12th KLs Drill Camp

Report by Corporal Jack Lim Kuan Wei of 12th Kuala Lumpur Company

WESLEY METHODIST SCHOOL, SENTUL – The first drill camp of the year was held from 12 – 14th February to improve the standard of drill for all Seniors in preparation to compete in the KL State Drill Competition for Pesta and to improve the drill standard for all the Seniors. The camp was also held to ensure that the Senior Members have a high standard of uniform keeping and polishing and to ensure that they are able to teach drill to the recruits in an effective manner.

At around 4pm, all the participants were gathered at the chapel. Some of the participants were unable to join until the next day due to the school’s in-house Leadership Camp that was held simultaneously. After registering, we had a short opening parade and proceeded with the first practical drill session. The first practical drill session was commanded by Cpl. Jack Lim which mainly focused on perfecting on the forming of a squad.

 

The next day, everyone woke up extra early to polish and prepare for our Saturday parade, which started at 8 am. However all NCOs needed to be ready by 7.30 am sharp. Before that, we had a fulfilling breakfast and prepared ourselves for parade.

 

During parade, we had a praise and worship session again led by Pte Alex Ong and LCpl. Brian Eu followed by a sharing by our chaplain, Rev Christopher Rao. After his sharing, we used the time to hand out all the uniform parts to all the recruits who are still yet to have their full uniform. We then had our leadership team meeting after having our lunch.

After lunch, we had a polishing workshop conducted by Cpl. Jack Lim. All of the participants were taught on the different ways to polish and the techniques that work best. They were also given time to have some hands on time to try it out for themselves. After the polishing session, all of the participants changed into their half uniform and went down for the second drill session conducted by Mr. James.

After the long drill session, everyone was tired. For dinner, we went for dinner at a nearby restaurant called Ah Yap Hokkien Mee. We all had a good time having dinner outside of school and getting to have fellowship together. After a satisfying dinner, we walked back to school and continued with the final drill session for the day led by Mr James and supervised by Mr. Andrew. Our captain, Mr. Nicholas  Yeap, even joined in for drill! After the drill session, we had our supper at the canteen. While everyone was having their supper, Mr Andrew had a short sharing session with us before we all had a good night’s rest on the last night of the camp.

 

For the first game, a commander was chosen from each group and was briefed on the commands needed at each checkpoint. There were a number of checkpoints based on the maze that was built out of benches and cones. Every checkpoint had a different command that was needed to be given at the exact timing to make sure the squad did not exceed the boundaries set by the benches and cones. Each group was given three rounds to go through the entire maze without exiting the boundaries and the group with the shortest average time wins.

 

For the second game, all the participants were blindfolded and a commander was selected. Only the commander wasn’t blindfolded. There were checkpoints marked on the ground and the commander was tasked to command the squad to reach every single checkpoint marked on the ground. The group that managed to reach the most checkpoints wins. Both games tested the commanders on utilizing their drill commands to move their squads.

After the games, we had the final drill session and from this session the members were selected for the main drill team. The Officers decided that they would not announce who are in the core drill team. Instead, we were told that all those who came for this drill camp would be in the Drill Team as a squad. Whenever there is a competition, 13 Members will be chosen to form the Drill Team. After the session ended, we had a short closing parade and had lunch before packing up before leaving for our respective homes.