LIFE ON THE HIGH SEAS
PHOTO // Chai Sian Liang
A new series featuring Naval Officer Cadets undergoing the Midshipmen Sea Training Deployment (MSTD) is set to hit YouTube this March.
It's boot camp on a ship. Fifty-two naval officer cadets, or midshipmen, sail for 41 days on board a Landing Ship Tank, RSS Endurance, to learn the skills necessary to become a sailor in the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN).
To give viewers an insight into how naval officers are trained, two video journalists and their camera crew tagged along with the midshipmen on their MSTD to document their learning journey.
Highlights of the series titled The Passage - A Midshipman's Journey include midshipmen training to fight fires and plug holes in the ship out at sea, learning how to navigate at sea and conducting live-firing exercises.
As they sailed to ports in Malaysia, Vietnam and Australia, these cadets had the occasional treat of seeing dolphins and starry skies, but also battled cold, biting winds and turbulent waters.
Be sure to catch all the action in this new cyberpioneerTV series this March!
FUN FACTS
Number of episodes: 10
Average length of each episode: 8 minutes
When the series starts: 15 Mar
Where to catch it: cyberpioneerTV channel on YouTube
Alastair Kuek
Age: 21
Describes himself as:
"I'm a fun-loving person, and I take great interest in learning new things."
On his best experience:
"It had to be the A-gun firing. The experience of firing it was an awesome one - I've never fired such a powerful gun before! I managed to destroy the target on the second shot."
Huang Xiang Ting
Age: 23
Describes herself as:
"I'm very explosive; I tend to flare up when I see people doing silly things."
On her MSTD stint:
"We learnt what life on board ship was like, and we got to apply the things that we learnt in class. To me, MSTD is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It's the only time you get to do fun and crazy stuff with your batch mates and get away with it."
Yeo Shuang Xuan
Age: 19
Describes himself as:
"Someone who is extremely interested in the Arts, because it helps us to express who we really are."
On the challenges faced:
"We had a lot of sleepless nights, which took a lot out of us. But while MSTD was really tough, it's those tough experiences that have made us more confident and competent as naval officers-to-be."
Terence Toh
Age: 22
Describes himself as:
"I can get a little too serious at times, and that sometimes leads to a bit of friction with my peers. But we all still get along."
On being a sailor:
"The worst part of MSTD was when we experienced sea state six. I get seasick quite easily, so I kept vomiting during and after lessons on the ship. But rough seas are part and parcel of what sailors go through so that's something I needed to overcome."
Zack Pay
Age: 28
Describes himself as:
"My peers call me 'Uncle Pay', because they are about nine years younger than me. I'm an easy-going and very relaxed guy." (He joined the Navy after completing his undergraduate studies and working for a year.)
On an unforgettable experience:
"During one shore leave, three other engineers and I were asked to unclog a choke in the toilet. We had to dismantle the pipes, and when we did that, we got covered in human waste! We spent almost an entire day of shore leave fixing the choke, and that wasn't fun at all."
Anand s/o Sasangan
Age: 21
Describes himself as:
"I'm a carefree and laid-back person. I'm not someone you'd think of as being in the military, but I've been enjoying myself so far."
On what he's learnt:
"What I got out of MSTD was learning to work as a team with the rest of my batch mates. MSTD is not something you can go through alone. It showed me the importance of teamwork, and how we can achieve more as a group."
