My experience in the boys’ brigade

I shall be talking specifically about my experiences in secondary one, more specifically ‘The Mount Stong Challenge’.

As a secondary one student, it was the first time I had ever gone overseas for a training camp. Prior to the trip, we had to undergo some ‘training’ aka pasar malam. Most of you all will understand how tough some part of the training can be. This is especially so when you are tired and the ‘usual’ Singapore weather makes you want to give up. However, I managed to pull through and finally the day the camp arrived and I went to school with my camp bag. I had thoughts about whether I would survive this camp or not.

When we reached Woodlands checkpoint, I’ve been told that we would be taking the sleeper train which would bring us to the base of Mt Stong. The ride would proceed to take us at least eight hours to reach there and being able to bond with my platoon mates while having fun is definitely one of the best things about BB that I will look back fondly on.

Once we alighted from the train we had lunch before doing stretches to warm up our muscles for the climb to base camp. Once we started the climb I can already feel that it will be a long ascend to base camp much less the summit. However, I have faith that I would be able to pull through and see it to the end.

The most satisfactory event was the climb to the summit. Being able to view the world from the top of a mountain is satisfactory for me as it is on my bucket list so lucky me. Other activities which were fun are the waterfall repelling and ice mountain pool swim. Also, after descending from the mountain, we went caving at a rather close by small cave system.

The trip is certainly a fond memory for me to look back on and reminisce about when times were simpler, fun and filled with the laughter of my brothers in arms aka my platoon mates. I do recommend going to the overseas CTC if you all have the opportunity!