Back to Home Team Academy!

Going back to HTA brought back lots of memories from our basic police training. It is almost infinite. Everywhere I went in HTA on Thursday reminded me of one or another candid moments when we were still trainees. (I was back there for my ORD Shoot.) I guess the people I was most looking forward to see on Thursday were a few of my previous squadmates, Nash and Suhaimi, who were 'destined' to spend their entire NS life in HTA as Field Instructors (FIs).

The pillars of Squad 01/06 (cheh!): Nash & I.

One year on...

In front of our Echo Coy.

Apart from the reminiscence of being back at HTA, a more pressing task was to attain marksmanship for my ORD Shoot. It was very disappointing when I got a 2nd class instead, 2 grades below what I targetted. Basically, it comprised 3 parts sequentially: First, basic shoot which includes a series of 5 rounds within 12 seconds, and then single round within 3 seconds each; Second, day shoot, with timing; Third, night shoot without timing. The second and third parts were known as realistic shooting, which is supposed to be more difficult than the foundational/basic shooting. My basic shooting was horrendous, attaining only 25 out of 40 points. That constitutes a 2nd class grading itself. My assumption was that, if I were to push and try harder for the subsequent parts, there is a possibility that I could still attain marksmanship. Indeed, I did much better for the second and third parts. It was in fact a marksman performance, ironically though, since realistic shooting was supposed to be harder than basic shooting. The thing is that, they do not count the best result out of the 3 rounds. It is in fact the opposite. Since my lousiest was a 2nd class grade, that is what I ultimately attain.

Disappointment was inevitable, since my $200 had diminished probably together with rounds that missed the target board. But reality soon set in that nothing in life will go the way you want it to and it is all very natural to encounter such minor setbacks. One'll just have to look on the bright side.