I'll help you guys get back on topic. Chill fellas ...
This happened around December 2002, in our dear Pulau Tekong.
Wasn't a personal experience, but it's close enough i think.
**********
I was in an Infantry Bn that was going to P.Tekong for an 5 day
exercise. I suspect the sole purpose of the mission was to tekan us
sec-coms and the men, for all we did was SBD after SBD, with the
occasion platoon mission. At night we would move to another area in
FBO to another part of Tekong to dig in and con, then repeat the
cycle again next day.
Mind you my bn was already operational, gone to brunei, and had
already done quite a few battallion exercises, so
WHY the bn HQ had funny ideas of training section
movement for 5 entire days is beyond me. Furthermore, in
ALL my bn exercises right up to my ORD, I had
never even once fought in section level, it was always platoon
level and above.
I'm going out of point, anyway suffice to say, we were all very
tired by wednesday night having been doing drills since Monday.
Now, that night after we finished our drills, we were supposed to
move to another area to con, but for some reason, we were held at a
training shed till ~11pm. Frankly then, me and my fellow sec-coms
didn't care why, we were just glad to get some rest.
A while later, news filtered down to us that a bravo coy sec-com;
let's call him Sgt A had gone missing during his FIBUA mission. Bn
HQ was starting to worry and subsequently, the entire battalion was
activated to search for him since Bravo coy had not suceeded in
locating the Sgt despite having been searching and combing the area
since 7pm.
We took 5-tonners to the BUA village where Sgt A was last seen, and
carried out a mass combing. Entire companies were formed up in an
extended line, and we moved forward to search, all the while
calling out Sgt A's name. However by 2am, our Sgt A was still
missing, and we had combed more than 2km from the BUA village.
Those unlucky ones even bashed through the vegetation to search for
him. All to no avail.
By this time, us Sgts were joking among one another, cracking
jokes. We were horsing around saying Sgt A was hiding somewhere on
purpose so we had to search for him, and as a result, the Bn
exercise would have to halt. We even made up a mock plan as to who
was next to hide, where to hide, and how much rations he should
bring in order to sustain a hide till friday when mission would
cut. 
At around 2.30am, Thursday early morning, the search was finally
called off. Sgt A had been found.
We didn't carry out our mock plan, and our exercise went on with
the exception that we woudn't have to dig in that night as it was
too late already 
. We carried out our last mission on thursday
afternoon and gathered at the BUA village (where Sgt A went
missing) at CO's orders.
**********
There, the CO addressed the battalion and told us what happened
...
On Wednesday evening, Sgt A was point section of his platoon to
attack a BUA building. The exercise was a simple one, RV somewhere
in the vegetation about 70m away from the building, then move
towards it and carry out the usual drills.
It was getting dark then, and the platioon was lagging slightly.
Sgt A told his men he would move ahead and check out the front, and
instructed them to wait for the platoon. However, when the platoon
arrived, Sgt A wasn't there. Not sensing anything admiss at that
time, the platoon carried out the attack without Sgt A. Maybe the
PC decided to question Sgt A when he came back.
It was nearing 8pm, and Sgt A still hadn't come back. The PC
ordered the platoon to search for their Sgt. Soon the search
expanded involved the Coy, and finally the whole Battalion.
Sgt A was eventually found at the Malay School by a mortar/scout
(details are foggy, don't remember which exactly)section at around
230am. For those who don't know, this Malay School place was some
distance away from the BUA village where Sgt A had gone missing. He
was unconcious and suffering from mild hypothermia when discovered,
and was sent to the BMTC medical center for treatment.
Sgt A initially refused to tell anyone what exactly happened, but
after some time, he finally told his side of the story ...
That evening when Sgt A went ahead of his platoon alone that
evening, he saw a white seemingly female figure. This figure told
Sgt A to follow. For some reason, Sgt A felt compelled to follow
and couldn't resist. He also mentioned he seem to be viewing
everything from a 3-rd person perspective from behind ie. he was somehow looking at himself from
behind following the white figure.
Sgt A (and the figure) arrived at the Malay School Tekong.
There, the figure asked Sgt A to kill
himself.
**********
Our CO then mentioned that it was fortunate that we train with
blanks instead of live rounds.
Maybe it was pure survival instinct, that Sgt A didn't commit
suicide despite the white figure telling him to. Maybe that
particular didn't have enought "power". Or maybe it was the lack of
lethal equipment, as he didn't have live rounds to shoot himself
with. In any case, it's was fortunate that we didn't lose a life
over the incident.
**********
For the skeptics out there, if you don't believe me there's nothing
i can do.
If you don't believe Sgt A, please remember he had no need to
reason to lie and cause a big hooha that involved the entire
batallion of 400+ soldiers. If he was sick he could just have
fallen out. I never knew this Sgt A well, as I was a spec in
another coy, also, I was from an older batch of specs that passed
out earlier. But his fellow coy specs that i was more friendly with
told me that Sgt A isn't the "chao keng" type, more of the
hardworking type (A was a regular btw).
And it's highly unlikely that Sgt A got lost in Tekong and invented
the story. All Infantry specs spend 8 months "playing" in Tekong
and are quite familiar with at least 75% of tekong ground having
done exercise/torpor extensively on the island. Sgt A was a newer
spec that had passed out of SISPEC not too long ago before the
incident. Furthermore, all Sgts have a damn map and compass.
Lastly, he was less than 100m from the BUA. If he needed medical
help, it was 100m away. And it's almost impossible that he got lost
in the night. He was 100m away from all the light and noise that
the rest of the coy was making in another part of the BUA ...
Sorry for the long post ...
