MEGA POST. Post 21st birthday (too busy to write)

Let me take this chance to once again wax lyrical about my life during my Full-time National Service. Having been hearing tons of scary stories from when I was a kid, although I disbelieved the older I got, and the more immersed I was into military stuff, I was still afraid, anxious perhaps, on that very first day of enlistment on the 10th of April, 2007. But there wasn't time to think, for the training and various activities everyday just left no time to emo and all. I'm very glad to have met this bunch of people from Platoon 4, Orion Company, Basic Military Training School 2, Batch 2 of 2007. Special shoutouts to my pals from Section 3. Somehow I made it through BMT, reading and re-reading Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers many times along the way (even now, I still read it).

I failed to make it to any school of command, which dashed any hope of me signing on. I remember being very sore about the fact (I'm still sore, to be honest), but there was no choice. So I was posted to the Infocomm 1 Operator Course, Specialist and Operator Training Company 3 (?), Signals Institute to receive vocational training. Days there were certainly more relaxed, and I was put with yet another bunch of people from elsewhere. I have nothing to talk about for these days, except that the days were very very short compared to BMT.

There was therefore a culture shock when we were deployed to the 3rd Signal Battalion to serve out the rest of our NS obligation. In my opinion, 3 Signal is the meanest, toughest and best active-duty Signal Battalion in our entire armed forces, doing the thing only we know how to do. The initial days were tough once again, and we tolerated screaming, shouting, punishments, turn-outs, and the like, going for driver training along the way as well. However, things are fine once you get used to it. Most of my fellow operator trainees were posted in here together with me, and, somewhere along the way, cracks in the relationships between people surfaced and widened (I shall not mention who, or what). We completed our Proficiency Tests at the company and battalion level, then went over to Taiwan. Upon our return, we were directed to assist in the hunt for the then-escaped would-be terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari. By this time, it was already close to ORD so my company began to draw down. We still participated in a Divisional exercise towards the end of my service, and a couple of months after that, I was free (sort of).

My stint in the army gave me insight into life. But during this period, I was not exactly looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses either. However, I served my unit with pride and honour, and I am proud to have been part of 3 Signal once, despite my disillusionment with my homeland's armed forces.

Enough of the history lessons, on to the present.

On the day of my birthday itself, I went for a bonding chalet with my fellow councillors and seniors. We had fun, there were games, and I got dunked. My handphone died because of this, not because it went into the sea, but it still got into contact with water and wet hands after that. Silly me. And thus my Nokia 6500 Slide went to handphone heaven. They bought me cake and we all ate it after dinner... this touches me so. :) Thanks so much, guys. Even though there were no photos... it was still an awesome day.

I kinda forgot what else I wanted to say already. It seems like the week of 25th to 31st October was uneventful right now, although I wasted my time trying to prepare for the Features of Academic Writing test and ended up getting very distracted. EDIT: I REMEMBER NOW! I wore my No.4 (BDU) for Halloween. The various laws scared the shit out of me so I decided not to bring my LBV + other gear along. I feared taking photographs and ended up having less fun than I should have. Grr. Stupid decision, gutless me. Heh.

And for the whole of this week, my parents went to China leaving me home alone to do all the housework and my laundry. I actually quite like it, save for the loneliness and increased expenditure. I failed to bag a girl home, though, wahaha. And I discovered that the bars and pubs along Joo Chiat Road were full of men and Vietnamese mamasans. It somehow felt... wrong.  At the time of this post, my parents have already returned and are unpacking their stuff...

Gah, can't remember what else to write. Signing off.

EDIT: Oh, I remember now. Reading about 1WO Thivvianathan's death (aka Warrant Nathan) in the papers on the 26th shocked me. He collapsed while on a run in the USA, he was there as the advance party for Exercise Forging Sabre, I think. I knew him from my days in 3 Signal, he was the Fleet Sergeant-Major (yes?) for the transport fleet and took very good care of our vehicles and by extension, ourselves even though all of us were not directly under him (but we were still drivers). He was strict, but fatherly and a very dedicated man. I went for his wake, and he looked so at peace lying in repose. May fair winds be with you, Sir.