Field Camp is perhaps one of the most important aspect of the Army boy’s life in BMT. Many of you will be embarking onto Field Camp over the next few weeks, so if your reading this, you could possibly be having a competitive edge over your peers. SITest is immediately after Field Camp, so its important for you to really have your energy, focus mantained even after the Field Camp!
Yes, field camp is very draining on one, with the following highlights that will definitely happen:
1) Stay in your dirty long 4 attire
2) Camo will be on almost all the time. When this gets into your eyes, they really burn. You are likely eat a lot of this accidentally too.
3) Sleeping in a basha or a shellscrape, where it can get extremely cold at night!
4) Digging the damn shellscrape in the first place with your ET
5) Lying prone on hard rocks/mud/ant nests for a variety of reasons
6) Staying awake at night for sentry duties or to keep your equipment safe from roving commanders
7) High-kneeling. In order to remain “tactical”, you cannot stand (too easily spotted) or sit (slow reaction) whenever you are waiting, and you have to put your weight on one knee, which sometimes can result in your entire knee getting bruised.
8) And of course, the actual missions themselves.
The normal rough Schedule is as follows
1) Route March to camp site (the inital march is 8km)
2) Setting up Bashas
3) Fire and Movement lessons
4) Dig your Shellscrapes
5) More lessons – Fire and Movement revision, and also Crossing of Danger Area
6) Group Battle Course – test of all the group maneuvers
7) Move to UO (Urban Operations) site*
8) Lessons on UO tactics*
9) Group Battle Course – test of all the group maneuvers
Most people would be relieved once they move on to the UO part, because the buildings would suddenly seem like a luxury after time in the forest.
*Note: As a result of the recent time-off, UO for some coy’s maybe rescheduled to a later date!
Now, the combat rations provided in field camps.
What you will also get and want to get is the Accessories Pack which will include biscuits, sweets, drinks and random goodies (like a goody bag). It is important to note that unless you are very selfless, the quality of the packs can actually differ quite substantially. We will be covering them in part 2 of this post.
In addition, there is also a essay competition called My Defining Moment Essay Competition, and you will probably end up writing and highlighting about the Mail Run event during Field Camp. This is where you shag yourself out completely, usually through an artillery strike and casevac (casualty evacuation: i.e. carrying people everywhere), and then receive a surprise letter from your parents (but yes, there are instances of receiving a blank paper for a variety of reasons as well, especially if your parents were not with you when you first came to Tekong). Be prepared to weep a little here (A lot of people broke down, including myself). Do note that Mail Run may not happen for a handful of coy’s as well.
Finally, the last thing to arm yourself up for is the Shell-scape digging. Most coy’s have this contest where if you can dig your shell-scape within one hour, you will get one extra day off (yes, its true!). So while most people have to book in on a Sunday night, you get to come back on a Monday late afternoon/evening depending on your sergeants. The trick to this? Mark your shell-scape by digging the perimeter of your shell-scape then dig the rest first. Also, use force to hit the ET-Blade set on the soil, followed by using your leg (with boots) to kick it downwards then using it as a pivot, push the ET-Blade away from u, so the it can push a huge chunk of soil out. You might find it easier to remove the large chunk of chunked soil with your hands (at least in my case). It took me 53 minutes to dig mine. 😉
