My time at Tekong was at the new school. My Coy was the nearest to the jetty. There are a number of experiences shared between me and my platoon mates. As I remembered, I was in the PTP batch, so for the first month, we were mostly in PT kit, touching none of those combat stuff (Helmets, rifles… etc..) Towards the 3rd or 4th week, I woke up one night for no reason ( normally recruits will sleep like a log after training ) I looked towards the bunk door and saw a figure there. My eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the darkness. Luckily (or unluckily) there is still minimum lighting to make out what is there. Must be one of my bunk mates playing a fool. I peeked around from my bed, nope, everyone was in bed.

I stared at the figure for the next few minutes, thinking that some platoon mate from the other section is playing a fool, trying to scare my section mates. Then I realized, my bunk door was locked! Who the hell was he? I stared at him longer, this guy was dressed in PT kit and then… SBO? Helmet? Rifle? (we haven’t touched these things yet! and rifles which we later learnt, had to be returned and not kept in bunks.) I quietly closed my eyes and eventually dozed off again. For the next few weeks, “he” appeared throughout my bunk, sometimes leaning over my bunkmates, sometimes in stand by bed position. always with the same outfit. the same sighting was later confirm by one of my bunkmate. (don’t think hallucinations can be experience by 2 people eh? :X)

Apparently, my level is the “unlucky” place. section 2 (next door) claimed that they heard of a young boy bouncing a ball (basketball or soccerball) and laughing outside their bunk. section 3 (2 doors down) have seen a young lady in cheongsam holding the hand of an old man, strolling through the middle of their bunk singing cantonese songs. section 4 (at the very end) heard an entire section march past their bunk in the wee hours.

After some time, my sergeant told us one day if we have seen or heard anything, just keep quiet. He says that, finding long women’s hair in our bunks is also common. (he should have told us earlier, we have found a sh*tload in our drawers and our beds)

Then I POPed and went to the unit. I met up with one of my poly mates who went into Tekong at the same time as me. His coy was opposite mine. Being one of the warren officer coys, he has very late “light’s out timing”. we were exchanging stories and i was commenting that he has a good life in bmt, can sleep late (mine was always 10pm sharp). He replied me, “your coy also the same what, I always see your platoon got people standing outside at night after 12 one.” what can I say, people or “people”?