SCS (SISPEC) FAQ

Vince Disel SG

My Dad was a Major(NS). He was a commissioned officer(1LT) during his NSF days and was promoted to Captain and then to Major during his reservist.

He always told me how tough OCS was then during his time, like they had to cut grass using razor blades. Hahaha.. But I believe SISPEC then was also very tough, if not tougher :P

He was given his tour of different appointments from S2 then to CO. This was before I was enlisted into the army.

He worked in DSTA as a civilian engineer in the Ministry of Defense for more than 30 years after his commissioning.

I guess he was kinda disappointed as he did not see his younger son(me) get commissioned. This was the only regret I had in my NS days.

However, I have the utmost respect for warrant officers and senior specialists.

Vince Disel SG

I remembered during my time as a SISPEC trainee, we did not have Specialist Cadet Rank (SCT) and we wore coloured epaulettes on our shoulder instead to identify us as SISPEC trainees, and not a recruit. Haha... Those were the days.

And we used to call SISPEC, 'Suffer In Silence Plus Extra Confinement', because it was located in Pulau Tekong then. :)

Vince Disel SG

This is my SISPEC BSLC photo, taken in 2005 during my NSF days.:) I am in the second row, sixth person from the right. The uncamouflaged soldiers at the centre top were my instructors. Probably you would have heard of Echo Company, it was well-known in SISPEC for its tough and insane trainings.

I'll definitely miss those butt-kicking arduous and insane trainings, and I'll forever remember the high expectations of our OC commando, and the mind games of our commando PC (in this photo) used to instill into our minds :)

Audiophile SG

Wow. My SISPEC was at Pasir Laba. Its not nearly as bad as Tekong.

In fact, the way the warrant officers run the show, its so much more efficient than OCS. That way, my coy, E Coy, got nights out at least once a week. The most we had was 3 in one week on consecutive nights.

We even had half day on valentines day, just because the OC feels that young men like us need women in our lives to develop normally. So he asked us to go out with our girlfriends. Those without girlfriends go out and find girls.

Nice.

tarutaru SG

Yah...and motto of sispec is with pride we lead, got food we eat, got SOC report sick...

Audiophile SG

My peak at SOC was in SISPEC. I got 8mins 12 secs.

This is me showing off.

Vince Disel SG

Not bad audiophile :)

My SOC is just alright but not sub 8min. Haha. I trained very hard for my IPPT during my NSF days and got a gold.

My standing broad jump was pretty good, I jumped 265cm.

My 2.4km was just ok, sub 9 min if I remember correctly.

I got a perfect score for IPPT too, 30 out of 30. :)

I managed to get a marksmen during my NSF days too.

Probably my most arduous phase during my NSF days was in School of Armour in the specialist training wing. :)

Vince Disel SG

However the most excruciating pain I had to bear was not in NS, it was my wisom teeth decay. I had to bear the pain for 7 days before the dentisit operated on them. Just imagine 7 days! Hahaha.

The pain constantly brought drops of tears into my eyes, although I it was more of a pain reflex than me wanting to cry. :)

Every night, it was a battle of mind over matter and I had sleepness nights and insane pain.

As I type this now, I am feeling the same pain like before as I have yet another wisdom tooth decay. I have to wait until Monday before the Dentist is avaliable to extract it.

This will be my last wisdom tooth and I can't wait for it to be extracted. :)

Audiophile SG

Vince,

Hahd, i didnt know that IPPT can go up to 30 points. I thought it was only 4 static and a run. max is 25 points. :D

My 2.4km is 9.03 at my peak. I could have pushed to try and break that but i didnt really bother to try for another IPPT as i passed for my annual quota already. AHHAA.

My best Jump for SBJ is only 260 though. :) But it is impressive as i'm of the race that usually always fails SBJ. >_<

Vince Disel SG

Probably I was mistaken with the NAFA test? Haha.

Anyway, I achieved a perfect score for IPPT. My SBJ is always in the 260-265cm range, since my secondary school days. Probably if I made a mistake in my positioning, it would be 255++cm.

