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Introduction
I haven’t posted in a while because I was busy with my Medical Response Specialisation Course. The NCDCC Medical Response Specialisation Course is one of the 4 Specialisation Courses you can take when you are 15 years old, or when you are Sergeant moving on to Staff Sergeant. It equips cadets with useful skills like CPR, AED, HPCPR, using the ERGON, the stretcher, and the multiple grips to use when the victim has spine trauma. I’ll share my experience, coupled with tips that can help you I your course so you won’t be as lost as I was sometimes. I’ll break this down into different paragraphs, by each day. There are 3 days in total. All experiences apply to me and my cohort of 2025. Your course may differ.
General information
- The course I attended was one with a revamped structure. I don’t know what the difference was, but yours is unlikely to differ except after many years. The difference that I do know is that you won’t be a certified First-Aider anymore. However, you do get a certificate.
- The 1st day took place at Home Team Academy (HTA) in Old Choa Chu Kang. A remote, far-flung location, all that’s around is SAF stuff and cemeteries.
- The 2nd and 3rd days took place at Civil Defence Academy, at Jalan Bahar. It’s fairly near to HTA.
- You are split into 4 Rotas, which are your groups you will be in for the rest of the course.
- The course is helped run by a group of Cadet Lieutenants (CLTs). Note that they are to be addressed as ‘Sir’. You won’t see anyone below that rank, so everyone is a ‘Sir’ or a ‘Ma’am’.
💡 TIP: Always go early. The reporting time was noted as 8.30 am, but our AFI (Assistant Field Instructor; an NSF serving in the SCDF) asked us to report at 8 am. Even so, report 10-15 minutes earlier than that, so around 7.45 am is when you should report. The earlier the better.
⚠️ IMPORTANT: Wear your beret upon entering. Put your phone, wallet, watches and any other stuff in your pockets in your bag.
⚠️ IMPORTANT: Brush up your footdrills. If you make a mistake, it could cost your entire squad to SAMULAH
Day 1
In the morning
I arrived at 7.20 am, and was the first cadet there. Yes, overkill. But nevermind. Once everyone had arrived and we moved to a shadier spot, we were split into our Rotas and was asked for a volunteer to become the Rota IC. The Rota IC takes attendance and keeps track of how many cadets are present at all times. Note that you should volunteer at all times. Don’t shirk, but instead be ready and raise your hand. When volunteering, raise your hand and say “Yes, Sir/Ma’am!”. You may or may not get picked. I didn’t know what to say so I just raised my hand. I didn’t get picked that day (phew!).
When your name is called during attendance taking, raise your hand and say “Yes, IC!”. You will refer to your Rota IC or Parade IC as ‘IC’ and not their rank or name.
If you are picked as a Rota and want to learn some tips, skip to Day 3 as I was a Rota and I give more information there.
Also, a Parade IC is assigned to command the whole squad for marching and turning. See my later section on what to do if this is you.
March to your venue
Your Parade IC will command you to march to wherever your CLTs ask you to go. If you have a sling bag, standardise which arm to sling it on with your squad (usually left). If you’re carrying a water bottle, carry it on your left hand. When marching, standardise which hand to move (usually right), and which to not (usually left).
After marching: the first (of many) lectures
The first lecture was about some admin matters. No medical-related stuff here. You do eat your provided snack and drink now.
Going to the drill shed
Yes, to do footdrills. This place is the same place I did footdrills during my NCDCC HQ Parade rehearsal. I’ll write another post on that soon. We started with some icebreakers I the form of introductions, before doing some simple drills. Really, it was just turning. Some other groups were doing MAJU and I even saw one CLT demonstrating HORMAT KE HADAPAN, HORMAT on a march (FD Gold!), but I didn’t do that.
Journey to Nanyang Polytechnic
Due to the fact that SCDF paramedics are trained at NYP’s nursing school, they brought us there to learn some things. It was mostly promotional, in my opinion. I had a few mire lectures there. I didn’t learn much, if at all. After this, we were dismissed from there. Phew!
Day 2
In the morning
CDA is the real thing. This is where actual SCDF officers work and train, serve their NS and even do exchange programmes with other units from other countries (which happened when I was there, but didn’t participate in it). Your footdrills have to be top-notch here. No tomfoolery, nothing. You represent NCDCC and SCDF. Be polite, respectful, and don’t make a ruckus. After falling in, we marched to our venue. It was fairly long, and my arm really hurt afterwards (it was only 1 arm - my left arm that was moving).
