HAPPENDED....................
WHAT IN THE WORLD??
The enemies resurrected.We were pretty shocked.Just as we were pretty confident that we managed to deplete some of their forces,they came back.To make matters worse,they started to spread around.It was very difficult to tell my FSO(Fire Support Officer) where to aim.We continued on..............Charlie Company OC informed me that he is already near the site of the enemy outpost.I instructed him to report if he sees any sign on enemy forces.The scout(same room as Charlie Company) around that area was also told to do the same.
There was no response.I had to use Teamspeak to speak to them again.Apparently the communication line at the scout's side was down.I had to go over to the next room and asked him if everything was OK.We finally got the problem solved.
A voice spoke through the Mic,it was the scout(same room as Bravo company) around the enemy's camp.We were told to bomb an area where the enemy was spotted.Immediately the FSOs started to action.We got in another few kills.
Apparently the outpost enemies were cleared.Charlie Company was instructed to move towards the enemy base.At the same time,Alpha and Bravo Company were told to do the same,but approach from a different direction.I was getting a bit panicky as I couldn't see my forces and they were asking for further instructions.
Alpha went in from the West,but was slowed down by enemy's obstacles.Alpha's OC was a great guy,he was the only one who went at the right direction.I myself went from the North as there were bombings in the West and the terrain was not that smooth to travel on.Bravo followed me while Charlie was Supressed behind.I was really in a tired mood,keep hoping that the game will end soon.
Message from my scout again,this time he reported that he had many casualities.I felt that it was time for me to charge forward.I moved my troops towards the direction of the enemy's base.Half way,my troops were supressed by APs(Anti-Personnel Obstacles).It was very difficult to move.Alpha's OC informed me that his troops are trying to clear the APs and create a path for our other troops to charge in.
The time dragged on.Everyone seemed to be bored and restless.So was I.I started to play the games on the computer.I was quite demoralised to see my team lose.But nonetheless,it was still a good learning experience.
Lessons learnt:Be calm when circumstances and plans change.Always be prepared for last minute decisions.Make them fast and firm.
At last,it was over.During the short debrief,I was asked to say what we did.My mind was very blank as I wasn't concentrating.I had to make up some bullshit to present.
Finally it was time to go home.Praise God.I have to present a power point slide on LIVE tomorrow.It's really lame,you have to write about something you want to share with the group,may be your hobby or job.And what have you learnt from it.
Find it really lame.Why must we present in power point form?Just let the individuals go up and speak and everything is done.OK,anyway SAF likes to do lame things.We have no choice but to follow.Thank God tomorrow is the last day.Hope I have energy to get through the day.
I'm going to clear other stuff now.YEAH,tomorrow is the last day!!I'm looking forward to a good rest on the weekends.
Praise God,my dad fetched me to camp today.If not I'll have to wake up at 5am and leave home by 5:30am.I reached camp at 0715 hrs.It was raining heavily,I had to run from building to building as there was no shelther to my destination.
Since I was early,I went to eat breakfast at the Specialists' Mess.Had 5 chicken drumlets and a chicken burger.Was quite satisfied after that.Why I wanted to eat so much is due to the sucky cookhouse food.I rate them extremely poor.I skipped lunch today as the food is really atrocious.
I received my test paper today.Was a bit disappointed.Almost got a perfect score.I got an MCQ question wrong.Darn,got 98 instead.The highest score was 99.5.
It was war game time again at around 10am.The whole group decided to norminate the 2 with the highest test scores to be the commanders,one for the enemy force and the other as the attacking force.I was made to be the Commanding Officer for the attacking force.I don't exactly like this appointment.
I have 3 Company OCs,2 Fire Support Officers and 2 Scout Section Commanders under me.Our mission is to inflitrate the enemy's base within 4 hours and to attack them from the West.Before we started,we discussed the strategy.I was in a pretty tired mood today,I tried to accept suggestions from other team members and briefed them what do to.Make sure they know what to do.
The game started off quite well,our scouts gave us the locations of the enemy forces,we tried to bomb them with artillery.We managed to have 12 kills,according to the first report from our scout.AND THEN....................SOMETHING HAPPENDED....................
WHAT IN THE WORLD??
The enemies resurrected.We were pretty shocked.Just as we were pretty confident that we managed to deplete some of their forces,they came back.To make matters worse,they started to spread around.It was very difficult to tell my FSO(Fire Support Officer) where to aim.We continued on..............Charlie Company OC informed me that he is already near the site of the enemy outpost.I instructed him to report if he sees any sign on enemy forces.The scout(same room as Charlie Company) around that area was also told to do the same.
There was no response.I had to use Teamspeak to speak to them again.Apparently the communication line at the scout's side was down.I had to go over to the next room and asked him if everything was OK.We finally got the problem solved.
A voice spoke through the Mic,it was the scout(same room as Bravo company) around the enemy's camp.We were told to bomb an area where the enemy was spotted.Immediately the FSOs started to action.We got in another few kills.
Apparently the outpost enemies were cleared.Charlie Company was instructed to move towards the enemy base.At the same time,Alpha and Bravo Company were told to do the same,but approach from a different direction.I was getting a bit panicky as I couldn't see my forces and they were asking for further instructions.
Alpha went in from the West,but was slowed down by enemy's obstacles.Alpha's OC was a great guy,he was the only one who went at the right direction.I myself went from the North as there were bombings in the West and the terrain was not that smooth to travel on.Bravo followed me while Charlie was Supressed behind.I was really in a tired mood,keep hoping that the game will end soon.
Message from my scout again,this time he reported that he had many casualities.I felt that it was time for me to charge forward.I moved my troops towards the direction of the enemy's base.Half way,my troops were supressed by APs(Anti-Personnel Obstacles).It was very difficult to move.Alpha's OC informed me that his troops are trying to clear the APs and create a path for our other troops to charge in.
The time dragged on.Everyone seemed to be bored and restless.So was I.I started to play the games on the computer.I was quite demoralised to see my team lose.But nonetheless,it was still a good learning experience.
Lessons learnt:Be calm when circumstances and plans change.Always be prepared for last minute decisions.Make them fast and firm.
At last,it was over.During the short debrief,I was asked to say what we did.My mind was very blank as I wasn't concentrating.I had to make up some bullshit to present.
Finally it was time to go home.Praise God.I have to present a power point slide on LIVE tomorrow.It's really lame,you have to write about something you want to share with the group,may be your hobby or job.And what have you learnt from it.
Find it really lame.Why must we present in power point form?Just let the individuals go up and speak and everything is done.OK,anyway SAF likes to do lame things.We have no choice but to follow.Thank God tomorrow is the last day.Hope I have energy to get through the day.
I'm going to clear other stuff now.YEAH,tomorrow is the last day!!I'm looking forward to a good rest on the weekends.
posted by Marco at 4:49 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home