seriously i dont really know how to start. 2006 is really a unique year for me.. the year that i left school and joined the army. a totally different life awaited me. i think i shall let the pictures do the talking (:
PRE-ENLISTMENT DAYS
the pre-NS days were pretty well spent. can still remember all the outings with my friends. seeing everyone (especially the guys) with all their long highlighted hair.. all the mad things that we promised that we would do before we went into tekong.
TEKONG DAYS
i can still vaguely remember the moment which i stood in the BMTC auditorium with like 200 over guys and saying the NS pledge.. "i plead true faith and allegance.." and after which it was the start of my NS days! bmt was the most memorable phase of NS life for me. everyone started off as blur cocks. botak blur cocks. we were getting tekaned like almost everyday by all the sergeants and we thought that a 3rd sergeant is king (i am so f*cking wrong). there was really this sense of cooperation and encouragement among us. everyone just encouraged one another to push on when some of us were feeling down and wanted to give up.. from small things such as running to big events such as field camp and 24 clique route march.. POP nv felt so sweet before. i have 3 POPs; the 2 most memorable ones were when i grew out of a recruit and when i got my sergeant rank. and it really felt great standing at the tekong parade square knowing that u have moved from a boy to a soldier. and yea 9 weeks of bmt seemed so long yet so short. it was the best part of my life (:
POST BMT DAYS
moving on from bmt.. i was posted to sispec and subsquently to armour to be an armour spec. life in sispec was.. nothing. i cant really remember anything in sispec except nutcracker, the sispec school song, alot of cheongsua and the all-so-famous 28 clique route march around ntu which gave me hell lot of mosquito bites. i was so glad that i was in golf coy. so much welfare and nights off.. but at the same time many of the people there wasnt the ones that i could clique around with. i just wanted the 11 weeks to be over and POP from there. the day finally came and "at the crack of dawn, you shall savour the sweetness of victory... and you shall be known as SISPEC warriors." HAHA such a clique statement.
and so i POPed and was posted to ATI for AISL course. 18 weeks long. couldnt expect myself to withstand the whole course cus 1stly it was much more shiong as compared to my BSLC, 2ndly it's 18 weeks (like wtf 2 x BMT ok)!! and 3rdly i have a staff ken as my section instructor. hah the 3rd reason somehow outweighs the other 2 reasons. but i really like my section alot. it's like i can clique more with my section than my previous sections in bmt and sispec. i guess everyone just helps one another in order to prevent getting screwed up down left right in out by staff ken.. i learnt alot of things during the trade course and our outfield in singapore was hell man! but yea we survived it and and we were named "armour commandos". woo so proud of ourselves. the highlight was definitely the taiwan trip. RnR was a blast! it was my 1st time flying overseas. without parents somemore. and all the shopping and eating trips!!!! RARRRRRRRRRRR I WANT TO FLY BACK TO TAIWAN AGAIN..
pop was really the proudest moment cus it was the time where i moved on from a trainee to a commander. was so happy when i got my sergeant rank but then again i am so f*cking wrong. and now my life stays on in 42 as an AI spec. and i cant really wait to ORD soon.. real soon.
OUTSIDE ARMY LIFE
being in army makes me treasure my outside life even more. met up with friends whenever my can during weekends. and im really so glad to have 64 as my class. even though the guys keep talking about army stuffs and the girls keep getting annoyed by it, im so glad that we keep meeting up once in a while!
REFLECTIONS
i think that army changed my life totally. made me think more, make more reflections and allow me to become more self-conscious. but ironically it wasnt the case. got wilder and er.. naughtier. yea just see the amount of vulgarities that i use. what to do.. the environment moulds and shapes the man. and i think it's this kind of environment that i was exposed that made me grow up. im sure that i have become more willing to try new things without the feeling of restrain. haha. ive made frens from all walks of life. different education lvl.. jc, poly, ite and some not even finished their O lvls yet. it's quite enlightening to see how non-jc people think and work. and sometimes i think that jc pple are the ones who are stupid (im not saying that non-jc pple are dumb or what.. no offence pls) in terms of our mindset. it's so narrow cliche and stereotyped. guess i need to work more with them to widen my horizon. and working with them makes my hands-on skill better which is beneficial to my future.
army made me stronger. both mentally and physically. fitness wise i have improved quite a bit. from 11+ min to 9+ min for 2.4. mental wise it has stretch me to limits though im pretty sure my limit's not -there- yet and it will be pushed even further in the future. and army somehow changed my character. though im as crappy as ever hopefully i have become more tactful when necessary. which is totally necessary so as not to offend anyone. yups.. and thanks to army i have stepped out of my comfort zone. staying in the jungle for 7 days. rolling in mud. blending with the flora and the fauna with my favourite green and black camo cream. cheonging with my rifle. from small arms - m16, sar 21, saw, m203, law tube - to big arms - coaxial, gpmg and of course my favourite 25mm and 30mm cannon. shooting live rounds and shouting the universal "bang bang bang" when blanks are used up..
and so as i blog 2007 is here. i cant really think much abt the resolutions that i will be making. too much things to worry about, so many things to do, so little time. maybe i'll blog abt it before i book in, maybe i wont. i am really grateful to those who bother to read until here.. it's a pretty long entry i shld say. havent written such a long entry for quite some time le. really wish everyone a happy new year!