2 stories about a camp in Tanjung Gul

New camp duty

I was finally posted away from that camp. I don't really know if it was for the better or worse. We deemed it "God forsaken land" as it is at the end of Singapore, away from civilisation (Except for shipyards). After spending 2 weeks of bliss in this stay out camp, my turn for duty has finally arrived.

I made a very wrong move by asking my buddy..."Are there ghosts at night here?". "Yes!" came his reply. "Are you sure? Stop kidding me...." I repeated. "Yes!" he said again. I didn't want to believe him (Although he is one that would never lie) and so I asked campmate no.2. Again same answer... !! I'll go ask Madam Chew. Madam Chew will never tell me lies. "Maaaam! Are there ghosts here at night?"

She replied...."Are you crazy? Don't go and disturb it, it won't come and disturb you..." Thanks for a reassuring answer Mdm Chew!!!! I tried not to think about it and here's the itinerary for the duty:-1720hrs:- Conduct roll call, read RO to them and fall them out 1800hrs:- Go cookhouse for dinner, come back to building (2 stories), ensure every single room is locked (Except toilets of course). Bring flower pots that are placed on the 2nd floor balcony into the building. Lock main gate (That means locking yourself into the building till 7am next morning). Sometime at 2000hrs, theres supposed to be night snack consumption but the walk is so long and the food is uurrgh! Nobody bothers!Fast forward.... 2150hrs+/-..... I'm inside Ops Room, all by myself, watching TV, with a phone beside me (Cannot use the phone one ... if this phone rings, it'll mean activating all soldiers to go to war... imagine you're having a long chat with your girlfriend and they cannot get thru..).

I thought I heard something... cannot be.. I'm all alone in the building, so where can the noise come from? I mute the TV to listen clearer....The flower pots that were placed just outside the ops room were moving (Or so the sound suggests).... They were being dragged from one end of the hall to the other and back, repeatedly. It is definately not my imagination as the sounds were clear.... Wat a night! The next morning, when people started coming back to the camp... they were kpo and started asking..."So what did you see last night?" "I thought you all saw before, so why ask me?" The problem as I found out, this ghost is different everytime. Everybody's first duty sure kenna one (After that no more). One fella said he went for night snack and came back and saw a lady in white sitting on the roof of the bldg. Another one was worse, he was watching TV as well and heard footsteps along the corridor... he was stupid enough to open up the door to see who is that... a pair of slippers walking (And nothing else).

Printer (Another experience in the same camp) It was Saturday afternoon and I was doing duty. Nothing much to do, so I walked around the different offices to make sure their rooms are locked. The office next to mine was locked but I could hear the printer working OT. (Common thing sometimes because they'll be used to print SAF100). I just noted that in my duty report that PC was left ON over the weekend. Monday morning, I was called by the WO to answer to my report. Nobody was tasked to print anything using that PC/Printer and the record shows that the particular PC had not been switched on since Friday afternoon.

Ghost Dog

Same camp but I was still a private during that time. I'm in charge of area cleaning of the HQ block, central staircase (The most suay area becos only Offrs & WOs can use this stairs so it must be in tip top condition 24/7).One day after lunch while I was walking back from the cookhouse, I saw at the other end of the bldg, a dog was walking towards me. I dun really care cos we may have enough dogs in the camp to form a platoon! As I was walking nearer to the centre of the building (And the staircase), so was the dog. The dog was an ugly, dirty, muddy dog... unlike the usual slightly cleaner ones. I hope & pray this dog won't go up the central staircase and dirty it (If not I jialat liao... sure kenna extra duties!).We were both the same distance away from the staircase. When I stopped, the dog stopped too. I suddenly had an idea. Why dun I just run towards the dog suddenly, scaring it and it may run the opposite direction. It backfired... as I ran towards the dog, the dog ran towards me (& the staircase faster). Eventually it reached the stairs faster than I did. I was very very close to it though. If I wanted to jump at it, I could easily grab it's tail.... I am that close. The strange thing was when the dog turned (The stairs are oval shaped) the corner, it completely disappeared! And to think I was just a nano second behind it! I carried on, ran up, looked at 2nd floor corridor, no sign of it, ran up again, 3rd floor corridor, still nothing, 4th floor, nothing!! As I was going down, my friend saw me and asked WTH I was doing... I told him and he laughed! I saw you running as if you're looking for something but I dun see any dog.

BOS / COS duty

I was doing BOS duty, and as usual, around 8pm, I arrowed the COS & duty clerk to Lum Chiam Pass and see who is the lucky one to collect night snack from the cookhouse. The COS lost and went to the cookhouse by himself while I stayed in the Ops room watching TV, enjoying the aircon. In less than 5 minutes, the COS returned, face pale, and full of sweat! "What happened?" I asked.

"Sergeant!! I saw ghosts!!".....was his reply. "Nonsense!! There is no such thing as ghosts!" I replied (This was said to calm him down. After so many experiences, I BELIEVE in ghosts!!) "So sit down and tell me what happened?"

"I was walking towards HQ block (The cookhouse is behind the HQ block) and I saw this rubbish bin was shaking. As I walked nearer to the bin, the shaking got harder and suddenly the bin cover flew off! I thought it must have been some stray dog (BTW stray dogs are plenty in that camp!!) that was living inside the bin and went even nearer. Then the contents of the bin started flying out and I was thinking aiyo....next day area cleaning this fella jialat liao lor.. I tried to go near the bin and scare the dog away from the bin and began running towards it. The next thing, the bin shook so violently, it tumbled & fell. Open end towards me... I could see that it's empty and nothing inside. That's when I ran back... Sergeant, can you go and check or not?"

I told him "You siao ah! No such thing as ghosts lah. Anyway, not BOS duty to go and check on dustbin. If you want, I send you there again to check and you write me a report to give to RSM." Needless to say, I'm not to keen to check it out.