not too long, say bout just slightly over 24 months, i was just on an island - pulau tekong, home to the basic military training centre schools.
3 months later, after those crazy lips infection (those lips were so big and swollen i hated myself and hating myself was never one of those things i enjoy doing nor have ever done before), initial three weeks of crying myself to sleep cause everything was just too much, three fainting experiences, six nights out on field camp with absolute no shower, no proper food (well, preserved and war-time food aren't exactly proper), no proper sleep and multiple crazy punishments. those were the days you wonder why didn't your family give birth to you as a lady so you could escape all these nonsense.
however, it was all not so down and dirty, most days you have a couple people who make joke and talk nonsense to make you go all giggly and laughing out loud for we all know we're all in this together and we could only be glad our paths crossed and we became acquainted and eventually became friends and buddies.
it was on that island where i got to not only hold but also fire a rifle, the SAR 21, for the first and only time, well a long time i must add. Also, i threw my first and only grenade. no big deal, reallyy though im pretty sure at that point in time i must have been close to wetting my pants ha
the date was 09 12 09, my mum's birthday and the day when im finally outta the island, for good, well unless i got a vocation that required me to go back there and till then it was all overrrrrr..
got posted to being a regimental policeman and the six weeks of training was well, much relaxing at clementi camp in the west as compared to the far east, on an offshore island! we got to take morning showers and have plenty of sleep, feed ourselves with nice burgers and wantons, almost every other night ha ha it was also there where i got to fire a machine gun dammit, the general purpose machine gun! was it fun, am not gonna lie, yes ha would i like to fire another one again? well, no thank you very much ha ha
those nice, easy breezy six weeks came to an end when the entire section of mine got posted to the air force, honestly, can't complain seeing as the other two options being in the navy was pretty insane with swimming ten laps as part of the morning exercise regime and being in army where the 'work' schedule is pretty bad heh
so in the air force, in the 'unit' that i'll be stuck with till the day i said hello to my civilian identification card again, i started my dutyy proper. with a background of a total of four fainting stints, they were pretty smart to have me being in the pass office along with some of the 'elites' (or so they claimed).
not gonna brag or make a big deal out of it, but we were under the command of a very easy going superior (unless you chose to fuck everything up every other day, then that's a completely different story) heh
it could easily have been excitement to be excited for whatever that's gonna happen next in my life, but i did feel a hint of reluctance as i left the place with my final bits of belonging..
i have met some of the most wonderful people in these two long years of my life and have made some very worthy life-long friends and buddies that i would not forget the kind of nonsense and punishments we've been through, and especially the times when my body gave up on me and i had to depend on IV drips to be 'revived' again and when all else fails, it's only the friends that you have made that made life easier to pull through those times.
thank you to the officers, commanders, specialists, buddies, fellow bunk mates, colleagues, friends and acquaintances, you have made a difference in my life, and you need to know. And good luck in all your future endeavors, y'all!
CHEERS!
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