By Siauw Yu Hern
After our second fulfilling year in scouting we had had our last official Jihe. Today, our goal was to prepare all of our patrol equipment for the upcoming Scout Leadership Course.
The day started off on a great note as our Junior Patrols had been disbanded and we finally got back our Animal Patrols as part of SLC.
We were ecstatic, as we had long awaited to get back our animal patrols and function within our patrols again and not in our level patrols. In addition, our troop had officially opened its 8th patrol, Shark Patrol, reforming the original 8 patrols in our troop.
Our animal patrols meant a lot to us as they held many joyous moments and memories we had during our Secondary 1 year that provided us the identity and pride we felt in our Animal Patrols.
As Sec 2s, we also felt that this was good for the troop as the Secondary 1 would have more experience working in a patrol system and doing so would allow them more opportunities to work with us, seniors, and not solely with peers.
However, getting used to the new patrol system was not as easy as we had imagined. Following the appointment of our new animal patrols, we were tasked with preparing all the equipment for our camp, including the ridge tent, pasha equipment, first aid kit etc.
We found it difficult at the beginning to accomplish our given tasks for we were unsure with the capabilities of many of our patrol mates making the delegation of tasks tough. This resulted in many of us working very selfishly and a lack our sense of urgency as we were generally disorganised and unable to work as a team.
Eventually, we realised this and many of us began to step up to lead the preparation. We knew that how well we prepared would determine how well of a life we would live in camp and hence we began to treasure our time.
Besides that, many of us had hiccups adapting to the new patrol system as it divided us. Being in our newly formed patrols, we were too focused in getting our own equipment turning a blind eye on the true objective of getting the entire troop ready for camp. This caused every patrol to fend for itself, when in reality, this shouldn't have been the case. It was only after a shelling from the ventures did we see the bigger picture, to remember to place the troop before the patrol. This was when many of us stepped up to help each other when other patrols were lagging behind, and the troop began to move forward.
This preparation set our mindset right for the upcoming SLC, with the idea of others before self. All in all, we were mentally prepared of the expectations and demands of us next week and elated to have back our animal patrol system.