My Background

My military background:

I am an Infantry Combat Medic Specialist in an Infantry battalion. I was involved with four severe casualties as a frontline medic and have seen a gunshot wound to the chest. I have received a live Super Puma heli-casevac with that said gunshot wound. (He died.) I have made numerous patient runs too. I did a 2-day SGH A and E attachment and a 2-day CD ambulance attachment. I witnessed three resus deaths during these attachments.

I have served as a platoon medic, company medic and medical centre staff. I have gone on BRC and scouts medic attachment, including spending time supporting my recce team mates in the School of Military Intelligence. I held a Hendon camp pass for four weeks. I was involved in a classified Special Op as part of a 12-man CRT. (That's the most I can say.)

My teaching experience:

I am a Physics and English teacher, having taught the full spectrum and attended many content courses for both subjects. I was the runner-up in the Nov 05 Iron Science Teacher Competition in Singapore. I am thus a Wrought Iron Science Teacher. I taught in VJC from 1999 to 2003. I have been a teacher in Damai Sec since 2004.

I have done EWSS work for a year. I have also done SC and IT work. I attended the 3-day Connected Classroom Conference in 2000 in Anaheim, USA with another teacher from my school.

I have followed ODAC on a Twin Peaks Expedition (Kinabalu and Trus Madi). I was a robotics teacher and instructor, leading robotic and automation engineering projects, some of which were winning SSEF projects. I have led a short film team before -- downgraded to Special Mention in the SVA -- and have attended related workshops at the Substation, etc.

My sports experience:

I was in the volleyball team in secondary school for two years. We even had a coach from China. Hence I am familiar with what sportsgirls and sportsboys have to go through and am familiar with proper sports training. I have done some 10 km road races and two marathons in the past. I was also a recreational air rifle shooter when I was in JC -- not very good in that.

My outdoor education experience:

As a cadet scout in primary school, I was already doing ropes course without safety (1980s, you see...) and hiking in MacRitchie and Pulau Ubin. As a JC student, I took part in an 8-day camp with sea-ex, land-ex, abseiling, ropes course, etc. I went for the 21-day OBS course in 1996. I went for a Topper sailing course with the National Sailing Centre. I went to Mt Ophir twice, and have climbed Mt Trus Madi and Mt Kinabalu, the tallest mountains in Southeast Asia. I also went for the MOE expedition leader course in Australia, which involved training in dissimilar weather -- and a 44 km walk over three days in true wilderness, hours from the nearest road. I have a Kayaking 2-Star certification and have a PPCDL too. I have followed an NCC sea-ex as an NCC (Land) teacher officer.

My music experience:

I was in the String Ensemble in JC for 2 years, learning how to play the violin. I am not very good in that too, but I can play simple pieces with practice and can support as Violin 3 with rote. (Okay, Violin 3 is not normally written for most pieces - must modify from Viola part...) I was a Chinese Orchestra teacher for six months in 1999, so I am slightly familiar with running a music CCA.

Teacher who died of a CVA

Around this time in 1999, I was a new teacher in VJC. I had just returned from a stint in 3 SIR followed by a short vacation in Sydney. One day, my Bio teacher was a bit ill. She was coughing and taking a lab class, I think. After that, she went back to the staff room. Then she complained of a severe headache. She was moaning loudly. I had just returned from lunch. When I heard the awful sound, I thought a student had freaked out due to stress or what and was being seen to in the staff room. But when it became worse, I went over to check. It was my Bio teacher! Then she lost consciousness. They laid her down on the floor and called an ambulance. She was totally unresponsive, but was still breathing. Her symptoms were telling me "Neuro! Neuro!". The ambulance officer came and checked with us if she had hit her head -- they concluded neuro too. They whisked her to CGH. Then she was stabilized and sent to TTSH, where she was operated on by an ex-student. He pronounced it hopeless and closed her up. She had burst a blood vessel in her brain -- probably sub-arachnoid haemorrage. Maybe she had a weak abnormal blood vessel or an aneurysm. The coughing did her in. She was put on life support. The next day, school was suspended at 8 am and the entire staff turned out to TTSH to see her. Teachers' Day was suspended. Her parents did not want to switch her off. She lingered on a few more days before they decided to switch her off. She was buried in CCK Christian Lawn Cemetery.

Today is National Day. Singapore is a great nation. There's little doubt about that.

It was drizzling during the NDP but everyone gamely carried on. The Red Lions jumped, the Chinook and Apaches flew low, and the Black Knights showed that they were all-weather pilots on all-weather fighters.

I passed my PPCDL Practical on my first attempt! It was a borderline pass though...

I had to make a 2nd pass for the man-overboard drill. I made a lot of mistakes in the oral exam. But I have learnt from my mistakes.

I'll use my new skill to help others. Give back to society, that kind of thing.

