We started off ok I suppose, but in the back of my mind, I had no idea how I was going to get along in a group with a bunch of guys that I hardly spoke to with the exception of Aziz, Fauzi and Boon. And yes, I was none too fond of any of the others too.
I suppose I wasn't overly surprised by the conduct of a few members of the group as Indian chief syndrome set in, but Gorby's performance took the cake for unexpected behaviour!
We always thought of him as the 42nd cadet who showed up on the second day of training after escaping the evil clutches of SISPEC. He was always quite a low-key character around the barracks. He never really took part in the banter around the lower barrack and was always polishing his boots. He smiled and laughed occasionally and was quite a pleasant chap. He didn't do particularly well in training either, (I was no hotshot either but I sure could hold my own in PT, swimming, academic stuff and the police training, though the less said about TKD the better!) I still remember Nunis and someone else having to literally drag his backside over the finish line in some 2 x 2.4 challenge.
Then again, being stuck in some corner of Pulau Ubin tends to bring the worst out in people or perhaps to expose their real selves. Of course we should have smelt a rat on the first day when we chose our bunks, Aziz, Boon, Fauzi and I dived into a smaller room in our barrack as opposed to hanging out with the others but oddly enough he didn't join us. Next thing you know he's joined the creeps and started telling us all what to do and that really started to piss me off considering his previous status during junior term. By the second week he was openly critical of Aziz and I and was generally insufferable. He was always questioning the rationale of our actions when we were in charge I thought this was quite rich coming from him. By then I was not going to have anything to do with him as far as possible. I don't recall speaking to him again for the rest of our training stint when we got back, not that he ever hung around the lower barracks too again much after OBS except to sleep.
What makes someone change so much? Was it the environment that brought out the inner demon or was it just the real him? I really don't know, though I do know he ended up being called the Malay equivalent for backside for the rest of senior term!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Another Barrack Song
hello,
Will be adding to the OBS posts soon, but here's a favourite from the barracks! Last Kiss by Pearl Jam
Will be adding to the OBS posts soon, but here's a favourite from the barracks! Last Kiss by Pearl Jam
Saturday, July 5, 2008
OBS - The Daryl Version
Wow, since Asri has started the ball rolling, I shall continue! Well it's kind of jumping the gun since we were talking about the early days still, but anyway, Asri is the deputy squad chairman and this is our blog so who gives a stuff about chronology!
For me, OBS was a seminal event, it changed me in more ways than I care to admit, in fact I totally hated OBS, I felt that it was going to be the biggest and toughest waste of time in my life in that period of time. It was only further down the road that I realised how much good it was for me, it taught me that I could go beyond my self-imposed limits and it also taught me about people and how they would react under duress and what comes to the surface in such times. Most of all however, it really convinced me that Aziz, Asri, Terence and Mark were the people I could depend on in a backs to the wall situation and hence it really solidified our friendship.
Aziz and I were plonked in a group called Nehru. Since Mr Nehru was one of the pioneers of the Non-Aligned Movement, I guess it was always going to lead to the most factionalised and divded of all the 3 groups (they called groups watches at OBS I think) and it really led to alot of conflict and many people not talking to each other (uh actually, people not talking to me) once OBS was over. Anyway, the other group was called Elizabeth after Elizabeth Choy the great war heroine, of course that was to lead to some rather weak and cowardly behaviour by a less distinguished ah beng in our squad, we shall come to that in due course!
I don't know who gave input in the groupings but CM and FI sure tried to break up the squad cliques! But I thank the high heavens that Aziz was with me in Nehru, because he and Boon were probably the only people I could really count on when the chips were down and that Aziz was a source of sanity as he was probably the only one I could really talk to and plus Aziz had a tremendous supply of smuggled Oreos!
But yes, the rest of the watch were a collection of people from the other cliques in the squad and we just could not get along. In the end it all fell apart after the sailing expedition when we gave up all semblance of pretending to get along. OBS just had a way of bringing out the inner a**hole in many of them especially Gorby (pseudonym, we all know who he is!) I daresay I never talked to him after OBS despite the fact that we shared the same barrack.
