ORD LO! - and the journey to get here

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!