A little whisper in the dark

Serve And Forget

The National Service scheme is pretty much a rite of passage for all Singaporean males, and so it often is the common denominator when guys come together in social situations and search for common ground to chat about. Whether you were rich, poor, studied up to Masters or as little as Primary 8 Mono, you probably belonged to a unit of men, had a story or two to tell.

And my special moments this period of my life were of:

......handing in my pink I/C, and literally losing my identity (from then on I was either Chao Recruit, or simply "Chan")

......waking up at before the sun came up. Every morning. They call it reveille. I call it torture.

......the first time you saw the standard obstacle course

......being given your first live grenade, which you held in two hands like it was something sacred and fragile (it really is quite safe till you pull the pin)

......going on field camp, spending half the day in a training shed while it poured outside, and going back to our bashas to find that 90% of the tents had been washed away down the slope.

......caught for smuggling snacks to field camp and being made to eat all of it at once

......the canteen 3-tonner that pulled up every few days during field camp loaded with Twisties and cold soft drink

......chiong sua (Counterstrike for real)

......night prowling duties, particularly during the Chinese 7th Month.

......us BMT trainees toward the end of our course marching and shouting POP LOH! when one platoon of BMT recourse trainees passing by responded with ORD LOH!

......sleepless nights wondering why there was 13 beds in the bunk, why one of the beds was a special green colour and there was a Chinese talisman pasted above the front door

......having to go to the toilet alone because they always make you drink one litre of water before you go to bed

......three mosquitoes parked in a row sucking on the blood in my arm

......mosquitoes so numerous, fat and slow that you can stomp them to death with your boots if they flew along the ground low enough

......played with pyrotechnics

......learned to drive a forklift

And a whole host of other things that I can't mention here.

I draw a deep breath, and I still remember the pungent smell of rifle cleaning oil, Kiwi boot polish, and Prickly Heat Powder.

Serve And Forget? Not likely. It wasn't all bad, really.

posted by Chung Leong @ 12:50 AM 0 comments

A low amplitude buzz

With a few shots of whiskey downed, that's what I'm hearing in my ears and consciousness at this point of time. Just in case I had some accidental exposure to HFMD...... alcohol should kill it......shouldn't it? But this is only 40.5% so I guess whatever bad stuff is only half dead.

But I digress. Its that brief moment of clarity between one alcoholic high, and another.

I've been away for a while, busying with life in general, and not finding the creative energy to make an interesting post. So perhaps this post will be unlike the others in my blog (because it doesn't dwell on my thoughts) but it'll be like some of the other blogs you might read about out there (simply narrative - suits the kaypohs).

I've settled down to work - somewhat. Achieved a happy equilibrium between the resources at my disposal, as well as the work that can be accomplished with what I've got. Guess you can't call it a routine, since it is a project. Actually I prefer it this way, I thrive on a challenge. But I do get lazy at times, and wish that things can go easily. But always remember:

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger

Like the whiskey doing its rounds in my circulatory system now?

So while I'm slowly getting on top of the situation, I've had to learn to delegate my work - and trust that the work is done without having to worry about the gritty details. I'm humbled by the work and effort of the people that work for me, and proud of the results they have achieved. I can only offer suggestions, and not criticism, because I know they have put in their sweat and hours and they deserve the credit.

They too deserve the praise, as and when it is due.

The coming week is crunch time for this project and we'll make it. (not specifying why its crunch time) "We" is because I regard myself as a role player, just like they are, and not above them. They may only see me as the young man that rocks up in his small silver car every few days, talks to the foreman about what needs to be improved, but really, my respect to them for being there, day in and day out, each of those 3000-odd trees they've planted bearing testimony to their efforts and skill.

It is practically impossible for them to know I write this about them, but they are truly the ones who've made it happen.

We've done our best.

posted by Chung Leong @ 3:06 AM 0 comments