I dreaded the day OBS came about, but it happened soon enough, the moment senior term came around, we were off to OBS. I vaguely recall having to do alot of shopping to get ready for the trip like buying a pair of boots just for the sailing and kayaking expeditions.
Despite all the information that we gleaned from the Seniors, I really did not know what to expect but after a prata breakfast at Jalan Kayu which seemed like fattening us up for the kill, we were on the boat to Ubin.
The first few days as I recall were all about team building and the initial heights confidence course. Eventually the expeditions started, land, sailing, solo and kayaking and we struggled through these expeditions and finally we ended off with a pointless 15km run! Then it was over, many of us had changed for good and relations had changed too and the men were separated from the boys. OBS changed my life, the 21 days I spent there were tough, but the time there made me a better person.
These are my memories and I shall elaborate on them in the next few posts:
For me, OBS was a seminal event, it changed me in more ways than I care to admit, in fact I totally hated OBS, I felt that it was going to be the biggest and toughest waste of time in my life in that period of time. It was only further down the road that I realised how much good it was for me, it taught me that I could go beyond my self-imposed limits and it also taught me about people and how they would react under duress and what comes to the surface in such times. Most of all however, it really convinced me that Aziz, Asri, Terence and Mark were the people I could depend on in a backs to the wall situation and hence it really solidified our friendship.
Aziz and I were plonked in a group called Nehru. Since Mr Nehru was one of the pioneers of the Non-Aligned Movement, I guess it was always going to lead to the most factionalised and divded of all the 3 groups (they called groups watches at OBS I think) and it really led to alot of conflict and many people not talking to each other (uh actually, people not talking to me) once OBS was over. Anyway, the other group was called Elizabeth after Elizabeth Choy the great war heroine, of course that was to lead to some rather weak and cowardly behaviour by a less distinguished ah beng in our squad, we shall come to that in due course!
I don't know who gave input in the groupings but CM and FI sure tried to break up the squad cliques! But I thank the high heavens that Aziz was with me in Nehru, because he and Boon were probably the only people I could really count on when the chips were down and that Aziz was a source of sanity as he was probably the only one I could really talk to and plus Aziz had a tremendous supply of smuggled Oreos!
But yes, the rest of the watch were a collection of people from the other cliques in the squad and we just could not get along. In the end it all fell apart after the sailing expedition when we gave up all semblance of pretending to get along. OBS just had a way of bringing out the inner a**hole in many of them especially Gorby (pseudonym, we all know who he is!) I daresay I never talked to him after OBS despite the fact that we shared the same barrack.
I dreaded the day OBS came about, but it happened soon enough, the moment senior term came around, we were off to OBS. I vaguely recall having to do alot of shopping to get ready for the trip like buying a pair of boots just for the sailing and kayaking expeditions.
Despite all the information that we gleaned from the Seniors, I really did not know what to expect but after a prata breakfast at Jalan Kayu which seemed like fattening us up for the kill, we were on the boat to Ubin.
The first few days as I recall were all about team building and the initial heights confidence course. Eventually the expeditions started, land, sailing, solo and kayaking and we struggled through these expeditions and finally we ended off with a pointless 15km run! Then it was over, many of us had changed for good and relations had changed too and the men were separated from the boys. OBS changed my life, the 21 days I spent there were tough, but the time there made me a better person.
These are my memories and I shall elaborate on them in the next few posts:
- Sub-human Dynamics in Nehru: The Monsters emerge
- The Useless Fatsos: The great abseiling misunderstanding
- Land Expedition: When we realised we couldn't get along
- Post Land Expedition: The Great Homophobic Moment (No it doesn't inolve the Choos either!)
- Round Ubin Canoeing: Barnacle Bob takes a chunk out of my shin
- Getting the Crap scared out of me: Solo Expedition
- Sailing Expedition: You can all b**dy swim back to OBS! The only moment where Aziz loses his cool and Daryl follows suit shortly after!
- Feedback Sessions: Picking the knives out of my back
- Interactions with other people: Instructors and other OBS participants
- Reflection Journal: Finding new ways to swear
- Kayaking Expedition: How to Kayak with a tray full of eggs in your cargo hold and not break any.
