Sergeant (NS) Chan

Yesterday was my ORD day.
Today i'm officially released from the my fulltime national service liabilities
Operationally ready date... Ready?

What has been so eagerly anticipated by so many turns out to be somewhat of an anti-climax... ORD? ORD lor... so what... I enlisted five years ago, studied then came back to serve the remainder. We move on and out of the Army and forward into the a whole new world.

But looking back at those tough times, memories both bitter and sweet, flood my mind.

I remember the strange feeling of my short crew cut hair brushing against my grey Army T-shirt whenever I took it off.

I remember being face to face with the low wall and collapsing into a desperate heap each time I tried to climb it with my gear on. I also remember running around it when no one was looking.

I remember bringing stupid FHM and Maxim magazines to camp only to have them circulated throughout the platoon and have them come back crumpled and used.

I remember that the skies over Tekong had more stars than I had ever seen.

I remember the RSM (regimental sergeant major) calling us MAGGOTS and SWINE during our training but beaming with pride at the end of our parade.

I remember being almost shot in the back at the firing range when I ran into someone's line of fire, I also remember one of the PCs hitting me on my helmut on a separate occasion.

I remember that "She'll be coming round the mountain" was the song we most enjoyed on our 32KM route march. It made us walk on air, numbed the pain and lightened the load.

I remember listening to Coldplay as the plane bound for Taiwan took off in the wee hours of the morning, a little sad and afraid of the unknown.. It wasn't so bad, In fact it turned out to be fun.

I remember sleeping in the field during early spring in Taiwan only to be awaken with my arms and legs in pain due to the cold.

I remember the time they caught someone wanking under the sheets while they were playing cards at the table... in the same room... with the lights on mind you.

I remember getting an SMS from my sister after my family came back from Holiday telling me there's chocolates in the fridge, I couldn't go cos I was in camp. It was four years ago and I still keep that message in my phone.

I remember taking a shit... in the wild.

Do you remember?