Sometime ago, I had raised this question: Was it wrong to envy others for the blessings that they had received, and it was in this verse that I found the answer:

Hebrews 13:5 - "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

I suppose that only validated what I had already known in my heart for the longest time, that God will provide what is best for an individual, not merely what one wants.

25.07.12 Returning to camp after a (relatively) long break was definitely not the most pleasant of experiences; just a week or so ago, a friend of mine endured this, and this week, it was my turn to do so. Yet there was something to be grateful about - the way that things fell into place definitely helped ease the blues. First, it was a short week (that was something that we all told ourselves), and second, we booked not into camp, but in the Marina Bay area - there was some packing up to do following our NDP duties on Saturday. Of course, we wouldn't be spending the entire week in the city - the bus for camp was scheduled to arrive at 12pm, but it was still great that there was a bit of time to relax before returning to the full extent of camp life. We had managed to pack up the metal barricades in under an hour, so that gave us slightly more than 2 hours to unwind - time for tea at Starbucks, and lunch at The Soup Spoon.

I had hoped that when we returned to camp, that the remaining time (i.e. the afternoon and evening) would be allocated for rest - wishful thinking of course. Instead, there was some IPPT training for me (I can't complain about this, passing the IPPT is considered to be an important thing in the army, and plus, it wasn't as taxing as the session from the week before), and later on, the first bit of battle obstacle course (BOC) training. For the latter, what materialised as BOC training was a 1.6km run in boots - I suppose it was to gradually condition our bodies for the full extent of the BOC.

26.07.12 One of the spoils that I enjoy at home is sleeping in an air-conditioned room, and I must admit, that after close to a week of that, it was difficult to get a good night's rest back in camp. Or perhaps it was simply an excruciatingly warm night. I would prefer to think it was the latter.

In a nap that I had just after breakfast, I had one of the strangest (and rather scary) dream that I have ever had; my dream was set inside a mall, and it featured people chasing after me trying to shave my head bald, trap me, and if my memory serves me correctly, poke me with something sharp. Perhaps it was a byproduct of reading about the Holocaust through Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, perhaps it was my subconscious fears manifesting themselves (the latter does sound really plausible).

The day started properly with a 1km fast march - the distance wasn't the issue, the ache in my shin that arose from it was. Another difficulty was in keeping up, primarily because I simply do not take large strides when I walk. At that point in time, I had no idea that it was a component of the BOC.

There was really nothing much for the day up till after 4pm in the day, when we did one run-through of the obstacles in the BOC. I suppose I should be glad it played out this way - during the few hours when there was nothing, I was napping (a good and much needed compensation for the poor sleep). The obstacles themselves were not any different from what we did during our Skill & Arms test (just prior to the end of AIT) - it was at that point that I realised the BOC test would be almost exactly like the Skill & Arms one.

Throughout the whole day, we were fed with the idea that a nights out was a possibility, personally I was rather resistant to that notion - I didn't want to be disappointed like the many instances in the past (especially when the week was short, there would usually cease to be a nights out). But I was wrong this time around. Rather cruelly however, the nights out this time around was extremely short - it began sometime after 8pm, and lasted till 9.45pm. Clearly, it was a waste of my effort to try to leave camp with such a short time frame, so I did not bother to even entertain the notion of it. Instead, I spent the time reading - I don't regret it, and it was actually rather relaxing to do that.

27.07.12

Psalm 55:22 - "Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved."

I had hoped that this day would be a short one, and it was indeed. Friday prayers (for the Muslims) meant that all of the day's activities would be confined to the morning, and since they were leaving before lunch, there would be no reason for the remaining people to stay past lunch.

Hope is powerful, but its potency is increased exponentially when one places that in the Lord's grace.

We did our first full run of the BOC, including the 1km fast march prior to the obstacles, and a 300m 'casualty lift' (i.e. lifting 60kg of weight on a stretcher for that distance) after. No doubt it was tiring, but we managed to complete it within the required time - that is somewhat of an assurance that we can (and by extension, I can) pass it during the actual test sometime this coming week.

Hope. That's just what I need.

On a side note, I'm starting to feel the burden of being obliged (by myself of course) to pen down my camp life here; I don't want to become a prisoner to my own deluded desires.

On another note, I am aware that I've the title of this post is the same as a sitcom (which I love).