My new posting was finalized yesterday. I had to travel all the way from SISPEC to Ayer Rajar Camp, or ARC. This sucks. I took the bus to Tampines and changed to the train to get to Commonwealth. It seems that the buses I need to take is only available at Buona Vista, thus I had to make 1 trip down.

Carrying all the stuff isn't exactly fun or easy. I was sweating ever since I got out from SISPEC, till I got to the S1 branch of GSMB. By the way, the B stands for Battalion and not Base, which I was previously told. It was boring sitting around and doing nothing. On top of that, I did not have lunch. I could have detoured for a quick meal but I decided that I should try to get things over and done with.

I did a Unit Induction Programme, a web-based lecture about the proceedings of the battalion. It was pretty much redundant and I had to do a questionnaire based on what I had learnt. I think it must have been one of their WITS project that is being implemented. Perhaps unit are indeed different from schools. Come to think of it, this is my first time being posted to a proper unit and not a school.

GSMB is a service support unit, meaning we repair all training equipment, be it vehicles or signal sets, during peacetime and operations. It is fully operational ready and performs mobilisation exercises. As an Ops Spec, one of my tasks is to co-ordinate such mobilisation.

More into my job. I am posted there as an Ops Spec, under S3 branch. Seems that unit likes to use these proper terms. In schools, we hardly use such terms. Anyway, my office resides in the battalion HQ and that is the Ops Room itself. The people there are friendly, or at least they seemed to be. I've learnt not to judge a book by its cover the hard way. I remain pretty neutral and just try to learn as much as I can.

Ops branch itself is not big. It consists of S3, DyS3, Ops Wo, S3OIC, Mobilisation Spec, Ops Spec and Ops Clerk, totalling up to 7 persons. A small group like this can breed politics too, though I have not heard of any. However, my predecessor was not of good repute. He had a breakdown and landed in IMH. What I heard was that he did not perform well nor mixed around well.

GSMB is a classical example of an old camp. The buildings are short and have no lifts. Narrow corridors that are poorly illuminated are prevalent. So are the old toilets that had been used countless times. I wasn't expecting it to be any better than SISPEC. After all, SAFTI MI is a premier institute, BMTC and SISPEC follows a close second and I doubt any unit can be newer or better than BMTC/SISPEC. It like downgrading from a condominium to a semi-detached house and then to a 3-room HDB flat. It was good that I had mentally prepared myself. If not, I would have a big culture shock.

Speaking of culture shock, service and combat differs a great deal. They are not so particular about regimentation and stuff like that. For a combat trained person like me, it feels kind of weird to be suddenly told to relax. It used to be, "Stand properly when you talk to your superiors!", "Who asked you to sit? Did you ask for permission?!", "You think your superiors are your friends ar?? Better pay more respect!!", etc. Now, it's "Hey, c'mon! You don't have to stand at attention when you talk. Don't be so stiff; relax yourself.", "Why are you standing there? Come on, sit! Don't just stand there.", "Look, we're here as a team. So if you have any problems, you can come to us. I mean anything, personal, financial, work-related problems. Or if you think I cannot help, you can go straight to look for someone more senior.", etc. A near-complete reversal. Bizzare but I think I can get used to it.

Just a note self: I must make it a point to make regular posts, rather than go MIA for a couple of days and make a lengthy post. Consistency, my dear.