In addition, I was an award winner in my specialist training wing and there were only 3 different awards given out for my course. :)

And in my specialist training phase, I always put 'no' to OCS in the evaluation form, probably 3 times during each phase. I was also selected to be the trainee PS and the IC for my specialist and BMT phases. I also put 'no' to OCS in BMT and said I would like to go SISPEC during my PC interview and during my PS interview (PS interview was a special case, it was only for me. haha :))

I hope I'm not trying to seem boastful here, I apologise if I put off any guys here. :)

It would seem like I am full of regrets of not aiming for OCS initially, probably because the recongition given to officers over specialists. The only regret I had in my NS days was that my father didn't watch me being commissioned. :) (And I meant just the commissioning parade).

Audiophile SG

haha, its all cool.

I think there's nothing going on in this thread anyway.

Lets start talking about SISPEC again.

Total Shellscrapes dug in SISPEC, 2.5

Firetrench - 0.9 and a half f*** FOPK

I dont think i can even count the number of km covered in route march. i just know that none of my route march and SOCs got cancelled in BSLC cos the weather was fantastic. Cat 1 season was only during BMT.

But it did rain like crazy when we dug fire trench, actually after we were done. So we were tires and feeling like shit, so it decides to rain and my PC says that we will only move out after the rain stops. But in the end we loaded the entrenching stores in the rain and walked back drenched to the shelter, where we got changed before going back to pasir laba. Bloody miserable

But the most toughest momment;

Starlight, 6th night of of Ex Warrior (i think its called warrior, i forget), we had to walk like 20-30km to objective for vehicular embush. It was night, raining like mad, and it was 5 degrees out. We weren't allowed to walk in goretex due to heat injury concerns.

BLOODY MISERABLE LA. Arrived at objective hours early so we sat in the rain at 5 degrees for in excess of an hour. IN THE RAIN!!!!

ahaha worst night of my life.

But fun to look back on.

Vince Disel SG

Haha Audiophile,

I have similar sentiments of my training in SISPEC. It was during Exercise Nutcracker, where my instructor told me 'this exercise will definitely crack your nuts'.

And as fate would make fun of us, the rain poured down in torrents when we were digging our shellscrapes. The rain was insanely heavy and even the instructors went back to their tents for shelter, whilst we continued our digging. It rained for more than 2 hours. Our shellscrapes were flooded with water and we had to take turns scooping the water out.

And when the soil is muddy, its very difficult to dig the shape of a shellscrape and we had to spent thrice the effort to finish digging. Afterwhich, we had to dig a fire trench.

Our instructor threatened us that if we didn't finish the fire trench before day break, we can forget about going back to camp. Haha... and the camp is in Pulau Tekong. :/

Fortunately my section managed to finish digging the fire trench (after my instructor's numberous rejections of the trench) and got some sleep by taking turns doing duty in the night. However at around 3am while I was sleeping, suddenly I could hear flashes of lights due the trip flares being tripped.

It was followed by screams of 'Contacted! Enemy Ambush!' and then there were loud rifle shots. I immediately proned down in my shellscrape and started firing in the direction of the flashes of the enemy fire. After 45 minutes of intense firing, our trainee 'CSM' (NSF trainee, haha) shouted' Position Over-ran! Retreat to base!'

We had to perform our retreat drill and managed to retreat back to our instructors' tents. Haha.. It turned out that our instructors were the ambush party :/ We were screwed very badly as our standard was not up to par and we lost our position to the enemy. We were given insane punishments and scoldings and we had to hold the barrel of our rifle with our left hand and hold this position for an hour with our hand stretched out straight horizontally. If any of our hands slacked causing the rifle to droop down, we were given extra duties :/

And whilst we were straining to hold the rifle, our instructors would place their hands on our strained hands and scold us right in the face for doing a bad job. Haha...

Those were the crazy days... :)

Vince Disel SG

Some of you will be glad to know that I led my men through niceness. I never did once punish my men with pushups throughout my NSF days. When they made a mistake, I treated them with dignity and gave them a hard talk.

I would lecture them when they made mistakes, but never with the harshness of a raving madman. I also never did punish them with physical activities. I had devils sergeants and officers in BMT, whom never failed to mete out sadistic punishments .

