And, praise God, i'm out of the second week in a row! No problems so far from my officers regarding the Sabbath. The miracles are at work every day.

BUT... and there's always a but... there has been a big problem going on in the camp. You see, ever since a few years ago, the civil defence has undergone a change. Civil Defence has always been known to everybody as being more slack than army, the punishments less severe and the officers not as evil. And its true. Even in the past, many years ago, civil defence was tough, but never as tough as the army. When i first entered civil defence, it was hard, but i endured. Not as tough as army, but the transition from civilian life to uniform life still takes some adjusting. The excercises(3 times a day because we're unfit people in Physical Training Phase) were difficult because i'm not used to it, but ultra-slack as compared to years ago and the army, so i heard.

Soon my muscles began to ache, but i was getting used to it. By the second week, i was more or less used to life in the Civil Defence, and i didn't really hate it. It helped me get fit, but didn't torture or humiliate me as much as the army would have. Not to say, of course, i enjoyed it more than i would working or studying. I don't like it THAT much to want to do it long term.

Anyway, i was getting to know people, getting to know my instructors etc. Most of the instructors are very nice people, and my corporal is one of the nicest guys around. Definitely much better than army. Then came the big event.

On wednesday night, Charlie Company(my company) got called to the Multi Purpose Hall. There the commander of the camp, the guy with the highest rank, asked us about our training. Most of us said it was tough, but we can take it. He asked us how many pushups we did, and some malays said many many pushups, and many many more to go. Which was all right, but the commander asked for specifics. Then some people stood up and recounted the number of pushups done during training. The only problem being... some of them lied about it. They said that they did more than 20 at the swimming pool, when in actualy fact it was only 10.(all of you who have gone through army, shush. i know its slack, but its not like anybody actually wants to do more pushups. Its CD, anyway. we have no choice) Even for CD 10 pushups is very easy already. Then a few people complained some more about the training.

Our Commanding Officer(guy in charge of charlie company) talked to us after that, and some people complained some more. The commanding officer said that those instructors weren't following instructions, and he would talk to them.

The next day the morning excercise was slack. And I MEAN easy. We did like a maximum of 60 jumping jacks, 10 burpees, and a few other excercises, but ZERO PUSHUPS then ran two rounds around the parade square, approximately 400 metres per round. Almost nobody broke out in sweat. It was easier than secondary school training. Everyone was shocked. During physical training later, we found out why. The physical training instructors(PTI)s had been scolded by the higher ups. Apparently two people complained separately to the camp commander, totally disregarding the hierarchy. You don't just go straight to talk to the camp commander. You talk to your sergeant, then if you're not satisfied up to your platoon commander, then company commander, then go higher up. Not straight to the camp commander. Even worse, another guy called his mother, who actually drove down to complain.

The PTIs were given a firm warning, and if they ever did not follow the book again and 'torture' us, they'd be sent to detention barracks(hell on earth. army detention barracks is hell in hell. both are much worse than prison). The PTIs now treat all of us like children. The give ultra easy training. BUT, they say they will be very, very strict when it comes to our NAPFA test. And without tough training, how are we to pass our NAPFA? i definitely can't, even if i run every night, training pullups and situps. The Physical Training lessons are also not fun anymore. In the past, even though the training was tougher, the PTIs really cared for our training. They did not go to the extremes, neither did they go easy on us. They would joke around with us, and i tell you PTIs can be very, very fun people, even if you're only a recruit.

Now, they wear a black face to every PT lesson. They don't care about the training, they just follow the book to the letter. They make sarcastic remarks like, "Don't run, don't run. What if you fall down and break your bone? Welfare, welfare."

Currently, all other companies are very angry with Charlie company. My platoon is very angry with platoon 8 and 9, the platoons where the people who compalined came from. Right now, all they're doing is wasting our time with such easy training. I can't stand it.

But hey, in 3 months time, i'll have my Passing Out Parade, where i finish my BRT(Basic Rescue Training. not BMT, which is for the army). THEN, i'll be very happy!