About 9 weeks ago, I left BMT, and then I wrote that things would be the same old, same old once again even after POP.
I was wrong.
8 weeks ago, I went to SCS and that, began the 8 weeks that I’d enjoyed the most in the army thus far.
What an 8 weeks it had been, the experiences, the tough training, the high expectations and most memorably, the friendships forged in spite and because of all that we’d been through together.
I’d said this to my section mates before, and I’m not ashamed to say it again: Mike Platoon 1 Section 1 is the best section that I’d been in, and the section in which I enjoyed myself the most.
To all who said that SCS is slack, I’d reply that they’re but half-right. Whenever the training timetable allowed, we were given the freedom that commanders are entitled to, but when it came to training, well, SCS is the furtherest thing from slack.
Try handling – and firing – grenade and rocket launchers, and then having to advance even as other are firing behind you, try trekking with a matador strapped to your back while advancing up a knoll with your section doing fire and movement during field camp, try digging a shellscrape in the dark, try route marching 28km through the night (although the actual distanced that we marched was more like 32km), try being appointed platoon commander during field camp. And then try completing all of these while meeting the standards that my enchik had set for us.
It would be difficult to forget my first day in SCS when we did a 3km orientation run around the camp. Enchik wasn’t impressed because we failed to run in step, and he simply got us to run the entire 3km all over again. Equally unforgettable were the runs up and down the knoll, re-doing our harbouring drill thrice, oh and collecting the platoon’s field pack on the knoll, running up and down in the darkness. Every sinew in my body screamed in protest with every step that I took, and every breadth was a battle; torturous. Try forgetting all of that.
Yet of all the commanders that I’ve had, my enchik is the one whom I respect the most. He demanded high standards frim us, but demonstrated his very own demands through his conduct. He wanted us to work hard, and he worked twice as hard to “generate success” for us.
He was the one who appointed me to lead in one of the most tough and demanding settings, during filed camp, despite my initial apprehension and reluctance, and when he was speaking to you, you could always feel his genuine concern.
What a commander, and it ever, I were to march out to war, surely I would want to be under his command, bar none.
And now, after 8 weeks, after being posted out to 3 SIR alone, I’m missing my buddies, and all the ridiculous things that we used to do together.
I’ve known these guys but for about 4 months at most, yet despite it sounding trite, the victories and defeats; joys and frustrations that we went through together created in us a camaraderie that cannot be easily replicated.
Friends like ck (hey, I didn’t forget you this time round), nam, nelson and ivan (what a shame it is that he didn’t come to SCS) are people whom I hope would continue to be in my life long after army.
But honestly, everyone in section 1 contributed into the happy recollection it is to me.
Shah, the guardsman, with all his gung-ho mindset and the other Ivan, who is our adorable teddy bear. Timo is mr sensible even when everyone around us are losing their heads, Sengchuan is our resident Malaysian gangster and Sheldon – Mr fitness who always thinks himself fat.
I remember Mingyiu saying, in his own words, at the start of our course that his goal was simply “to not fuck up like I did in BMT”. And wow, what a top, top guy Ming had been. Responsible, enthusiastic, always volunteering to do the shittiest jobs that no one wants to do, all of which he did in his quite, unassuming and understated manner. A brilliant guy, one so changed from the Mingyiu that I knew in BMT.
Boey is the one always urging us to complete the tasks that we were set on time, otherwise, we would simply leave everything to the last minute. Ck is positivity personified, always attempting to lift the morale of everyone up and is our most reliable song leader. Nelson has to be the neatest guy that I’ve ever met, a perfectionist in my books, although he resents that label. Jon claims to be bisexual, and his ceaseless hit ons on Nelson is always incredibly entertaining. Nam had been my buddy since BMT, and his attempts at acting blur in order to avoid ASLC (or the infantry professional-term) were hilarious. Suren can start a conversation in an empty room, so imagine the amount of chatter that he brings to the section and Hongkoon, oh he is the Don Juan of our section; the contents of his numerous phone calls to various girls every night are, ahem, shall we say – colourful.
These are the people who got me through BSLC (or foundation term as they like to call it now). Near the end of BSLC, during our final interview with enchik, he praised me for my good performance during BSLC. In fact, I did unexpectedly well, and I was puzzled. I said to enchik that I didn’t feel that I did well at all – I dreaded booking in, struggled to motivate myself and while knowing the importance of NS, found it difficult assimilate that knowledge into my actions. I remember always feeling really moody every time I have to book in, but whenever I walk into the bunk sulking, the guys would always crack a joke, say something funny, and things would seem so much less gray with these guys around. Similarly, the motivation to complete whatever difficult situations that we were in, to not fall out, was simply the guys beside me. I didn’t want to let them down, I didn’t want to become a burden, I simply wanted to finish well alongside my brothers.
Despite our weariness, we helped each other with the matador during field camp. There was this time, during the second circuit that we embarked on for the day, someone asked for help with the matador, and I said I’d take it although I was literally dragging my feet by then. At that moment, the importance of NS didn’t matter, the fragile nature of our prosperity didn’t matter, geopolitics didn’t’ matter, all that mattered was my friend who needed my help.
Really, words fail me, and I struggle to describe that feeling, that emotion that pushes you on, that makes the pain on your friend’s face so unbearable and I can’t even begin to explain how it was really these guys that got me through all the difficult times.
And now that I’m pulled out of such a section and placed into a new unit, into what many are saying to be a difficult course, I feel a little inundated by all of these changes and challenges. It’s like I’ve been going through endless changes, ever since BMT, and the moment that I’m beginning to settle, it’s time to post out, it’s time to move along, it’s time to change. And after a while, it does get tiring. I look ahead of me and I see a difficult and winding road, and I look around me for these group of people; I see strangers and I feel my motivation dissipate.
Still, I’m going to try my best at earning my jungle hat, might as well try and get something out of NS right? Fast marches, heavy load, long treks (60km for our summation exercise), prisoner of war treatment, navigation, lack of rest and sleep, and the stress that I have to undergo, I think I can get through it. And then, there’s my God, who has never forsaken me. In Him, I am secure, come what may.
So to all of you, my friends, all of you in the army, strive on. We're are going through this ordeal together but we're are all going to ORD come September next year. And I’ll be seeing you guys soon.