POP LOH!

It seemed like yesterday that I had just enlisted into the army. I recalled the moment I boarded the bus to SAF Ferry Terminal, followed by the boarding of the Penguin Fast Craft to Pulau Tekong and the rest were even worse.

The Army, as much as any Singaporean Son dreaded, isn't really that bad as what most mentioned; at least not at this stage. I am proud to say that I have completed my Basic Military Training and now a confident soldier.

Having that said, BMT isn't easy per se. It came along with many effort made by each and every recruit. It came along with lots of unnecessary reprimanding of the commanders. Most importantly, it came along with lots of patience and understanding to embrace one another. One cannot fight alone in any battle, same goes for training. Looking at the amount of different ordeals we've gone through, I would definitely say that my interpersonal skills are now better.

In fact, I made new friends. These are people of different walk of life, different family backgrounds, different stories to tell of themselves. Yet, we've overcame all the difficulties to help one another go through this 19 weeks of BMT.

Then came our first high key, the Field Camp. I recalled how people used to tell me how terrible field camp was, well, to that extent, it's truly tough. Honestly, if you were to ask me if I like field camp now after having gone through it, my answer is definitely a big NO! You see, the thing is, we as human had been continuously thinking of ways to disconnect with mother nature, and thankfully we had succeeded, it's just too overwhelming for me to reconnect with nature again. Not only that, imagine the days outfield without bed, shower and proper rationing. What's worse, roaches and exotic insects everywhere. Thankfully, I had a great buddy who helped me with the "candy wrapping" of our bags. He also helped me collected combat ration and even dug part of my trench. Before field camp, I had always though of my buddy as a decently selfish man.

I recalled vividly the minute we reached coy line. It's as if we've finally seen light at the end of a dark tunnel. I swear I've never missed company line so much. Not to mention, that eight inch bed SAF had given us. For the first time in four days, we've finally had so much of admin time and to cleanse ourselves with clean water. For the first time in four days, we've finally had the chance to use commercial products again. For the first time in four days, we've finally had he opportunity to make phone calls. The first person I called is my mum. Followed by non-stop messages to friends.

Overall, i felt that field camp was a great learning point for me, never to judge a book by its cover. After that, it's all the magical work, I'm pretty much closer to my buddy.

Then came the day 8 January 2011, the big day of all 04/10 graduands. There we are, standing proudly in front of our parents and superiors doing marches and parade. It is our first, our one and only, passing out parade of the lifetime. Just before running out for the last time to do our BMTC roar, I had mix feelings in me. I was about to cry, but my happiness snatched the spotlight. After throwing my jockey cap, my buddy came over and we gave each other a hug. He cried, but I'm sure it's tears of happiness.