No One Loves the Sun, the Sand & the Sea...
11th November 2005, Friday
Yes I had managed to survive sailing on board a military naval ship for 5 days straight, and last time I sailied for that long I was on an oversea assignment in my National Service days which I actually enjoyed...
Seriously I would whine and curse as much as I could but the lads who was on those small crafts and working as the "beach party" who are coming for their ICT as well had it far worse, some suffering pretty bad cases of sun burnt after prolonged exposure under the unforgiving sun...
So the 6 of us board the ship as part as the OPs team for the HQ side and basically manning the comms as well logging all the ongoing for the 5 days long exercise...
We stepped on board that huge ship with plenty of other NS men to thr irk of the regular ship crew as if we were some uncivilised babarians ready to pillage and plunder their villages, kidnap their children and rape their women....
At first we had to close up for watches for 8 hours and get 8 hours of rest which later on reverted to 3 watches which one gets to rest for 12 straight hours after a short and comfy timeslot of 6 hours..but seriously not much joy beside taking an extra wink...
We are very much confined to a all-men sweat-house with the pathetic state of bunk we are provided... I had stayed before back in 2003 in that what was referred to someone else sailing along as "coffin"..a confined space which has not much turning space for a midget, not to say for a hefty mass like myself...
The smell of stale air was mixed with smell of the canvas surrounding the bunk, and can get quite stuffy a while...
At times when I am off watch, I tried to have some quality sleep, I most probably would be kept awake by the noisy bunch of disgruntled NS-men awaiting their action hour in the wee hours in the morning, as they hurl Hokkien vulgarities towards each other while playing "Chua Dai Dee"...
Oh yeah I was wheezing with a persistant cough for the last few days to make matters worse...
They said that food sure can boost morale of the soldiers but the food just starting to deteriorate with the ok tasting nasi bryani for lunch on the 1st day which followed by plenty of lunch and dinner of stone-hard rice with multiple appearances of Indian curry which made one wonder what gives the crew of Chinese cooks such a strange Indian taste in their cooking...
The sanitary conditions aren't too fantastic as well as the lavatories/bathrooms been used regularly by close to hundreds of restless grown men who would care less to tidy up their shower area or aim properly with their urination... you had an ammonia-filled space with really unsightly floor which let's just say you wouldn't wanna walk without your footwears or take a 2nd look if you wanna have a meal after that...
Of course the lack of roughage in my diet meant I was constipated for a few days which is fine with me as I wouldn't wanna do a big business in such environment...
Beside the regulars especially the "crabs"-ladened officers who as some wise guy told us are "wali" (walking around looking important) and "sali" (sitting around looking important), basically we see some guys working really hard to meet the requirements in the stress pot of the ops room while I seriously doubt all these simulations would come in handy in real war times...
I did not have such great company to keep me entertained all these while...listening to the regulars whining about their wretched lives in the force isn't much to make me feel upbeat, though there was one chirpy Indian officer on watch with me who always kept a lighter side of things...
The 5 that I had been called up with and not smart enough to defer aren't too "click" to my frequncey (not many would anyway) as there was a pair of smokers buddies and the guy who I was keeping watch with would just repeat things to himself, sometimes which I tried hard but in vain to understand him...
However I did managed to reunite with a old navy mate of mine back in my service who I had some nostalgic moments to relished with him as well as glad to know that life at our old ship just got much bitter after I left and he was right to follow suit as well...
There was a fellow Comms from another squadron which I had fun joking around during some critical hours of the exercise as these Indian chaps sure can joke in ways Chinese is incapable of...
The only solace for me was that the ship was anchored off some southern island for like 3 days and we had reception on our handphones and I was able to call home and my lass whom I sorely miss their presence...
But the one thing I reall really miss was my PC and the internet whom I snuggle the first thing when I got home..But it could be a long while since I had sailied..I am feeling dizzy as if on a rolling ship at this very moment..perhaps could be the fatigue man...later
Yes I had managed to survive sailing on board a military naval ship for 5 days straight, and last time I sailied for that long I was on an oversea assignment in my National Service days which I actually enjoyed...
