First Day In Pulau Tekong: What Enlistment Actually Looks Like

What the day is

It is mostly queuing, and almost nobody tells you that beforehand. You board at Changi with your family still on the mainland, you land, you walk up under the sign, and from that point the day is admin: documents, kit, a bunk, a buddy you will spend the next nine weeks with.

The Oath of Allegiance is the one moment on the schedule that feels like the thing itself. Everybody in that lecture theatre is in civilian clothes, most of them with a fresh haircut, and half of them are still holding the plastic bag they brought.

Then it is the cookhouse queue with a tray, which is where the whole thing stops being ceremonial.

Nine weeks, and the first book-out

The common BMT course is nine weeks: four weeks of basic soldiering, then five weeks of vocation specialisation. Recruits on other PES gradings run longer courses, 17 or 19 weeks depending on the school.

You stay in for the first two weekends. The first book-out lands somewhere around day 15 to 19, depending on your training school. That first ferry back is a specific feeling that nobody who has done it forgets, and it explains why the Changi ferry terminal on a Saturday morning looks the way it does.

Not everyone does BMT on the island. BMTC School V is at Kranji Camp 2, and some enlistees go straight to their unit.

The part people get wrong

The shaved head is not the hard part and neither is the food. The hard part is that for the first fortnight you have no control over your own schedule, and that is a genuinely new experience for most 18-year-olds in Singapore.

It gets normal faster than anyone expects. Ask anyone who has finished: by week three the island is just where you live, and the countdown moves from days to weekends.

FAQs

How long is BMT in Singapore?

The common course is nine weeks: four weeks of basic soldiering followed by five weeks of vocation specialisation. Other PES gradings run longer, up to 17 or 19 weeks depending on the training school.

When do recruits first book out of Pulau Tekong?

Recruits stay in for the first two weekends, so the first book-out falls around day 15 to 19 depending on the training school.

Do all recruits do BMT on Pulau Tekong?

No. BMTC School V is at Kranji Camp 2, and some enlistees are posted directly to their units instead.

What happens on enlistment day?

Ferry over from the SAF Ferry Terminal at Changi, documentation and kit issue, meeting the buddy you are paired with for the course, the Oath of Allegiance, and your first cookhouse meal.