The NETC (National EMS Training Centre)
This is where my trading took place, inside this big building. It contains a multitude of scenario rooms, meeting rooms, and loads of other stuff (and that’s just on the 1st floor!). What a pity we didn’t go the upper levels. Only the first story.
This building is where they can train SCDF cadets to be paramedics, using technology and simulators. We even checked out an Ambulance simulator, with some machinery and all!
We did a round robin style, with Rotas 1 and 2 going together and Rotas 3 and 4 together.
Using the ZOLL
We learnt how to use the ZOLL for a deeper analysis into the patient’s vitals, while also serving as an AED. Not too bad.
Using thermometers
A quick talk on the different types of thermometers.
Using a glycometer
We learnt how to use a glycometer to check the patient’s blood sugar level.
Neck grips for victims with spine trauma & using the ERGON.
We went to this station to learn how to deal with victims with spine trauma. It was interesting, and we learnt how to load a patient onto the ERGON, a stretcher made for victims with spine trauma.
Mixed Reality & learning how to deal with open fractures
In this station, you don VR goggles and see a car accident scene. You see a patient mannequin on the floor (actual prop) with multiple injuries like an open fracture (VR goggles view). An open fracture is basically a fracture with the bone sticking out of the body. You treat it with multiple gauzes, saline (NaCl) solution (NaCl solution = Sodium Chloride solution, if you’ve taken Chemistry)
Operating a stretcher
In this station, we learnt the different positions of the stretcher, how to convert between positions, and how to move patients on these stretchers up and down a road kerb and ramp. It was quite interesting, but we couldn’t keep the helmet or gloves that we wore as protective equipment, pity.
Loading the stretcher onto an Ambulance
In this station, we leant how to load a stretcher with a patient onto a Gen 6 Ambulance. Pull out the sherpa, lower it, push the stretcher on, raise it, push it back. That was what we learnt in 1 sentence.
Footdrills
We took turns commanding our Rota here. Basic drills, nothing fancy, only FD Bronze stuff. However, we needed to know the full turning command. I suggest you revise that. See my post on turning drills for more information.
Day 3
I got picked… as Rota IC
What I thought I could do, I couldn’t do. I had no confidence, and made a dew mistakes. The most notable one being taking attendance. As my unit in school does not use Rotas nor get Rota ICs (cadets) to take attendance, I was completely lost. After a bit of fumbling, I checked who was here and after making my Rota SENANG DIRI, I faced the front and also SENANG DIRI-d myself. I was really following the Rota IC next to me to do this.
When I thought it was not going to get worse, the Parade IC (thank goodness that wasn’t me!) said, “Rota ICs, PANGGIL NAMA!”. What on earth was this? I followed the other Rota IC, and naturally, I was slow by 1-2 seconds. This caused the ICs to SAMULAH and I was told, to quote exactly, to “wake up”.
This command’s timing is 1-2-check-turn-check-one. It’s purpose, as I found out by asking the Parade IC later, us to take attendance. On 1, you raise your left leg, and on 2, you stomp. Basically, you SEDIA. Then, on check, you do nothing, and on turn-check-one, you KE BELAKANG PUSING, then proceed to call out names to mark attendance. Needless to say, I got it on the second time but without still being slightly off.
One tip is that you just need to take note what the ICs usually do by observing them, and always be confident.
CPR machines
We learnt how to operate 2 different machines that can perform CPR itself. One was the LUCAS and another was a name I’ve forgotten. We learnt how to strap it onto the patient, adjust it, and get it to start CPR, as well as operating the AED during this period.
Scenario tests
We were given a few scenarios ina group and were asked to write down what we would do to help, and then present it. Our AFI would then tell us the answer according to the answer key and we would see how similar it is. This is when you skills and knowledge is put to the test.
Passing Out Parade (POP)
This was the last thing of the 3 days, where we are given certificates of completion and our Staff Sergeant rank. We were called by name by Rota and we would come forward, shake the SCDF dude (in my case, it was a Lieutenant) and collect our certificate.
We were told by our school’s Council/Exco that we cannot wear our SSGT rank yet, only after the POP in school for cadets joining the Council/Exco.
Conclusion
It was a fun, but tiring 3-day course. Your uniform may not get washed at all, so you may have to wear the same uniform for all the days. Good luck!