During my BMT, there was one instructor sergeant from another platoon who always tried to pick on me for no reason, though I suspected he was jealous that everyone gave me the nickname of 'SISPEC' in BMT. This was due to the reason that when my PS asked me in front of everyone in my company whether I was aiming for OCS, I replied 'No, PS. I am actually aiming for SISPEC.' He was surprised and asked me why. I told him that I wanted to be closer to my men as I have seen the officers in BMT quite distant from the men. It is the section leaders that had the most contact with the men individually. They are the ones they go through thick and thin with the men. The reason my PS asked me whether I was aiming for OCS was because I was very active in BMT. I was selected to be the timer, IC and the person who would 'Thiam' the platoon and greet the instructors.

The instructor who always tried to pick on me 'snatched' my rifle from me during outfield and asked me to tell my PC that my rifle got stolen and told me to sign extras from my PC. I gritted my teeth and bore whatever punishments he dished out on me for no reason. Nevertheless, I always greeted him though he ignored me and never did acknowledge my greeting. I didn't bear any grudges against him but, once, I guess he was really touched by my sincerity and acknowledged my greeting.

When I was posted to my unit as a vehicle commander, I saw section leaders screaming insanely at their men. They reminded me of the devils that I once had as instructors in BMT. I knew that I never wanted to become what I hate. I knew that a vicious cycle would form as when recruits get posted to command schools and graduate as commanders, they would do the same to their men as they feel that they should payback to their own men what their instructors did to them in BMT. All this time, they would fail to realise this since they had been consumed by the hatred they had for the system.

When my ORD neared, my men went up to me and shook my hand and said 'Thank you and all the very best for your future endeavours.' I smiled and wished them all the best too. It was a defining moment for me in my NSF days, it was a feeling of triumph, a feeling of elation and a moment of jubilation.

I am really proud with myself that I never became what most 'power-hungry' commanders would become. And I give myself a pat on my shoulder for that. :)

saline SG

Hi,

I am a SISPEC Crossover to OCS. I was awarded the Golden Bayonet in ASLC and Coy Best in BSLC.

In OCS i was nominated for award but i didnt get any. But its alright.

Anyway, honestly, the training in the SAF is generally very safe and noone should really have to be overly concerned for safety matters. Just pay attention to the briefing and pay attention when bullets are flying then you’ll be cool. This is not withstanding if there is a moron around you that does dangerous things ofcourse.

Section Live Firing, Platoon Live Firing are very tame events. The procedure is so set in stone that the likelihood that anything will happen is slim to none. I have done it twice the amount an average commander trainee would have to on account that i have been through SISPEC and OCS and its a really dull affair. I got bored during the second time. Especially since there is a dry rehearsal, then a blank rehearsal and finally a live rehearsal plus another one for night (atleast for SISPEC).

Also, for those wondering, which is tougher, SISPEC is tougher hands down.

I was from one of the most laid back company in SISPEC, and went to one of the toughest wings in OCS but, SISPEC is tougher hands down.

SISPEC is tactical all the way in the outfield. Meaning when you go outfield training, the moment you get out of the tonner, you’ve got to behave as in you are in the enemy can be around. Totally no nonsense. You only get a break when it is all over. The longest i have had to endure this was in taiwan for a continuous 7 days.
This means that even when its time to sleep, you have to maintain the alert ratio as per ordered. usually 50:50. This was even during the rain (the temperature was 5 degrees that night) and we still had to carry on with the mission. It was the single most physically and mentally toughest things i had to go through in the Army.

In OCS, its alot of symbolic and theatrical bullshit. I am not saying that i am ashamed to be an officer. But OCS doesn’t do training like SISPEC does.
In OCS’s toughest experince for me, was in taiwan (again, though in the summer now), it was a 5 day exercise, but in between mission we can have a tactical break (that means you can just chill) at one point we were sleeping on top of an open hill with all our equipments scattered around me. I’m not especially proud of this, but if you’re in rome.

I just get a little upset when officers behave like they are better than specialists. Cos the truth of the matter is that the best specialist is better than every other officer. And officers like to brag about going through the tough trainings of OCS, without knowing that SISPEC is tough too, and much more so.

