BMTC instructor

kiddyduck SG

I want to become BMTC instructor leh... I in 38th BSLC... The company I in now will be going to conduct 38th ASLC, which means 70% of my company mates going ASLC. Like to know what they look for in order to become BMTC instructor?

Heard unit specialists are treated like men, whereas BMTC specialists are kings... So does it mean the better performers become bmtc instructors?

Rockhound SG

no....for example......wat i notice in my batch..the better trainees go to 1 SIR, 2 SIR or the GUards Battalions...

dont go BMTC uh...life damn miserable....unit life also rocks...

if u instructor....go reservist..become section commander again..u prolly fogot lotsa stuffs already

kiddyduck SG

wah you combat medic specialists??

Good a not?? Heard 38th BSLC got selection for combat medic specialists...

Rockhound SG

alot to study....still gotta maintain fitness

paramedic phase most siong...military phase is chicken feet

wouldnt recommend if u lazy to study....

Gordonator SG

it's the opposite, better performers get posted to unit, where it is definately more fun. the rest becomes BMTC instructors.

BMTC instructors will get a culture shock if they come to a unit and see how a combat unit ticks. Laughing

LazerLordz SG

BMTC Instructors got a rude wake-up lesson when DIV HQ/MINDEF Specs tick them off if they try to pull stunts on them during my recours. Laughing

Ponders SG

you 38th BSLC??

Anyway.. I got the honour to be the rarer guys who gets to serve NSF as both BMTC Instructor AND unit commander.

And i tell you honestly, unit is MUCH better. I can list the pros and cons here.

PROS of BMTC Instructor

1. training is much lighter and you need not be part of the training.
2. you got more free time overall thru out the training phase.
3. There are "lull" periods where you might not have recruits for up to 1-2 months.
4. You get same pay for less work.
5. Your duties are much lesser.

CONS of BMTC Instructor

1. Your superiors are people who usually "cannot make it" or condemned already. So your chances of getting unreasonable superiors is very high.
2. If you are a new guy in the company, YOU WILL BE BULLIED into doing more duties.
3. The COs are cracking down on intolerable behaviours by commanders now.
4. You will have difficulty passing 2nd year IPPT
5. BMTC is very famous for a source of "extra" help, so if other units have some important events that needs extra manpower, your chances of getting it is high. e.g. the NDP carnival in 2005.
6. YOu will have to burn alot of weekends.
7. Your colleagues are very political with you and they then to be selfish.

PROS of a Unit sect comd.

1. Once you trained your men well and earn their respect, they can do YOUR work for you.
2. your men are fun
3. your men is willing to take the blame for you.
4. your men is willing to cover things up for you.
5. once the main bulk of training is done and after ATEC stage 1, you are much much freer than the BMTC instructor.
6. there is more cohesion between your CSM and your other specialists.
7. your offs are more regular than in BMTC.
8, you learn much more useful things in unit, not only military skills but human interaction.
9. GO other countries

CONS of a Unit sect comd

1. Unpredictable training schedule as S3 changes it as he sees fit.
2. due to smaller available personnel pool, your frequency for duties is more. actually depends on the camp you are in.
3. you are really responsible for your men, no such thing as "my recruit is stupid"
4. and wrong doings and extras come very fast.
5. more intolerable to mistakes
6. standard is demanded from you
7. Ops B. and Standby Ops.
8. tougher training, but you shouldn't have problem passing ippt year 2.

alwaysdisturbed SG

bmtc is juz so gd...

nismoS132 SG

unit spec no need sit boat.

at nite hungry can order macdonald Laughing

specfore SG

I mostly agree with Ponders' pros and cons. I was a BMT instructor. I had close friends who went to units also. During my time, the SISPEC intake went to 2 SIR.

However, about interaction with people, I actually thot that in BMTC , you see a lot of people come and go. I trained about 7 batches of BMT recruits , the last 3 batches as a platoon sgt. There are probably more people you encounter/ interact with but of course at the recruit level.

I also got to be deployed overseas ( but I was the minority who were nominated to go).

You tend to lose your skills/ knowledge and may have trouble going to a unit later during reservist. But having said this, most instructors ( officers and specs) tend to get posted to the same unit in reservist later (e.g. in my time, used to be PDF infantry units). So the standard expected of such a reserve unit will be lower and the commanders will give time for you to catch up.

If you like giving lectures and lessons and teaching others then BMTC posting may be good. If you want to be garang and learn to "fight", then the unit.

However, if you are an A level student and you go onto university after serving NS, then you are likely to move on to the reserve holding list. The outcome for a BMT instructor may be different. Myself and many other friends ( officers and specs) have ended up in "interesting " non- infantry units during our reservist.

Ponders SG

what i mean about interacting people is that your men in unit is really a wide variety of them and you spend lots of time. The bond is very deep. Whereas BMTC recruits tend to keep to themselves and you usually lose touch with them after they POP.

Hmm.. you must be damn lucky to be attached to overseas for training. I was selected to go taiwan recently but it would mean foregoing my ORD leave.

I rather take the ORD leave. haha

specfore SG

Hey ... sounds like my case...in a way. I went to Taiwan in my last 6 months of NS. To help lead a platoon of ATEC enemy for Starlight. There was a WO from my camp who was to be the PC of this enemy platoon. He and I had a lot to learn within 2 weeks prep for Taiwan, as he and I were from a BMTC. All advance infantry stuff were forgotten. Our CO thot that he was rewarding us with a good overseas stint but actually it was a burden !

Anyway, it ended up quite fun in Taiwan.

So you going onto university ? If going to an overseas uni, good chance you end up like me in an interesting reservist unit.

LazerLordz SG

local universities also factor in these days..and if you were in an interesting vocation with even more interesting PES Status and are spec or officer..intriguing combination man..

Ponders SG

What do you mean by interesting?

I actually did my University before NS. So it's looking for work for me now. haha.

ToffeeClub1929 SG

Go unit as spec is better to be able to converse well in mandarin and hokkien. Seen some potato eating specs trying very hard to communicate with "bengs" in an infantry unit... in the end, trouble for both men and specs

Twisted Evil

specfore SG

Best wishes then. Know a few chaps who did this. I can understand your hurry and antipathy towards an overseas deployment.

specfore SG

Ohh... for my case, I had time to burn before ORD and the start of university. I was to ORD in June but my term at university was to start in September ( UK). So I was going waste the summer anyway in between ORD and tertiary studies.

Ponders SG

I mean "interesting" NS unit... what do you mean by "interesting"?

don't tell me SCDF!! haah

my friend who did his NS in police ended up doing SCDF for his reservist and he is a fire engine commander!!!

Ponders SG

Actually every BSLC/ASLC batch will have posting to a very wide variety of units.

Just that every few batches there will be "special" intakes. Like posting to ATEC, NCC, etc

But everybatch will have BMTC specs, like about 30-40 specs will go there. And once every few batch only 10-15 go. And once every few other batch about 90 will go.

Largest was the 26-27th batch. 195 and 100+ respectively... thanks to SARS.

specfore SG

It is not easy in SCDF and SCDF also quite boring .

No, when I mean interesting, it can be interesting, example (without saying too much):-

1) Special engineer units
2) Special air force units
3) Special naval units

Your infantry knowledge is required for liaison and recce duties. But not expected to "fight" as an infantryman. However, you will definitely be near or at the frontline... so self defence is important and therefore your individual skills as an infantryman becomes more important. You will also learn the operating tactics and doctrine of the unit you are attached to (so for air force unit, you will learn what is an Air Tasking Order, how to stack aircraft when there is a "traffic jam" in the air over you ... etc etc) That's all I can say.