Are you tired of the hustle and bustle of city life? Is life in the heart of Singapore a tad too hectic for your liking? Ever dreamt of taking the time off to go to a place of nature, where you can reconnect to you inner self? Think you're getting too fat sitting on the office chair day in and day out while snacking on things you bought at 7-11? Trying hard to lose weight but can never seem to find it in you to do it and you want a cheap way to do so?
If you have recently been asking yourself these questions or have answered yes to any of the above questions, I have one answer for you: You're living a luxurious life you jackhole!
10 days break. And I'm halfway through, damn.
Man, I haven't touched this blog for goodness knows how long. I kinda lost the feel of this whole blogger layout. Reason for this long absence, I guess all of you should know already. NS- National Service/Nasty Shit. I've just completed the very 1st phase of what should be a long and laborious 1year 10 months, the BMT phase in Tekong, where I went in as a recruit and have passed out as a private. For those of you unfamiliar with the army jargon, that is in civilian terms, the equivalent to being upgraded from a toilet cleaner to a toilet cleaner in sunglasses, it just doesn't make much of a difference.
So what of NS? While it may not be as tough as before, the fact remains that National Service is as disorganised as items in a 1980s provision shop. It does not promote thinking or lets you use your brains in any capacity whatsoever. Freedom is minimal, all one has to do to thrive in NS is behave like a dog. Follow orders of your superior(whatever he says, just do it), suck up to him and be friendly to all around you. Which kinda explains why I don't excel in NS life. Apart from making good friends, I don't really have any other notable achievements in NS. My physical training is below average, I absolutely loathed field camp and you'd trust Dick Cheney more with a rifle than you would with me. A lot of the things in NS makes no sense, which is probably the main reason why I do not bother putting in my 100%. Several of the illogical things in NS include:
1)Digging of shell scrape. A shell scrape was only useful for the Vietnam war, a war which happened more than a decade ago. In modern times, with such sophisicated weapons and equipment, a shell scrape can offer you as much protection as your blanket.
2)Standing by area/bed. We do not get ANY free time at all because most of the time, we will have to be cleaning the whole company area, just because our commanders want to see that we're living in a clean environment. Now I'll fully understand if it were held once a week, but to have it almost twice in a day is unbelievably stupid. There will be NO stand by area which can meet the standards that they're looking for simply because Tekong is just plain dusty and dirty.
3)Basic Close Combat Training(BCCT). I admit the first few exercises of this training can be quite useful as it teaches you how to fight hand to hand. The last few exercises however, where we were taught to fight with a SAR21 was ridiculously pointless. Firstly, the weight of the SAR21 is considerable and having to lift up the weapon itself is a chore, much less to say swinging it. The range of the rifle in close combat is also negligible. In short, close combat fighting should not be done with a SAR21 as it has the same amount of effectiveness as a soldier squatting down and closing his eyes while praying for the enemy to spontaneously combust.
4)SAR21 was designed only for right-handers. I think this is self explanatorily dumb so I won't bother to explain.
There are obviously more illogical things in the NS which I won't go into detail about as it would take too much time. Suffice it to say that the organisational skills of the people there are horrible, the information flow is very poor and most of the medical officers in Tekong deserve to be injected with my cat's poo.
It has been a long entry so far but I'll just like to say that things would have been a lot harder for me in NS if I did not have the support of my wonderful family and my dear! Its been a wonderful 9 months+ with her, coming to 10 months soon and things are still going strong between us. Hearing her voice every night while in Tekong temporarily brought me back to the sweet old times and constantly thinking of her kept me going throughout BMT. So thanks a lot dear, for your support and love!
And with that, I bid you all adieu till the next entry.
