From Stagmont to Brunei

20 April 2006

Anything but Signal
Year 2006 started off at Stagmont Camp Signal Institute, where I continue on with the rather boring and useless signal training. The training syllabus are too technical for me, especially for someone who is not well-versed in electronic, science and technologies.

To be honest, I did not choose Signal! My childhood dream was to be a Helicopter Pilot, so joining the Air Force became my goal. I would rather be in Guards or Infantry, as I find the job scopes to be a lot more meaningful... Perhaps the urban legend of boys inheriting their father's vocation is true...

Pride & Responsibilities
Perhaps, the most meaningful and memorable tasks were being assigned as the Map IC and the Detachment IC for a mission. These roles are good training for planning, responsibility and leadership.

Being the Platoon IC was the longest 2 weeks (or is it more than 2 weeks?) of my life! It was when you became the Platoon IC, then you will realize who are your true friends and who are those who wayang in front of the commanders and instructors to score brownie points. The most interesting fact is, those guys who will really help you are those Platoon ICs before your regime (especially your immediate predecessor)! Therefore, you will pay the kindness forward to the next Platoon IC after your run.

Haunting Memories of Stagmont
Friends should know that I am quite atheist and I am not a religious person. I do not think that Tekong Ladang Camp (BMTC) and SAFTI are haunted or eerie. However, I must say that Stagmont Camp is definitely the most haunted place I have ever been to. The camp is surprisingly eerie for its civilized location, which is in the heart of Choa Chu Kang New Town, next to Teck Whye Estate, opposite Choa Chu Kang Stadium and surrounded by a cluster of schools. As Stagmont is on a hilltop, we could see the high-rise blocks of Bukit Panjang New Town N6 (Blk 625 – 631) located not too far away.

I can sense the place is not right from the moment I stepped into the bunk block, which seems to be built in the 1970s. I do not get this feeling often, so it makes me feel quite uneasy throughout my stay at Stagmont. The bunks are located along a long double-loaded corridor that is similar to those old-school 1-room flats. The corridor is really dark even during a bright afternoon. My buddy Darryl (who is able to see things) advised Weimin and I not to use the toilet at the end of the corridor (beside the chin-up bar). That toilet is actually nearer to my bunk, so it raised curiosity. But anyway, I prefer the central toilet as it is brighter and larger.

Every night, we will hear lots of wild dogs barking and howling loudly slightly before midnight and the melancholy howling might last till the wee hours of the morning. The howling came from the middle of the parade square, which can be seen from our window, but nobody dares to peek at it.

Guard duty are the scariest memories in Stagmont. Almost all the prowling stops feel eerie and the spooky ambient would made my hair stand unknowingly. The worst location would be the petrol station and the driveway leading to the forested side gate (from map, the driveway would cut through a small forest, before reaching Choa Chu Kang Drive). The driveway is always brightly lit before anyone walked there. However, the moment we reached the driveway, the entire row of street lamps will goes off suddenly. Whenever we walked near the petrol station, there will be lots of loud interference from our walkie talkie. Something weird is, the street lights will switched on again after we left the driveway.

Once, while prowling down the dark driveway, I experienced a strong gush of cold wind blowing from the forest side gate, brushing past the right side of my body. It feels damn weird as it was a still night and I did not feel the wind on the left side of my body. I looked at my prowling partner, with my eyes wide open. He was walking to my right and he whispered "Don't say anything, we talked about it the next morning." The two of us hurried down to the side gate, signed our endorsement and we hurried back to the main driveway. Back in the guard room, Ler seems to know that I wanted to talk about my encounter earlier and he instructed me to talk about it only after the sun is up. Finally, after we booked out the next morning, Ler told me that he experienced a strong gush of cold wind blowing past the left side of his body. This means that the strong gush of cold wind only blew through in between the two of us! O.M.G.!