Cheers.

i am a cross over too.. from BSLC to OCS. i was not a coy/platoon best in SISPEC but still cross over. strange huh? anyway, i find that OCS is tougher than SISPEC. OCS is tougher mentally, while SISPEC is physical. just my 2cents.

Audiophile SG

Really? OCS was tougher? Which Coy in SISPEC and which wing in OCS.

Anyway, my platoon mate that crossed over in BSLC was not an award winner too. But you could see that he was different than the other trainees in BSLC. Different in a good way.

saline SG

Really? OCS was tougher? Which Coy in SISPEC and which wing in OCS.

Anyway, my platoon mate that crossed over in BSLC was not an award winner too. But you could see that he was different than the other trainees in BSLC. Different in a good way.

29th BSLC Foxtrot coy under MWO OH CK... than in Alpha Wing 53/03 under LTC Ang KM

Yamimono SG

BSLC is 8 wk course

1x 4 day field camp

1x 2 day UO

1x 5 day Grandslam

1x 24km Route march

1x Chemical defence

4x live firing

ASLC

1x 4 day field camp

1x 4 day UO

1x 6 days grandslam

22 days in Taiwan (Starlight 3x a yr), EX Warrior & longstride or Thailand (crescendo 1x a yr), Ex centurion & nutcracker

10 km run under 65 mins

SOC under 10 min

32km Route march incorporated into CSB test

4 x live firing

Lots of admin time, canteen breaks during lunch/dinner. 2x nights out per course. No confinement for both ASLC and BSLC unless training schedule screws up. (but will get off in lieu). No Wifi as of now.

Vince Disel SG

BSLC is 8 wk course

1x 4 day field camp

1x 2 day UO

1x 5 day Grandslam

1x 24km Route march

1x Chemical defence

4x live firing

ASLC

1x 4 day field camp

1x 4 day UO

1x 6 days grandslam

22 days in Taiwan (Starlight 3x a yr), EX Warrior & longstride or Thailand (crescendo 1x a yr), Ex centurion & nutcracker

10 km run under 65 mins

SOC under 10 min

32km Route march incorporated into CSB test

4 x live firing

Vince Disel SG

Interesting Yamimono,

Exercise Nutcracker was part of my BSLC back then. The exercise was done in the jungles of Pulau Tekong. And the 32km graduation march was part of our graduation parade in BSLC before we were promoted to corporals, and then to sergeants in our advanced specialist courses.

I heard from my friends, in the new SISPEC, they shortened the route to 28km? I was really suprised as the old Tekong batches marched more than 32km, especially for me, since my PC was a commando and he liked to play mind games with us and marched round SISPEC after the 32km without stopping, probably around 34km. He also instilled his motto to us of not just giving your 100% for everything, but 110%!

And before and after all our meals, we had to do pullups. And my company, Echo coy(my instructors referred to it as eagle coy) practise was that when we did the very last pull-up until we had no more strength, we still had to give it one last shot to do another last pull-up, shouting 'One more for the eagle in the sky!' to completion for our last pull-up.

And our OC was a commando too, and he liked to shout 'Echo Elite!' during my PT exercises when he met us during running, and we had to shout back, 'Hoo-ah!' :)

No doubt he was influenced by the American paratroopers cheer when he was sent to their special warfare courses when he was a PC.

And I had only a few canteen breaks and no night outs at all throughout my entire BSLC because SISPEC was located in Pulau Tekong then. No doubt I am proud to have gone through such arduous and insane trainings :)

Yamimono SG

Oh.. I guess its just a change of name. My batch was 28km route march for bslc... now they further shortened it to 24km as the recruits in BMT only do 16km for their POP.Oh and the pull up regimes... it is only enforced in the first 2 wks of BSLC. After that the enthusiasm dies and no one remembers it.

Oh and fire trench digging is only done in ASLC. Digging of shell scrapes is only done once in BSLC for grandslam.

SISPEC is going through a lot of changes now, its going to turn into something like OCS. I cannot post it here until it is officially announced.

Anw Echo coy now is one of the slackest coys around.

« Previous Page Next Page »