essay..

got to write essay for national education stuff for the army and so i write.
dun think this essay is fill with any juices of national education. hah!
took me 5 precious BOOK-OUT hours to come out with this.


TITLE : MY DEFINING MOMENT IN BMT
-------
Having been halfway through BMT, I can surely say that the prevailing attitude of most enlistees has on the day of enlistment is a pessimistic one. Mine was clouded with fears, doubts and uncertainties of the coming weeks. The dreaded confinement period, the relentless “tekan” sessions by the Commanders, having to live with total strangers for weeks, all of these negative views predominates my mind weeks before enlistment.

At the beginning, the one thing I loathe to do is the reciting of the seven core values every morning. I questioned myself umpteen times on why are we doing this, shouting and pretending to be zealous at 5.30am in the morning! To me, I find it as a feeble attempt to inculcate the values in us.

Ironically, I found the answers to my whys at the lowest point of my life in BMT, Field Camp. My attitude shifted from down south, to up north as I realized the bigger picture, the so called “reason” my Platoon Commander told us about.

The sun was especially scorching on that day and everyone had just finished the 8 kilometers road march. After a 10 minutes rest and some “tekan” session for failing to pitch our Basha tent properly, my buddy and I were picked for a mission by our sergeant’s undiscriminating finger to collect the resup pack for the platoon. I think it is appropriate for me to say that we were lucky/fortunate to be picked out from among the rest when they were being punished going into prone position and leopard crawling, otherwise I wouldn’t have my epiphany and this essay will never happen.

Halfway down the road my buddy stopped on his track and placed his hand on his head. Seeing this ominous sign, I remembered he had a high fever just last night and with a “chiongster” recruit mentality, he decided to keep mum and participated in the road march. He was the wrong man for the wrong mission! There are times where impossible stares right at my face and this is one of it, there is no way he can carry or even pull the combat rations up the path. Fortunately there was a rover nearby and a sergeant was kind enough to allow us to load the rations onto it but we had to walk back.

A Commander with the appointment of Master Trainer saw me supporting him with obvious difficulties; the rifles were in the way, our LBVs were bulky and heavy and I clearly do not have the physical strength to support him fully. He motioned to us to seat with him and rest in the shades, while waiting for the only Rover to be free from duty so that we would be able to hitch a ride back.

In retrospect and in layman’s term, I find that those Enciks are just like sages, advance in their age, past their physical prime but they have lots of wisdom/experience to share. We chatted underneath the shades and just like those TV shows whereby a master enlightens his disciple in some desolate cave, he enlightened me.

He shared with me this;
“Each of us is being allocated a few sets of 10 years. The first set of 10 years, we spent learning how to walk, how to talk. The next set of 10 years, we spent studying. Follow by the next set of 10 years; we spent working and building up our career. The next few sets of 10 years till death, we enjoy the fruits of our labour.
No matter what, 2 years of your time you are going to be in the army whether you like it or not, so why not make the best out of it?”

It set me thinking on how do I make the best out of it? Coincidently I don’t have to think long because it happened next.

“Recruit Chng, your buddy is sick and I am entrusting YOU the responsibility-.” He jabbed his index finger on my chest, “To make sure he report sick and if anything happens to him, YOU are answerable for it.” He ended with an intense look on his face. Somehow, deep inside me I understood the seriousness of the matter, I felt roused to take good care of my sick buddy. I know I can do a good job looking after someone because I am a creature of empathy and also because, I have the training as a biomedical student. That particular defining moment, I found my “reason” to serve; to help fellow soldiers and it felt so right to me. I don’t have to be the best recruit in the company, don’t have to get marksman for my live range or even pass IPPT, I can just start right away.

You might know of the infamous acronym of “SAF”(SERVE AND FUCKOFF) which many enlistees live by it till the day they ORD. But for me, I like mine to be “Serve And Fulfill”. For those struggling out there, still looking for their own unique reason to serve, I leave you with this speech by William Osler, “Learn to accept in silence the minor aggravations, cultivate the gift of taciturnity and consume your own smoke with an extra draught of hard work, so that those about you may not be annoyed with the dust and soot of your complaints.”


-------

Some part of it never happened, like the 10 years speech.
wong's dad told me about it a couple of years ago and i just needed some ideas.
so yeah, there are NO defining moments in my BMT for me.
no real ones anyway.
P.O.P SOON.