Vocational Assessment for Commando

Ok, I really have to blog about my recent experience on the vocational assessment for commando selection that took place on the 7th of August 2007, partly because my blog is static now and this experience is only unique to about 500 men yearly and blogging about it provides a more interesting read for readers like you.

First, I arrived at the designated waiting area outside the McDonald's branch at White Sands Shopping Centre at around 7 A.M. Just like what Yang Shun told me, when you see a lot of random students in their P.E. attire hanging around that area, you know you are at the correct place. I was looking out for Hwa Chong students and a sense of familiarity while waiting for the bus, but to my disappointment none was within sight.

Shortly after I reached the bus that will be ferrying us to the vocational assessment centre arrived. As I hopped on the bus with uncertainty and a slight sense of lonelieness, I spotted Andy Paul Chen and another guy from Athena (whom I believe is from Maris Stella and from the school's table-tennis team), both with the same uncertain expression and the "I-feel-so-lost" look. From where I was seated in the bus, I was relieved to see them boarding the same bus as me... I guess one just wants familiarity amid all the surrounding randomness.

The bus journey took roughly 15 minutes. We eventually alighted at Hendon Camp, the commando training camp situated near the Changi Prison, and there was already a group of boys around my age waiting at the pavement, looking equally lost. All of us stoned at the pavementfor a while before an officer standing at the 2nd floor of a nearby building asked us to come up to the hall where he was at.

The hall is the same as those you can find in a primary school -- the floor was laid with brown "wooden planks", there was a decent-looking stage and noisy but powerful fans were installed above almost every entrance to provide cooling comfort for users of the hall. Two things, however, distinguish this hall from those in primary schools -- there was a gigantic rock-climbing wall at the back of the hall and the floor was unusually dusty and dirty (presumably due to the fact that the camp is full of alpha-males who are too egoistic to do something feminine like to sweep the floor)

We were soon divided according to our age (apparently in this batch of "potential commandoes" there are boys who were borned in 1984) and the statistics became apparent -- more than half of us were borned in 1989, and the "1984-85", "1986-87" and "1988" group each has about 20 boys. I looked around me and the statistics were now made easier for me to handle -- 3 Hwa Chongnians and about 5 Rafflesians were present. There were also about 4 boys from Innova JC, 4 boys from Catholic JC, around 2-3 from Tampines JC, 2 from Temasek JC, 1 from National JC, 1 from Yishun JC, and 1 from ACS IB. Of course, in the "1989" group, there were also some polytechnic students. I only know one from Singapore Polytechnic (whose looks is an exact replica of Takeshi Kaneshiro 金城武) and another from Ngee Ann Polytechnic (if my memory serves me well). In case some of you are wondering, these polytechnic students who are of the same age as me quit school. Otherwise they will have to finish thier polytechnic education before entering NS.

It wasn't long before I realise that the division according to age made the statistics even apparent -- assuming the height of my age-group to be a normal distribution, even at 1% level of significance, my height would probably fall in the rejection region and be considered as "unlikely to come from this sample of about 60 students" since my height is on the extreme left side of the normal distribution and hence very far away from the sample mean.

And they say the average height of Singaporean men is 172cm. And to think that I have always considered my height of 172cm as neither "above-average" nor "below-average".

After the super-inefficient attendance taking, we were then treated to some propaganda video that introduced us to the history of the commando unit. After the video, I was so inspired to join commando and could imagine myself standing smartly in attention in my green army uniform awith my red beret on. But fortunately, reality sets in a fraction of a second later and I silently reprimanded myself for being fooled so easily by the video which selectively showcased only the postive aspects of the unit.

Next, all of us dispersed to the respective venues for our various assessments. My group stayed in the hall to have our psychomotor test and our interview conducted. The psychomotor test assessed our agility, flexibility, balance and endurance. We were requested to bend down and touch the floor for 6 seconds without beding your knees (which I failed terribly), hold in the "crunch" position for 20 seconds (which fortunately my abs can endure), do front burpees, then back burpees to the left, then back burpees to the right (this is considered as one set and we are required to do 6 sets (which I managed to achieve much to my surprise)) as well as to balanceon tip-toe while stretching our hands in front with eyes wide shut (which I truimphed yet again).

