BB, Drill and I

In my humble opinion, the first BB activity back in 1883 is DRILL. I believed what Sir William Alexander wanted when he started BB was to control and instill discipline into the rowdy boys in his Sunday School class. Well, the best method would be to teach them drill so that we he gives command, everyone follows!

Well, after more than a century, is drill still needed in the Boys’ Brigade? Many argue that the weather today is too hot for drill (at least in Malaysia) and exposing too much to the sun will cause skin cancer. That’s scary!

Personally, drill is the activity I enjoyed most. I liked the feeling of oneness within the team and the smartness with accuracy in executing the movements. There was great sense of satisfaction when everyone is the team do their best in unity.

Having taken part in National Drill Competition in 1996 and 2000, I have gone through some intensive training in drill along with many other physical training, team building and mental psycho sessions were conducted to prepare the team for these competitions. I remembered after one training section, about a month before the competition in year 2000, a fellow Sergeant was sitting down with me and shared his concern with me.

“I’m sitting for my SPM at the end of the year. I have been so involved in this drill competition and have not even started any preparation for SPM. What do you think if we don’t win?”

Well, I remembered replying him that the drill competition is important. What is more important for the company and every member is what we gained in the process of preparing for
the competition. My opinion was we should look at the progress of every member and the team as a whole. We have grown stronger, closer and understanding each other better. Isn’t that already an achievement for us?

To cut the story short, the team actually went all the way and won the National Footdrill Competition despite numerous problems and conflicts. It was a joyous day for the team but certainly one of my worst. The day started off with arguments between three Sergeants in the drill squad, went on to win the competition and the last thing I know is that this will be the last time I drill in this team. I was shouting and jumping in joy but the next moment, I was literally crying, knowing very well I will be leaving the company or even BB. Many thought it was tears of joy but it was indeed tears of sadness. The importance here is the process of building the team and not winning the drill competition. The failure of it that saddens me.

Coming back to drill, what is drill? Is it merely turning right and stamping your foot under the hot sun? Is it worth some much of our time to drill, at least 30 minutes per week?

To be frank, I believe drill is an act to instill oneness and unity within a company and more broadly, in the Boys’ Brigade. When BB members talk about drill, it is like speaking a common language so dear to our heart, regardless of whether we come from English, Chinese or Tamil speaking company. Perhaps Sir William might not have thought about that, but certainly, drill has united us beyond our imagination.

However, as BB marched into the new millennium, there have been so much of changes in the drill system. There was this strong wave of reformation in standardizing the drill system. A drill conference was held in order to discuss and synchronize every particular movement in drill. To me, this certainly does not make sense and illogical!

When I said treating drill like a language, can we expect every Malaysian to sing ‘Negaraku’ exactly the same tone and beat? How then can we expect every single BB boy throughout Malaysia to drill exactly alike? Even the army does not do that. What do you expect then of amateur schoolboys? I am rather skeptical about the reformation.

In the 2003 National Drill Competition, an extra component of BB Drill was included into the marking system. When you have that element, who and how the benchmark is set? Isn’t all who took part in the competition are already BB members? Then everyone should be awarded maximum marks. Sadly that doesn’t happen. To this day, participants who took part in that competition do not know what exactly BB Drill is. Is the reformation for the good for the Brigade or is it causing unnecessary confusion?

The existence of drill competitions is to stirrup the interest of boys towards drill and provides an avenue for boys to have friendly competition. Winning or losing should not be the ultimate aim but just a bonus.

After 12 years actively involved in the Brigade, I humbly conclude that drill was, is and will be the most important tool in BB that instill discipline, building teamwork, concentration and espirit-de-corps as well as physical strength.