Reflections on CTC

CTC finally ended on friday, it was a good 6 weeks of cutting talc, making plans and having fun. My syndicate incorporated having fun in our vision right from the start and i can honestly say that was one area we excelled in. From having late night mahjong sessions to over night mahjong sessions as well as the daily games of fussball in the mess, I've had lots of fun and made many friends in this course. Cheers to all in syndicate 5, without you guys, I doubt CTC would have been as fun.

I was supposed to have written a reflection on the course and hand it in to the course DS but since there was an acute lack of time and paper, it was done shoddily and i doubt anyone can read that handwriting, there goes excelling in everything i do. The first week of LO was pretty enjoyable, ending early everyday and having many tea breaks. Though there was some repetition with the OCS syllabus, there were new topics introduced like coaching and mentoring which signify the next stage of our leadership journey. As an OC, one is expected to be more experienced and able to solve more problems and give more help. These tools are useful and in any case will be using them when I start my PC tour come January.

The various MAPEXs were helpful in teaching us the planning process as well as how to do a proper AOS. After the various exercises, I was suprised that OCS can screw up teaching writing PCs and limitations so badly even though it's such a simple concept. Or at least it's simple now that I've gone through the exercise.

The summex using JCATs would have been more enriching if we learnt how to run the system properly. With so many RTS and tactical games on the market now, the system could be better improved and made more intuitive. As is, we've done enough whacking of JCATs in our debrief and AARs, so that matter is closed.

As I was waiting to leave SAFTI on Friday night, I was thinking back on all the fun times our syndicate spent together and how sad it was that the course had ended and we'd all go back to our respetive formations and units. To Yensong, Colin, Eric, Wan Keong, Eugene, Zhijian and Dalun, it's been great to know you and I honestly hope we can still keep in contact long after this course ends. As for Pak, Willie, Alan, Patrick, Eugene, Daniel and Isaac, I'll see you for another 4 weeks in AIOC, we'll all run this last lap together.

In retrospect, I do have some regrets on not knowing people from other syndicates better. The last week of clubbing allowed me to know Nien-han and Jer-Hsuan better but tiannuo has been telling me so much about his former cadets that I really regret not getting to know them better and forming my own opinions about them. What's past is past, I should really try to make more friends in the upcoming AIOC.