reflections

or After Action Review (AAR) in no military terms.




tomorrow is the de facto final day of our course. altho' hafta go back for two short days next week, Friday's EOC gathering will eventually cap our 9 weeks in OETI.

lotsa memories, gained knowledge, and benefitted immensely.

it opened one's eyes to the different type of backgrounds ppl come from.

the stereotypical hokkien peng... those eat-nothing-better-to-do JC boys, who are supposedly less mature, who do tupid stuff and get caught or even charged, to the extent they dun even hesitate abt leaving SG if DB beckons.

the really rich ah sai kias who drives fancy cars to camp, mini coopers and the like. but it was nice having friends who drive, can chauffeur u around and save on transport.

those ppl doing business outside already.. like one who is the co-founder of his clubbing company.. and one who's a Young PAP Party member already..

or how they do stupid things kena extra, or how some always complain the weapons are unserviceable during tests..and curse everything, claiming the weapon is jinxed.

or how some rather slower or not so highly educated ppl anyhow shade the nsf survey form cos they can't understand a single shit, then conveniently absolving themselves of all responsibility by arguing "they make until so chim for fark? just everything shade agree can liao lah" When qns 1 can be 'You think army is a waste of time' and the following qns down the list is 'You've liked how your NSF days have gone so far'. Totally contradictory. But everything's just 'Agree'.

and how we went to site visits..sch of ammo see how ammo is being classified and stored in the HQ ammo base.. or how SAR21s are being made in the factory or known as Singapore Technologies Kinetics and live shooting etc.

and how our dear bruneian counterpart is leaving next Wed already. how we'll miss him with his limited english vocab of 'fail', 'assemble', 'go see warrant sara' or the feared 'go sign extra duty'.

lol..it's fun. cos he's already 27, have 2 kids.. and brunei's army promotes ppl in a pathetically slow fashion. still lance corporal only.. and the pay ain't say v high. only 1k+ per month for regular.. altho education or children, healthcare expenses, one small kampung apartment and the misc fees are paid for.

always make fun of he missing some 'action during his 2 months here... saying want to bring him go geylang.. and talk all the cock abt girls, sex, games, cars, rifles, complain abt the superiors during our breaks...

it's true. in our free time towards the end of the course, almost every day sure talk abt sex one. not horny or wad. just talk for fun, and it helps that almost all are v open-minded, and willing to share all their exploits the previous night or something. or how this lubricant is working, or that condom not enuff sensation.

it's an entirely different ball game. and u really experience different stuff coming frm all walks of life. perhaps this is the best and only time to do all this.. in the army. u'll be surprised wad they're capable of man..

like how after clubbing.. one or two always get horny liao want to haf some action after seeing the gorgeous girls, but then no money want to borrow frm us.. lol.. no way.

or go geylang have supper liao.. beo the girls prowling the streets, and asking how much liao then duck away. all farnie stuff man...

or how we crack racist jokes then the poor indian really go complain. make us kena for nothing.

All in all, some ppl are really born with a silver spoon in their mouths. getting them to do area cleaning is like wanting their lives. they'll just take the dirty rag by their finger tips, pretending to walk one big round, then put it back on the same table he took it from, proclaiming everything's done. or gek gek wayang until time's up then change liao fall out.

some are more proactive, some v irresponsible. they can really say don't want means don't want, fark the organisation one. that would be kinda unthinkable for us coming from the enhanced batch of sorts... 'at most come back RT/SOL/DB lah' is their attitude.

unit life coming soon.. after i graduate from on-job experience (OJE) after 2 months..then will the promotion in rank come.. and fark it. the bloody organisation kinda changed the rules. they decided there were too many specs in armament...and happily 'demote' the entire hierarchy system from the batch before mine onwards... means normally is 3SG, with sect comd 2SG, becomes only CPL, section comd 3SG.

this really sucks. but knowing how ur mates are going to work OT with u in unit, everything's suddenly fine again. that's army for you.