Sunburnt on Sunday, June 27, 2004
I was so excited when i realised that the national service had been cut by 2 months! Nobody outside the national service will ever understand the kind of exhiliration and relief we nsf feel. Hey, we are going to be civilians earlier by 2 months!
I was trained in basic military training in Tekong, i was trained to become a specialist in tekong, i was an instructor in tekong training recruits. Some of my buddies would have sneered or scoffed at the kind of mishap i have landed up in, to spend my national service in the stupid military island. However in my opinion, i beg to differ. Though i dun really come to terms with some of the management within my company and other various standing orders, i have this sense of belonging with my bunk, my office, my colleagues, even recruits at times. For years, i will be staying in my bunk, every single day doing almost the same things, entrusted with almost the same responsiblities...If the day i become a civilian arrived, i am at loss of what i should do. My life will be void of events, of responsibilies. Communal living in the army build up a sense of bond in friendship too. We share joys, frustrations, anger and learn how to tolerate one another too. This is something i have might not be able to learn from a civilian life. If i touch my heart to tell the truth, i think i am really going to miss tekong.
The other side to the coin is that army let you see a mulitude of "character-flawed" people. Not that i am thick-skinned enough to consider my infallible, but i do encounter who seriously need some anger management course, perhaps from a teacher called Adam Sandler.
A song goes..."desperado, why don't you come to your sense". People in the army never come to their senses. They are 2-timers, they are sexually active, they go around preying and cruising for pretty gals. Looks are their first priority in seeking long-term relationships. Why are all these happening inside the army. I do agree that it might have become a norm in the army, but i seriously dun succumb to these stands. I dun think "love at first sight" is always happening. You will love a person when you have known he or her well enough to admire the traits and beauty in handling situations in life. I never deny the fact that looks do play a role somehow or rather, but that is always a bonus on top of a mesmerizing inner beauty.
I think that in the eyes of the civilians, army guys are depicted as sexually deprived, ill-mannered, ungentlemanly bunch of brutes. At least i am not. :)
Nick was out in the sun at
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