Information is available on the internet and this is such common sense! The stuff they write is just amazing...

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=1850104

To set the record straight: According to Mindef, "Servicemen are to salute officers who are senior in rank. In the course of official duties, National Cadet Corps Officers should also be saluted. Police Officers and military officers from foreign armies are to be accorded the same compliments paid to SAF Officers. The salute can be executed while in any military attire, with or without headdress." NCC students will greet SAF personnel no matter what rank. NCC teacher officers will greet SAF personnel as a matter of courtesy although not stated in rules, and return compliments when paid.

The aim of the NCC? There is no operational role, although they are trained to BMT+ standard at the end of Sec 4, with some notable exceptions... NCC cadets don't dig or do any strenuous stuff. NCC preps boys for NS and makes girls understand what boys go through.

NCC is not NS. You don't expect the NCC child soldiers to go to war and break the Geneva Convention, do you? Then again, if push comes to shove in World War Three, everybody will probably chip in to defend the Lion City -- probably the NCC too since they are well-trained. In WWII, before the fall of Singapore, many NCC cadets saw action by joining the real soldiers.

The "Singapore" chest tag just identifies the cadet/soldier as from Singapore, so there's no problem with NCC putting it on. The epaulette differentiates the NCC from the SAF.

NCC cadets are supposed to be as disciplined as the SAF.

In terms of capability, an NCC Gold unit has scored more than 90% in the BUC, which is just like the SAF. This means that it is proficient in shooting, navigation, fitness, IFC, arms drill, etc. Just like the SAF, but to BMT+ standard. You have to remember that the NCC is a combat-fit unit -- all take the NAPFA test every year. If no "kelong" was involved, I think the unit is well-trained -- probably better than most SAF non-combat logistics units in terms of combat skills.

The again, only a few units are of Gold standard. The Bronze and Silver units are not as good.

It is unbelievable that a terrorist has escaped from an ISD detention centre! And just like in the movies! Don't the ISD guys watch movies?! How could they let him escape via the toilet?! And with so many CCTV cameras on the island, did they forget to install some around their facility?! It is shameful to say the least. "The Indonesians caught him and we lost him" -- that sounds real embarassing.

He's probably in Indonesia now... He probably had someone helping outside. Or maybe even inside.

On a side note, there are some conspiracy theories coming out. One guy says that he died inside so it was a cover-up. If that were true, at least he's not out there. But he probably IS out there. If he's in Indonesia now, all is lost. You need Humint, operatives, UAVs, troops and vehicles to get him -- if you have a lead.

Most people have probably forgotten the nefarious plans of the JI. Most of them are pretty normal, except for two. One was a plan to hijack an Aeroflot plane in Thailand and crash it into Changi Airport. The other was to attack the water pipeline from Malaysia to Singapore and blame it on Malaysia, thereby starting a war between the two countries. They planned to take advantage of that to overthrow the Malaysian government and take over. That's just like that James Bond movie!

Here's my review of the recent Singapore Aerospace compared to previous Asian Aerospace sessions...

In the AA, the ticket holder shuttle bus queues moved continuously because buses came continuously. The public bus queues also moved pretty fast. In contrast, the SA bus queues moved like a snail and snaked all around Pasir Ris... I'm not kidding.

One reason is because of the need to scan the tickets. But in fact, when the crowds got too much, it looked like they moved to using offline handheld scanning. Later on at the venue, they apparently gave up on ticket scanning alogether when the crowd was just too big. Tickets were not checked at all and anyone who came in by foot or taxi could go in.

In the first place, the SA tickets were self-printed, hence requiring authentication to ensure they weren't photocopied. Omni Ticketing handled it this year and this is after the F1 ticketing problem. The problem is that even SingPost tickets were on A4 paper. In fact, most tickets needed authentication -- obviously they have no previous experience with the AA! They only needed to ask any aviation buff to know that it is really crowded! Those planners really had no common sense to just ask anyone with experience, preferring to plan using their "helicopter quality". Authentication will not work! Queues must move continuously with buses coming continuously.

Many people were late for the airshow as a result. This year, many people bought tickets rather than watch it free as the venue is not public friendly. In the AA, hordes of people could watch for free close up at Changi beach just outside the venue, and which is quite accessible. The best SA spot is near the ferry terminal, which is not very accessible, what with the traffic jam. And the spot is not very good. The new centre has been designed to discourage freeloaders - just look at the map! Only ticket holders get to watch at the correct angle and at close range.

The content this year in the halls is also not as educational as in the AA. Only 2 exhibits were educational, if you ask me. One Israeli one and the Singapore one. This means that most people were unsatisfied as they missed the airshow or could not get a good spot because of the crowds, and there was nothing else in the SA. In other words, they wasted most of their money.