Double Blessing
When you feel that your luck has hit rock bottom and your life is at its nadir, fret not. This is the time of assessment of willpower. Gather every ounce of strength and pick yourself up, because when you can't go any lower, you start to go up. Don't mistake the gargantuan plunge as the last straw, for ascension follows closely after it.
Clinched my Marksman badge on Thursday and Silver for IPPT on Friday. I must thank divine blessings, my rifle, encouragement from people around, and myself. I concluded that the previous time I missed Marksman standard was due to that damned rifle. Morale and confidence were so utterly shattered by rounds after rounds of re-shoot. Every single shoot was inevitably nerve-wracking. Butterflies in my stomach. Erratic breathing and trembling hands and taking a herculean effort to suppress. The rush of adrenaline when the target popped up. Total focus on shooting the miniature figure down. Life-and-death moment when my finger started to squeeze the trigger. Feeling of the world crumbling down on me when the target stood there stationary. It must have been mocking at me, giving me a derogatory smirk and a disparaging look of contempt. This time, I got a new rifle. The first zeroing was screwed because the sergeant knew nuts about the adjustments. Second one was marvelous, and it finally led to my success. It was exhilarating. Waves of gratitude and relief swept over me continually. Had a small talk with Benedict. As usual, we put each other down. Haha, that's what friends do sometimes. At one point I told him he was uncivilized. He said, "How civilized can you be when you are here training how to kill enemies? Legalized murder." Interesting. This is why I enjoy talking to him. At least we don't learn to shoot to kill blindly. It is when the need arises, as a form of self-defense. And self-defense is generally accepted as legal justification for killing a person.
Mustn't be complacent regarding IPPT. It wasn't a very solid Silver. Got to train further, lest the Silver turns liquid. When you feel that you will definitely obtain a Silver, without taking into considerations any accidents, then you are truly ready. Anyway, I was pleased. For a lackadaisical person like me, at least in the aspect of physical fitness, I have been pretty lucky.
There are several challenges coming ahead: Field camp, practical test, second year VOC, and combat shoot. But for now, time to chill as deployment starts. Hope no ordeals crop up while I am on COS duty, and shall make use of the off days to meet people. Was intending to meet two friends yesterday, and one couldn't turn up at the last minute. I would not say it's one of those incidents that "tests your patience", but it was of course a bummer. Still, I enjoyed the meet-up last evening; it was lovely: food, setting, ambience, company wise. More positive updates soon, hopefully. Au revoir.
Clinched my Marksman badge on Thursday and Silver for IPPT on Friday. I must thank divine blessings, my rifle, encouragement from people around, and myself. I concluded that the previous time I missed Marksman standard was due to that damned rifle. Morale and confidence were so utterly shattered by rounds after rounds of re-shoot. Every single shoot was inevitably nerve-wracking. Butterflies in my stomach. Erratic breathing and trembling hands and taking a herculean effort to suppress. The rush of adrenaline when the target popped up. Total focus on shooting the miniature figure down. Life-and-death moment when my finger started to squeeze the trigger. Feeling of the world crumbling down on me when the target stood there stationary. It must have been mocking at me, giving me a derogatory smirk and a disparaging look of contempt. This time, I got a new rifle. The first zeroing was screwed because the sergeant knew nuts about the adjustments. Second one was marvelous, and it finally led to my success. It was exhilarating. Waves of gratitude and relief swept over me continually. Had a small talk with Benedict. As usual, we put each other down. Haha, that's what friends do sometimes. At one point I told him he was uncivilized. He said, "How civilized can you be when you are here training how to kill enemies? Legalized murder." Interesting. This is why I enjoy talking to him. At least we don't learn to shoot to kill blindly. It is when the need arises, as a form of self-defense. And self-defense is generally accepted as legal justification for killing a person.
Mustn't be complacent regarding IPPT. It wasn't a very solid Silver. Got to train further, lest the Silver turns liquid. When you feel that you will definitely obtain a Silver, without taking into considerations any accidents, then you are truly ready. Anyway, I was pleased. For a lackadaisical person like me, at least in the aspect of physical fitness, I have been pretty lucky.
There are several challenges coming ahead: Field camp, practical test, second year VOC, and combat shoot. But for now, time to chill as deployment starts. Hope no ordeals crop up while I am on COS duty, and shall make use of the off days to meet people. Was intending to meet two friends yesterday, and one couldn't turn up at the last minute. I would not say it's one of those incidents that "tests your patience", but it was of course a bummer. Still, I enjoyed the meet-up last evening; it was lovely: food, setting, ambience, company wise. More positive updates soon, hopefully. Au revoir.
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