er, when was this again?!

In my opinion, there have been four defining moments in my NS/BMT/SAF journey thus far. Others may feel that these defining moments are not significant at all; but to me, they mean a lot to me and some have changed me for better. The first would be the presentation of our rifles. The second would be the first day of field camp which we just had on Monday(100510). And third would be during a gym briefing by Singapore’s only professional boxer and Dragon Coy’s most prominent FI, FI Mohamad Nor Rizan. Finally, the last one would be meeting my platoon mates who were from ITE.

I guess I’ll begin with the presentation of the rifles. On the day of the presentation, I awoke at 0340 unexpectedly, only to realise that it was way too early for reveille, which was at 0530. However, “reveille” for that morning came in quite an unexpected fashion. Yes, a turn-up(is that what we call it?) at 0345; five minutes after I had just closed my weary eyes to catch a snooze before the actual reveille timing of 0530. I awoke to sergeants shouting and screaming orders everywhere(especially right to my face), the clunking sound of unseasoned boots and more importantly, the all too common phrases that were shouted in the bunks on my level, “KNN, WHY LIDDAT?!” and “W T F IS GOING ON?!” and best one by far, “WHERE MY GARTERS SIAH?! CB LAH!” simply put, the whole entire company was in a mess. We assembled at the hard court and marched(I was so tired and sleepy that day that I can scarcely remember whether we were marching or not. So did we march or run?) half awake to the statue of the soldier in SBO near the TFT. We formed up in our platoons and subsequently received our rifles from our respective Platoon Commanders. Before receiving our rifles, we were told to say, “With this weapon, I will defend my country.” When I heard it the first time, I was like, “Me? Defend the country? No, no, no. This must be some mistake. I’m just a PES C soldier just trying to do my time. Don’t get me involved.” But as BMT passed by day by day and week by week, I realised that it was a call for us to stop having thoughts like those aforementioned. It was a call of inclusion. It was a call of sorts to tell us that it doesn’t matter what you did in your past or who you were before or your education level or most importantly, your PES status. Everyone, well almost everyone, is called upon to serve and defend. Well, I guess these are my thoughts on that event and that is why I chose this as a defining moment in my NS/BMT/SAF journey.

Secondly, there was field camp. I felt that field camp started on a rocky start because of the infamous “blackberry and cash theft” incident that happened in Platoon 4 Section 3’s bunk. There was like “mini stand by universe” in bunk, for which we had to take out every single item in our cupboards and remove our mattresses and bedsheets and lay them on the ground for our Section Commander to inspect. That was troublesome and a little tiring I guess. And there was also the 3km route march that sapped up whatever energy we had left for that morning(I guess you could say that I am weak la). The sun, much to our dismay, was also of little help, and with our SBO on, quite a handful of us suffered from heat exhaustion and had great difficulty pitching our bashas. And when night came, I learnt I had to do guard duty at the front entrance for two more hours before I could rest for the day(at 2300). Guard duty felt like forever and it was made worse by the fact that my buddy and I had left our watches in our field packs. Sleep was the reward of the day and I guess when our guard duty was over for my buddy and I, we felt that we had rightfully earned that sleep and there was that small little sense of accomplishment. It was almost like catching a glimpse of heaven(metaphorically, yes?) when we went to sleep(in this case, being in heaven would be sleeping at the bunk) and the feeling was awesome. Well, sort of.

Next up, there was gym briefing given by FI Mohamad Nor Rizan during one of the gym sessions. This briefing was special to me because he said something that kind of struck me in a way and this was what he said, “Do and give your best at all times. And should you fail, don't allow these disappointments to discourage you; Instead, listen to that silent voice in your heart that says, I will try again tomorrow.”(or words to that effect, because I couldn’t catch the second part clearly). I figured that giving, doing and trying to be at your best at all times gives you a sense of accomplishment and more importantly, it lets you book out for that week with your head held up high and without any regrets. Being at one’s best at all times isn’t an easy job and I needed motivation really bad. I guess what he said did help a lot, especially during the AC sessions and when we were all training for our IPPT.

Finally, there was me getting to know my platoon mates who were from ITE. Prior to NS, I had never met or known anyone from ITE, so whatever I knew(or thought I knew) about ITE students or graduates was pretty much based on negative and stereotypical views and opinions of Singaporean society. I’ve been told to watch out for ITE students and graduates in the army by friends who have ORD-ed because they say that ITE students and graduates are all “pai kias” and all. So I was pleasantly surprised to know that I have been misinformed when I met my platoon mates, of which a sizeable number were from ITE, as most of them were nice people(despite some of them having difficult childhoods or growing up years) and surprisingly, they are also the ones that contributed greatly to the platoon and are always willing to share what little they have with everyone. At this juncture, I must say that it is a blessing to have entered PES C, or else I would not have met them and would ended up serving with the typical “stuck up” JC batch that still has a prejudice against students and graduates from ITE. So why do I think that this is a defining moment? Well, it’s because I’ve come to this realisation; the old adage that says, “education is what makes a man”, is only true to a certain extent because what I think really makes a man now is not his level of education, but rather, it is the choices he makes each day when he awakes from his sleep that will dictate whether or not he is a man.

Well, these are what I think are my defining moments at the SAF thus far although most of them revolve around very simple and mundane activities. I hope and look forward to experiencing and learning more in our last 2 weeks of BMT.

REC POON WEI QUAN ALEX JONATHAN D4109

- what you've just read is one of the assignments we had to submit during BMT. it was a good one because it made me appreciate the little things in life; early book-outs, food to eat, a bed to sleep on and books, magazines and newspapers to read.

life is awesome.