ORD LO~

December 7, 2006

ORD LO!!!! 8th Dec 2006. Enlisted for National Service. 2 years have passed since. Many things have happened, memories have been forged, friendship bonds have been formed (and broken maybe). I’ve also learnt a lot, be it useful or not over these 2 years. However, by conservation, I’ve also forgotten a whole lot of academic stuff, among other things.

I can still recall the feelings I had 2 years ago, 7 Dec 2004. Being the first among my friends to be enlisted, having to go through a 26 week bmt course (that’s a quarter of my NS lah) and being a little paranoid about how I was gonna survive bmt and NS. Not being able to attend prom seemed less of an issue when compared to the others at that point in time (heck, maybe the fact that i never attend is for the good of everyone -_-)

BMT PHASE
Painfully long bmt. Seen people come and go almost twice. One can just imagine the number of book-ins and book-outs to and fro that island. Just that alone is enough to make you feel super sian, even though the training/programme may not be as intense as any other company (be it enhanced, ptp or mild obese). Good things is that I’ve got to mix with all sorts of people from different backgrounds with all sorts of personalities, which was truly a whole new experience for me as sad to say I hardly interacted with other groups of people outside my school/family. Took me a whlie to get used to the guys, especially those in my bunk since i spent alot of time with them. If i had gone to an enhanced company (which is impossible due ot my size), i guess i would still be living in my own small “elite” world. Not that i’m saying i’m superior and some of the guys in my bunk last time are inferior, but that’s what some people like to do to “differentiate” the different groups of people. Sgts were nice, didn’t push as hard as i had initially expected during training/activities. Through those 6 months, the sgts and us became more like friends rather than instructor/trainee relationship (though sadly i didn’t keep contact with any of them). After spending so much time together, i guess that was an expected outcome. Sad to say, at that time, i was still having the mentality of stay very low profile and just try to get by each day as it passes. I regret not keeping in touch with those i could get along well with. Oh well, take it as lesson learnt. Having downgraded to C9L3 towards the end of BMT i felt that all the “chiong sua” done prior to that was a total waste of time and effort and thus marked the beginning of gaining back the 20++kg i lost during BMT as i had lost “passion and will” in exercising much. haha. In fact, that time i was wishing to become a clerk or storeman, thinking it must be one of the most slack vocations in SAF liao. But sadly, i was posted as a medic, and heard many horrible stories about training to be a medic.

Post BMT: Service Medic Course
Actually, there isn’t such a thing as service medic course. Only combat medic course. And of course, with a siao-on regular 1sg as my platoon sgt, i dare say my batch had one of the worst times as a service medic platoon. (now mix service among combat medics liao different. dun compare.) And i thought REC days were the most regimental (apart from SISPEC/OCS), and normal folks like me who just goes for an average training course for ur vocation would be less regimental in most ways. But to my horror, in the short 9 week course, i had more Stand By Beds than my 6 month BMT. like wtf right? haha. it’s kinda nightmare having all those regimental nonsense on top of sickening things like IV (hey, u try doing IV on obese ppl, u’ll know how freaking hard it is. half the service platoon was made up of Eagle Coy people.) and exams/tests (i got the shock of my life when the first day of course each of us had to draw something like 10 formats aka textbooks). But with all the shit, the platoon was actually more united (imo) than the combat platoons. In the end, most of the sgts (even other plt’s) were kinda satisfied with us. I think that’s cos previous service medics platoons had more welfare and “slacked” more. My platoon could actually pass off for a combat platoon at times just that we didn’t draw rifles. haha. i think i exaggerate too much, or did i? With all that aside, the people in the platoon were actually nice and supposedly intellectually better since they think medics need to be smart (actually yes, if not u cannot study all that shit in such a short time.). Towards the end of course, naturally everyone would be anxious about their posting as no one wanted to go back Tekong to be medic (we all know how sux it is to entertain all the recs every day). That time, I didn’t know the existence of HQMC, or rather the fact that HQMC takes in medics and everyone thought MMI was like THE best place to be in. But alas, i was posted to HQMC, not knowing what it will be like and stuff like that.

Final Stop: HQMC
Back then, i didn’t know HQMC had so many branches, so i definitely had no idea what each branch does (other than manpower and log branch which is like DUH.). Was posted in to Preventive Medicine branch on 23 Aug 05 (the plaque i received today stated so). I think i’ve changed alot in PMB, as Dr Kevin (ord-ed 2 weeks ago) had pointed out, and i realised i truly changed quite a bit. hehz. The place is filled with mostly nice and helpful guys and i get along with most people (or so i think. maybe everyone hates me but i dont know. lol.) Made some very good friends in the branch and i will try my best to keep in contact with such guys for as long as i can. The people there really made THE difference. They make the place worth remembering. Hopefully ORD isn’t the end of our friendship (or so i think. lol. i think should be right lah.) Learnt a couple of handy stuff in my stay there, perhaps even increasing knowledge of Occupational Health related stuff (credits to David who went training/overseas ever so often before i started clearing leave). Even though i only got a [Good] for performance, i’m fine with that since those who got outstanding did really do more work than me, contributed more. So i shouldn’t be in any position to complain, since i only did the minimum required and at times, more helpful to other sections rather than doing my own work. I guess i dont like to work with full responsibilities on me. I have a bad feeling when i go out to work be it part time before uni days, or after obtaining my degree… haha…

And so, now i’ve ORD-ed (wonder why ORD has become a verb.) and i will DEFINITELY be relaxing for the rest of the year (month). Will try to find a suitable job to work part time before uni starts in something like 7 months? (yes i not going special term.)

p.s. i think this is like the longest text-based entry with actual context rather than pictures. as usual, i type in anything that strikes my mind, resulting in many many things left out and also an entry without proper flow. i know someone or two will come telling me off yet again. haha.