The interview was less intimidating than expected. The interviewer was friendly and asked me some questions pertaining to my personal life, hobbies, school life, whether or not have I studied Biology, and whether or not I would consider joining the army as an career (to which I promptly answered 'no'.) The interview session was a fruitful one as I have managed to gathered a lot of information on the army, which may be put to good use the moment I begin my patriotic serve for my country.

Anyways, before the interview we were supposed to fill in a "score sheet" which will be used to record our performance for this assessment with our particulars, and one of the questions asked us to rank our preference for the unit that we want to enter. After knowing that Guards specialised in air-borne abseiling, I quickly ranked Guards as one of my last preferred choices. I then randomly slot in the rest of the units. And the "Detail Leader", the person who was responsible to bring us around to our assessment venues, saw my rankings and "talked" to me... Haha... he said that I am damn weird to put Infantry first, followed by Logistics, followed by Commando.. "First you want to chiong, then you want to slack, then you put Commando..." Hahaha...then he tried to persuade me to join commando. Ditto for the interviewer who keeps saying how good joining commando is. From the physical benefits (sculpting a body to die for) to the monatery incentives (earn $300 more per month than other NSmen), they tried all means to persuade me.. Haha.. but I said I would like to keep my choices open...

Any both my interviewer and my "Detail Leader" have ths thing against Guards... I wonder why..

Up next was the dreadful physical assessment which I flunked terribly. Remember the Singapore Polytechnic guy I mentioned earlier? Well, not only does he have looks, he has got brawn as well! This avid cyclist can do 24 pull-ups within 30 seconds, 57 sit ups within 1 minute, 77 push-ups within 1 minute and his standing board jump results is a jaw-dropping distance of 282cm. He's someone who not only will make girls drool, but will also make the eyes of men around him go green with envy.

I shan't disclose the results of my physical assessment due to male pride. All I am willing to disclose is that I failed TERRIBLY. I believe that dirty linen should not be washed in public. And I realise how unfit I am amongst the rest and began to question the purpose of my presence for this assessment and even start to worry (unncessarily) for myself should I, for some reason, get into this elite unit.

We had lunch at the canteen in the camp, which consists of a grand total of 2 stalls. Yes, TWO. One is a confectionary-cum-drinks stall, while the other stall provides alternative carbohydrate intake, i.e., rice and noodles. There are 4 arcade-quality video game machine just outside the canteen which offer games that are a little outdated. And oh, there is also a gift shop in the canteen whose purpose I am unsure of. Offer cheap items to pacify the soldiers' girlfriends, maybe?

After lunch, we headed towards the Medical Centre for our medical checkup, which isn't at all, medical. No stethoscope and ECG was used. Not even a flash from a torch was used to blind you or to bring light to your buccal cavity that is perpeptually in darkness. My checkup lasts no longer than 2 minutes. All the medical officer required was a 'Yes' or 'No' answers to questions like "Any allergies?", "Any medical history?", and "Do you play sport?"

Following which was the psychological-cum-intelligence test held at the auditorium. The intelligence was, in my opinion, easy. It was by far the easiest intelligence test I have ever taken. The psychological test was the Cattell 16PF Personality test, which was the exactly the same test used for the Public Service Commission Psychometric test. My responses probably will not qualify me for Commando since I said yes to questions like "Do you think rules are mend to be broken given that there is a good reason to do so?" and "When someone makes a mistake, will you tell him directly?" My responses to these questions simply portrays me as a rebellious boy, totally unsuitable for the unit that emphasises more on discipline than anything else. Anyways, I just believe in that “人是活的，规矩是死的”(Humans are alive, the rules are not).

After the test, some of us went out of the auditorium to thaw ourselves after going through more than 2 hours of blizzard in the auditorium. While thawing, we caught sight of a group of commandos in action -- they were having some self-defence/unarmed combat course. All the "har!" and "haws!" roared in synchronised timings which kinda intimidated some of us who were watching (not me of course.. I probably can do some martial arts...).

After everyone had finished the psychological-cum-intelligence assessment, we bid farewell to this military campsite which resembles a mini HDB estate, with concrete blocks of buildings spring out of the land in an orderly fashion and carparks everywhere.

After this assessment, I got to know a little more about Commando and National Service. Not that I am not looking forward to tough trainings, but at least I am somewhat mentally prepared and hopefully the upcoming two years will not be too much of an ordeal for me.