ART, The story teller - Part VIII

PART VIII – FROM POTENTIAL CADETS (PRE-OCTU) TO BECOMING CADETS (RMC) 

By the time the 6 long dreadful months was to come to an end, and all the selected ones who did not drop out and survived were sent packing to go to RMC. How happy were we, knowing life would be much better there!

Again how wrong were all of us, the lucky few who were selected to continue their training abroad would never know what the rest went through for another dreaded 6 months! 

But, before we could pass out from Pre-OCTU Sebatang Karah to qualify to become a cadet the training grew more academic and the physical part was sharpened as well.

After the day-in & day-out grilling on the parade square and all the aerobic runs, James Bond bag runs, the gruelling Jalan Lasak ( into the sea and out into the jungles and roadways). All the cadets had a secret concoction prepared for the big event ….. the 25 mile road march aka JALAN LAASAK! It was a mixture of ‘bawang merah kecik’ and cooking oil, and it was supposedly to prevent our virgin sole of the feet from giving way and suffer from blisters. Guys it never worked high and fat hopes!

How can it work when the first thing you do as you leave the camp is to head towards the sea, ohhhh pantai PD…..batu ompat!

Hancus, soak wet in your socks and with salt water from the sea, it’s a SURE guarantee the feet will be doomed!

By the time you arrive back at camp 5-6 hours later all Cadets were walking like ‘ada telor bosar’ in between the thighs & legs! None escape this condition!

We all sorts of competition: shooting, obstacle, drill and off course all the games at inter-company level, after which those who shined were selected to represent the unit and play the KNK Cup against the RMC Intake 33 Cadets.

We were beaten squarely by them, I do not remember winning any of the games played. But being the TUAH COMPANY yang BERTUAH we got to wear the YELLOW LYNYARD in RMC because Rahman Company was the Champion Company in RMC! 

The tail end of the training in Sebatang Karah wasn’t going to slow down, even though we were about to break camp. We did have small parties at the Cadets Mess, first by Company later as an Intake! Just to get to know about the mess etiquette and all that stuff. We were given a free hand to organize mess do’s and that was the part of the training as well, which we later became superb experts in getting ‘impromptu parties or YAY YAY” nights done with a flicker of a finger!

Those all night LONG’s!

The Remnants

I can’t remember the exact total number of us all reporting to RMC, maybe Cadet CO can make up these  figures, because he was the CO then, now and forever!

The drop-outs were due to health reasons, injuries and just could not make the grades! The only figure I can never forget is we started out with 234 yoyos!

Nobody died in our INTAKE – that is for sure, but the latter intakes i.e. as in Intake 37, three of them succumb to the first day ‘HELL PT!’

Happiness Turns To Sorrow

We were a bunch of hopefulls looking forward to nicer things, knowing farewell to Pre-OCTU means a better life in RMC, how wrong again! The two most unwanted personalities decided to follow us to RMC..hancus harapan KEDET semua!

Yes, our beloved Capt Rozli and S/Sgt Ismail was posted there as well, how can this all happen, was it intentional or just coincidental? Only God has the answers!

But the very first day we reported to RMC was so different, I thought so, but we had another round of baptism of BUKIT again…counting the number of steps of the famous RMC pathway at Kantin Philip! We carried our Kit-Bags on our shoulders and ran the hills so many darn times, totally forgotten how many rounds, it was endless so to speak! 

Off-load at the guard room on the word GO – pick up the kit-bag and run like Hell! Off course Mat Kerapu was always the 1st.

So, after the many gruelling hours we were assembled and given a welcoming address, the Tuah Company turned ABDUL RAHMAN and we were to occupy the Dhoby Block, down below the valley!

Syed Putra was Kasturi and they occupied the Main Block, so did Jebat which became Alam Shah Coy.

Another Chapter – RMC Days

Any ways the next six months were different from Sebatang Karah, I almost did not want to be commissioned, thanks to our Cadet CO who was adamant that I should not QUIT! Reasons which he knew better why I almost threw in the TOWEL!

Well, it has since passed, incidentally we all were enlisted officially on the 20th FEB 1978, this I found out because when I wanted to retire, they say take the exact date of enlistment for the purpose of calculations for my pension and gratuity as well! So for those of you now I guess it does not make any difference since most will retire by age factor, unless there are a few who are to retire before the compulsory age retirement scheme. 

They say the second part of cadetship was to make us Officers! The first part in Pre-OCTU was to make a civilian into a basic soldier, yes that was what we were made to believe!

I think they did it right! The polishing at RMC was to make us all Gentlemen Officers, the virtues of an Officer & A Gentlemen. They did a real good job I guess, but there were moments & time that wasn’t that fun either.

Rahman Company – The Licking of The Shovels & Cangkuls 

This incident will forever be remembered by all the Rahman Coy Cadets, including the brave CO himself! We were all lazy Cadets, after finishing the previous field exercise, the dirty shovels and pick-axes were just thrown back into the Q-Store, what else! Come the next exercise we just took it out and distributed it again, as the company orders were delivered, our good friend Capt. Norizan (RRD) took a stroll outside and saw what was to his shocking eyes - ‘dirty dozens of shovels on our packs!’

The next thing we knew was, Cadets to crawl on all fours and lick the shovels all CLEAN of mud and slime! Walah – one after another, we did the clean-up JOB, until the shovels all were virtually dripping with our own saliva, all cadets from the company skipped lunch, nobody could eat! That was a big lesson learnt, the Cadet Q was B. Gen Azizon back then ..he he he! Ultimately he was fired!

Mak Yew & Mansoor Tailor

Cadets have foster fathers and mothers too! I remember those who did not have weekend passes would get good food from Mansoor tailor and sometimes credit also from MAK YEW! But they did a good job with all our smart uniforms though.

Bukit Belimbing

Compass Marching & Map Reading was fun, we had a jolly good time feasting on the best Star Fruits one can find in this country back then, Sg Besi is renowned for its best fruits. We had the whole farm to ourselves, not only eating but also to take away, must one day apologise to the Apek and Nyonya, if there are still around…..?

The next stories shall be………!

RSM MAT JOE – HIS LOVELY GIRLS (ada yang cuba mengurat)

Philip Canteen – his daughters

The Barber – Weekend Chops

The Globe – Ops Orders

Weekend Company Balls – Cari Partners

The Dance – Dewan Tun Templer (DTT)

Ceng ceng ceng....?