- Going Home
Friday, July 4, 2008
OBS
One of my most memorable moments in OCT was the 21-day OBS course. Sure it is not as exotic as the C-course Himalayan Trekking Expedition or OCS's Mt Biang Brunei tour, but it sure changed some people. Some for the good or for the better, but then who are we to judge.
Anyway, we were split into 3 tribes of around 12 persons each (less 4 persons due to medical reasons). I'll tell the story from my tribe's point of view, the Nila Utama.
I must say I never expected our tribe to get on so well together. In fact, from what I hear, our tribe was the most cooperative and least drama tribe amongst the rest, which is a surprise cos we had Nunis and Fan, Vincent and Terence in our midst. Nunis can be more irritating than a mosquito buzzing in your ear. (Sorry Nunis...you my friend! Hehehe. I can already think of your come back line. Lol.). Fan is a hard headed fella and mostly viewed as tempremental at least by myself. Vincent is a drama mama, more on that later, which I'm sure the rest can add on to. Terence is also a tempremental character. Myself, I am surly and lazy. So it was a miracle we turned out to be the most peaceful tribe ever, except maybe that time when we nearly cut Fan up for dinner cos he served up crispy under-moisturised rice. And we did relieve lots of tension courtesy of Nunis near the end of the course.
Actually there is just too many stories to tell about OBS . Just to list it out, so that we can elaborate more on them later, here are some at the top of my mind:
- Mark's Mcgyver-esque handphone booster antenna
- Mark's multi-purpose stick for toasting bread and ......
- The "solo" night smuggling and secret rendezvous operation
- Nunis cliffhanger act, during solo night
- The monitor lizard, during solo night
- The "kids" playing past midnight, also during solo night
- Mark's warm "foot bath" for me during the kayaking expedition, which I have yet to "thank" him for
- The bangla virgin
- The styrofoam muscleman
- The Fish Fan kayaking style
- The solo kayaker who got capsized for the umpteenth time
- The orange peel myth
- The Choos fight
- The butt pinch
- The morning peck
- The casevac where we nearly killed the victim
- etc...
Guys, please carry on to add and elaborate on whichever one you want to. :)
Anyway, we were split into 3 tribes of around 12 persons each (less 4 persons due to medical reasons). I'll tell the story from my tribe's point of view, the Nila Utama.
I must say I never expected our tribe to get on so well together. In fact, from what I hear, our tribe was the most cooperative and least drama tribe amongst the rest, which is a surprise cos we had Nunis and Fan, Vincent and Terence in our midst. Nunis can be more irritating than a mosquito buzzing in your ear. (Sorry Nunis...you my friend! Hehehe. I can already think of your come back line. Lol.). Fan is a hard headed fella and mostly viewed as tempremental at least by myself. Vincent is a drama mama, more on that later, which I'm sure the rest can add on to. Terence is also a tempremental character. Myself, I am surly and lazy. So it was a miracle we turned out to be the most peaceful tribe ever, except maybe that time when we nearly cut Fan up for dinner cos he served up crispy under-moisturised rice. And we did relieve lots of tension courtesy of Nunis near the end of the course.
Actually there is just too many stories to tell about OBS . Just to list it out, so that we can elaborate more on them later, here are some at the top of my mind:
- Mark's Mcgyver-esque handphone booster antenna
- Mark's multi-purpose stick for toasting bread and ......
- The "solo" night smuggling and secret rendezvous operation
- Nunis cliffhanger act, during solo night
- The monitor lizard, during solo night
- The "kids" playing past midnight, also during solo night
- Mark's warm "foot bath" for me during the kayaking expedition, which I have yet to "thank" him for
- The bangla virgin
- The styrofoam muscleman
- The Fish Fan kayaking style
- The solo kayaker who got capsized for the umpteenth time
- The orange peel myth
- The Choos fight
- The butt pinch
- The morning peck
- The casevac where we nearly killed the victim
- etc...
Guys, please carry on to add and elaborate on whichever one you want to. :)
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