A Day in 10th KL

Written by Private Nigel Lee of 10th Kuala Lumpur Company

“NCOs, MASUK BARIS!” shouts the sergeant, as she counts down from 5. Chaos ensued, with people running everywhere. Some from the third floor, to some waiting for her call. Saturday, 7.30am; NCOs fall-in. Every NCO would be at the parade ground, dressed smartly and ready for uniform inspection. With the occasional Lance Corporal running through the school gates a few minutes late, with the Privates and Recruits yelling at him to hurry.

Soon, it would be time for Band, after fall in again, we would all proceed to our respective practice areas, namely the music room for the brass and woodwind, and the hall for the percussion. While band would be going on, members would be trickling in, including some members of the St John Ambulance, who share the same premises as we do.

Lips dry, we’d have a 15 minute break before company is to fall-in again. Some would have their breakfast, while the NCOs, officers, and members of the worship team have a group prayer.

“RUN! Go down to the field quickly!” I’d say after blowing the bugle call. Member after member would rush down to the field to get into their squads. After about 15-20 minutes, fall in would be over, and everyone would proceed to the hall for worship.

Here is where 10th KL starts to be different from other companies. Instead of having a set few people run the company, (e.g. Sergeants and officers) each platoon would take its turn to run the company each week; so everybody would have a chance to be exposed to different positions.

After worship, there would be games! Games too, were planned out by the respective platoon running that week. Games would range from simple ones like Statue of Liberty, to “Honey, do you love me?” which usually resulted in immense laughter.

Then, it’d be time for the Word, where the Juniors and Pre-Juniors would have sharing by the officers, and the seniors would have sharing, usually by someone from FGA, Kuala Lumpur.

Alas, the dreaded time has arrived! DRILL! For drill, each platoon would split up, some at the field, and some at the car park. Currently, we’re training for a little “Inter-platoon” competition. Our Staff Sergeant would yell “Get there before I do!” before immediately rushing down to the field and start counting before a majority of us even reached it.

Soon, we would haul our exhausted selves up to our Badgework classes and breathe a sigh of relief that we could finally relax. Not so much for the people who are doing Physical Training, like me. We’d have to rush to change and rush back down to the field where our Staff Sergeant, somehow, would be there waiting for us, already changed and ready for us to begin.

Last, but not least, came fall-out, or closing parade. Everyone would be sweating and was evidently exhausted. Finally, after we sang vesper and had our closing prayer, we fell out and everyone headed for the canteen for lunch. This is why I think 10th KL has the best weekly meetings.