Other spooking locations along the prowling route includes the eerie chin-up bar between our bunk and the training block, the Level 2 Foyer at the HQ block (we were instructed to check whether all the rooms were properly locked), surrounded with huge portraits of past commanders since colonial days (I got a huge shocked when I saw this when I climbed up the stairs for the 1st time and the feeling of surveillance by their eyes is quite creepy at night), the hall with huge mirrors at all corners. The only 'safe spot' seems to be the dead end driveway overlooking Kranji Expressway (KJE) and Pioneer Junior College. That is where we would have our water breaks and take a breather.

Furthermore, the fat gay Malay RP will target and harass some of us when we were resting at the guard room. Once, he molested my inner thighs while trying to wake me up for duty. Kenneth and Jerrick were harassed too. However, we do not evidence to report him to our commanders.

The longer we stay, the more weird encounters we experienced and the more strange experiences we heard from our batchmates. We also started hearing lots of stories from the instructors that the camp is indeed not clean. For example, These urban legends include the dogs forming a circle at the parade square and started howling at midnight, the haunted chin-up bar, strange accidents stopped happening after an altar was setup at the vehicle maintenance area, etc. To make things worse, most of the tales corresponded to our spooky encounters and most importantly, the instructors were not aware of our encounters before they told us the stories. Nevertheless, some legends like the haunted locked bunks at Level 6, men disappearing behind the low wall and frangipani smell near KJE sounds a little too exaggerated, fictional or generic to be true.

In addition, the bunk block is quite dirty and was infested with rats. We clean it regularly, but it was still forever dusty; perhaps because we were on a hilltop and many of the rooms were unoccupied.

I just hope that I only need to stay at Stagmont for a few months. Hopefully I will not be posted here permanently.

Fun Memories of Stagmont
As Stagmont is at Choa Chu Kang, it is really far from home and the long journey home is quite tedious. It is quite impossible to take MRT from Choa Chu Kang to Tampines via Jurong East, as our book out timing on Friday clashes with the evening peak hours from Jurong Industrial Estate. Even if I managed to squeeze into the train, the journey would take about 1.5h. I tried taking the direct bus #67 from Choa Chu Kang bus interchange to Tampines bus interchange and the entire journey is about 3h, definitely the longest bus ride I ever took.

From my "3 day tour singapore" experiences, I think the fastest route is still via MRT from Choa Chu Kang to Woodlands (about 15min), then transfer to bus #168 (about 30min). By this way, the journey from Stagmont to Home is only about 1h and I could get a seat. In fact, I can even buy bread from Causeway Point Prima Deli.

The best benefit of Stagmont's civilized location is its proximity to amenities. Stagmont is just a stone throw away from Teck Whye Neighbourhood Centre (where Weimin stays). The camp is also a short walk from Choa Chu Kang Town Centre. Sometimes on a pleasant afternoon, Wee Liat and I would walk to the MRT station instead of taking a feeder bus there. Stagmont is also located near Lot One, Ten Mile Junction and Bukit Panjang Plaza, which means that there are abundant choice of food and hangout places for nights out. Once, Darryl, Kenneth, Wee Liat and I even took bus #190 to Orchard for nights out.

Training for Brunei
We were briefed on our upcoming activities for the next few weeks, which the most horrifying would be Brunei!

With our Brunei trip only days ahead, we started doing lots of load training and route marches to prepare us for our jungle getaway... There are countless 24km route marches with 300% supply loaded! The 12km route marches at hilly Lorong Asrama and the route marches from Changi Village to Fort Road through East Coast Park really squeezed me dry physically.

These trainings leads to serious strains and aching on my hamstrings and upper calves. I do not have any issues with physical trainings prior to these, but these exercises were really a level up. These trainings also triggered a relapse of plantar fasciitis, which I first sustained during PE (repeated stairs climbing) in TPJC, about 3 years ago. Although I could still continue with my trainings, I had to undergo physiotherapy to relieve these aching. I also think the heavy load affected my posture, because based on measurements, I became 3cm shorter (169cm) after these trainings). I am basically surviving on will power till the Brunei trip.

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