Seriously I would whine and curse as much as I could but the lads who was on those small crafts and working as the "beach party" who are coming for their ICT as well had it far worse, some suffering pretty bad cases of sun burnt after prolonged exposure under the unforgiving sun...
So the 6 of us board the ship as part as the OPs team for the HQ side and basically manning the comms as well logging all the ongoing for the 5 days long exercise...
We stepped on board that huge ship with plenty of other NS men to thr irk of the regular ship crew as if we were some uncivilised babarians ready to pillage and plunder their villages, kidnap their children and rape their women....
At first we had to close up for watches for 8 hours and get 8 hours of rest which later on reverted to 3 watches which one gets to rest for 12 straight hours after a short and comfy timeslot of 6 hours..but seriously not much joy beside taking an extra wink...
We are very much confined to a all-men sweat-house with the pathetic state of bunk we are provided... I had stayed before back in 2003 in that what was referred to someone else sailing along as "coffin"..a confined space which has not much turning space for a midget, not to say for a hefty mass like myself...
The smell of stale air was mixed with smell of the canvas surrounding the bunk, and can get quite stuffy a while...
At times when I am off watch, I tried to have some quality sleep, I most probably would be kept awake by the noisy bunch of disgruntled NS-men awaiting their action hour in the wee hours in the morning, as they hurl Hokkien vulgarities towards each other while playing "Chua Dai Dee"...
Oh yeah I was wheezing with a persistant cough for the last few days to make matters worse...
They said that food sure can boost morale of the soldiers but the food just starting to deteriorate with the ok tasting nasi bryani for lunch on the 1st day which followed by plenty of lunch and dinner of stone-hard rice with multiple appearances of Indian curry which made one wonder what gives the crew of Chinese cooks such a strange Indian taste in their cooking...
The sanitary conditions aren't too fantastic as well as the lavatories/bathrooms been used regularly by close to hundreds of restless grown men who would care less to tidy up their shower area or aim properly with their urination... you had an ammonia-filled space with really unsightly floor which let's just say you wouldn't wanna walk without your footwears or take a 2nd look if you wanna have a meal after that...
Of course the lack of roughage in my diet meant I was constipated for a few days which is fine with me as I wouldn't wanna do a big business in such environment...
Beside the regulars especially the "crabs"-ladened officers who as some wise guy told us are "wali" (walking around looking important) and "sali" (sitting around looking important), basically we see some guys working really hard to meet the requirements in the stress pot of the ops room while I seriously doubt all these simulations would come in handy in real war times...
I did not have such great company to keep me entertained all these while...listening to the regulars whining about their wretched lives in the force isn't much to make me feel upbeat, though there was one chirpy Indian officer on watch with me who always kept a lighter side of things...
The 5 that I had been called up with and not smart enough to defer aren't too "click" to my frequncey (not many would anyway) as there was a pair of smokers buddies and the guy who I was keeping watch with would just repeat things to himself, sometimes which I tried hard but in vain to understand him...
However I did managed to reunite with a old navy mate of mine back in my service who I had some nostalgic moments to relished with him as well as glad to know that life at our old ship just got much bitter after I left and he was right to follow suit as well...
There was a fellow Comms from another squadron which I had fun joking around during some critical hours of the exercise as these Indian chaps sure can joke in ways Chinese is incapable of...
The only solace for me was that the ship was anchored off some southern island for like 3 days and we had reception on our handphones and I was able to call home and my lass whom I sorely miss their presence...
But the one thing I reall really miss was my PC and the internet whom I snuggle the first thing when I got home..But it could be a long while since I had sailied..I am feeling dizzy as if on a rolling ship at this very moment..perhaps could be the fatigue man...later
Japanese word of the day: 海~u-mi~ (Sea) Don't think I wanna go for a cruise anytime soon
posted by Kei at
6:19 PM
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