Adapted from my Facebook post:
Everyone seems to write an ORD entry to mark their journey through
that institution called NS... I'. The memory is still crystal clear. 28
April 2010. The day my 1 year and 10 month journey through that rite
called NS. It was with much anxiety and trepidation that I boarded the
ferry to that island known as Pulau Tekong, where I would spend the
first 9 weeks of NS in something called BMT.
Somehow it
wasn't that bad with the big W for whiskey (and welfare) helping and
before I knew it 9 weeks had passed without me even knowing who everyone
was in my platoon. My sect comd was nice (I still rmb you! B S Tan),
even though he and I hardly talked lol. And my PS was much nicer than
any subsequent PS I have had :P POP felt like the top of the world, but
little did I suspect that it was just the beginning of much sai kang.
Getting my posting was probably the worst thing of 2010. I had little
inkling wad RFN(T) meant, but I knew at least, that 1 SIR was an
infantry battalion. And who makes up the bulk of infantry? Thats
right!!! RIFLEMAN FTW /facepalm
First day at Mandai Hill
Camp. Waking up at 6am to catch the taxi....Can anywhere be more ulu?!
Served by only one bus, and made famous by Dave Teo, this was where I
was going to spend the remainder of my NS life. Dragging my duffel bag
into the MPH, I was placed in 'Alpha company'. Somehow the only
consolation was that Song Yu from my sec sch days was in the same
battalion, but different coy. The CO and OC appeared to be oddballs,
totally at odds with my BMT experience. I have never met an OC who likes
to go 可以吗？as his catchphrase and was so damn uh weird -.- Advanced
infantry training seriously sucked. It was like BMT all over again with
some new tricks such as matador and river crossing... etc
I
remember crying much for the first few months at Mandie Hell. I really
thought unit life would be slacker. But anyway, when life gives u
lemons, you make life take the lemons back! Long story short, I started
my quest to downpes, but they all failed miserably. Then somehow a
stroke of another's misfortune helped me to downpes and so started my
vocation as a clerk/storeman. Still, I went through half a year of AIT,
YOG, Brunei, Ex Maju Bersama. The second year seemed to be getting
easier. Then tragedy struck my family. Anyway, I managed to somehow get
over it and pulled through the remainder towards ORD.
Now that the journey is over, I wonder what lies in store now. NS was predictable and regimental. The sudden freedom is quite new and interesting. Uni - here I come!
