GUIDES FTW FTW~: Reflections for Speech Day Contingent on 7/7/12

The Chung Cheng High Speech Day Contingent was held on 7 July 2012, Saturday, at Chung Cheng High School (Yishun). This contingent was the first contingent that I had participated in, even for the other guides. Since it was my first time, I lacked experience. Furthermore, I was the contingent IC for Guides which added to the pressure I faced. We had our very first rehearsal in school. Back then, we were all unsure about what we were supposed to do and often glanced around at the other UGs for help. For me, saluting had always been a problem for me. The commands were hard for us to understand as many of the commands were rifle drills, which guides do not practice. Hence, I tend to be unsure on when to salute and when to cut my salute.
The next rehearsal was held at Chung Cheng High School (Yishun) itself. During this rehearsal, many new instructions were passed down from the organizer, which further confused our guides. One major problem some of us faced was timing. As it was a contingent, we had to be professional-looking. Hence, if wasn’t recommended for us to time. It was difficult to follow the band’s beats and turning was an issue to some of the guides at the beginning. However we caught on quickly and soon we were marching in with ease. The commander often told us our mistakes and we tried our best to correct them. During this rehearsal, I was still having problems with my saluting and I tend to find myself looking at the other contingent ICs trying to figure out the correct timings for the various salutes. Because of this, I did felt a little demoralized as I felt that I had let the squad down as the contingent IC.
The actual day finally arrived. We arrived at Chung Cheng High School (Yishun) in the morning to rehearse more. As we rehearse more, I could see that the guides’ drilling was improving and they were clearer on what they had to do. As for myself, I started to get the hang of saluting and eventually knew the correct timings for the various salutes. The actual contingent started and we were all nervous as our performance was being broadcasted live to the students in the hall. Thankfully, everything went smoothly and I feel that the guides did an extremely good job. We corrected all our mistakes and took note of what the commander told our squad.
Overall, I feel that this was a very good experience. Not everyone gets the chance to be part of a contingent. I really had fun during this experience. Although it was tiring, standing under the sun for long hours, it was all worth it. The guides really persevered well even though they were tired. However, I do feel that it is a pity that Chung Cheng High School (Yishun) does not have any guides. It would have been a good experience if we could interact with guides from other schools. I hope that those that went for the contingent can share this experience with the other guides who were not part of the contingent. All in all, GOOD JOB GUIDES :)