The uniforms may have been hot and the boots heavy, but the first intake of girls to complete a two-week military training course with the PLA had nothing but praise for the experience.
'Quite a lot of the students suffered heatstroke during training. Some fainted when we marched, practised martial arts and went hiking. But none of us gave up and we insisted on completing the course,' said Law Shuk-yu, one of the 50 girls who took part in the summer camp.
The girls were among about 200 secondary school students who graduated yesterday from the gruelling third annual Military Summer Camp for Hong Kong Youth with the PLA's local garrison.
Although this year's camp was the first to include girls, the students were undaunted by the experience, and all managed to adjust to the tough training and strict discipline in a day or two.
It was the heat that posed the biggest challenge during their 15-day stay at the People's Liberation Army barracks in San Wai, Fanling.
Demonstrating the skills they had learned over the two weeks and sitting through yesterday's hours-long graduation ceremony under the fierce sun was the last challenge before leaving the camp.
