Those NS guys who trained at Tekong would have heard from their friends or whoever that Tekong is not the ‘cleanest’ of places. Stories like the unlit staircase and the flying bed are but just some of the stories that most recruits have heard at one point or another. Personally, I’ve had a closer encounter…

If I’m not wrong, it was during the third day of field camp. For those who are unfamiliar about it, a field camp is an extended period of outdoor training, during which you pick up skills like field camouflage, battle movement and such.

In any case, it was some time in the late afternoon when we arrived at our camp site. We were ordered to set up camp there, and of course we had to get down to work immediately.

I can’t recall how long it was, but as I was hard at work digging the ditches, I heard a commotion further down the site. I saw the soldiers of the neighbouring platoon crowded over something. Being curious, my buddy and I wanted to go and see what happened, but our sergeant stopped us as he rushed by us.

From what I witnessed, soon several PCs and the OC (officer commanding, or the officer in charge of our company) moved into the crowd. Then I heard him shouting something which I could not make out (due to the distance), and then a few minutes later, everything was over.

After this incident, we were told to forget about it and just get back to training, but of course it lingered at the back of our minds.

It was much later, on the eve of our POP (passing-out parade) that we knew what actually happened back then. Apparently a recruit had been possessed, and was going through convulsions, uttering unintelligible things. His section commander immediately called for help. When the OC arrived, he uttered something in Malay, which was something along the lines of ordering the spirit to leave the recruit’s body, before using his beret to slap the recruit. After some attempts, the convulsions stopped, and moments later, the recruit regained consciousness, with no knowledge of what happened to him earlier. The poor victim was given three days of Attn C (akin to sick leave) after that.

Normally such things would not have happened, but our section commander told us that the commanders actually misread the maps, and we pitched camp at a “virgin site” – not broken in, and still filled with the air of the wilderness. Normal camp sites would have been used by several batches of trainees.