The birthday boy
With Kenneth & HS . The 2 NSFs and 1 NS(Man).
Barbeque !
with Ant & WL
I was preventing Ant from covering his face with his hand for this photo. And WL was pigging away !
STOs from army and navy. ORD LO !!
Monday, February 25, 2008
HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY TO SF !!
The birthday boy
With Kenneth & HS . The 2 NSFs and 1 NS(Man).
Barbeque !
with Ant & WL
I was preventing Ant from covering his face with his hand for this photo. And WL was pigging away !
STOs from army and navy. ORD LO !!
The birthday boy
With Kenneth & HS . The 2 NSFs and 1 NS(Man).
Barbeque !
with Ant & WL
I was preventing Ant from covering his face with his hand for this photo. And WL was pigging away !
STOs from army and navy. ORD LO !!
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
After 22 months of national service , the day has finally arrived for me to receive back my pink IC and officially being declared a change of status from full-time national serviceman to being operationally ready. It never felt so good and the feeling is pure exhilaration , which is comparable to how I felt when I collected my 'A' level results 21 months ago.
It feels just like yesterday , when I was being enlisted into army on 070406. Can still remember bidding farewell to my family , including my grandma who made all the way to Tekong to send off her most favourite grandson. Her eyes were glistening with tears and her nose was red. I held back tears from rolling and as much as I wanted to run towards her and hugged her , I refrained myself because I know I will not want to worry my grandma by allowing her to see me tearing. From the very moment my hair was shaved off , it signifies the start of national service. Life as a recruit in Tekong begun. Making new friends , doing and experiencing all sorts of nonsense that the specialists and officers required us to do and calling Mom & Dad almost every night was part and parcel of life throughout the 9 weeks of BMT. POP was what every recruit looks forward to and mine was on 060606. What an auspicious date.
Was disappointed not to be posted to either SISPEC or OCS after passing out from Tekong. Nevertheless , it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I was posted to STC in 3rd Tpt as a Sea Terminal Operator. Coincidentally , a good brother of mine from JC was posted there as well. Met new people and especially with a group of people , we hang out almost every weekend playing pool and watching movies. Went for BSTOC and Class 3/4 Driving Course. Was posted out to navy with another 9 guys , including my good friend. Being posted to navy was 1 of the best decision ever , which I never regreted.
Officially switched from army to navy from Oct 06 onwards. Was posted to Tuas Naval Base. Went for crane , forklift and Class 5 course which I passed all in 1st attempt. Half among our group of 10 has to be posted to Changi. Luckily , I stayed on in Tuas. I guess my seniors like me. I was selected to be the original admin IC and was the first full-fledged STO among my colleagues. Hence I was exposed to do lots of crane jobs and this helped me in my admin duties as well. I was an all-rounder --- doing admin , operating the mobile and tower crane , forklifts , signalling and driving the cranes. My personal favourite is to operate the tower crane , which I specialised in it because I did most of the tower crane jobs. Admin-wise , I learnt how to stay composed and handle all sorts of crane users. This led to my discovery that to be able to achieve a win-win situation whereby both crane users and us are happy , being composed , astute , tactful and smart are paramount soft skills to be learnt. My predecessor once said that he believed he has not made the wrong choice by selecting me as his successor. I was inspired to live up to his expectation , and to have certain expectations on my future juniors as well. Only by leading in example then can I have the right to expect my juniors to live up to my own expectations. Juniors came and officially my colleagues and I have became seniors. I had my fair share of teaching/orientating most of them , regardless whether is it admin stuffs , operating/driving cranes or signalling. I have done my part in sharing with them all that I know of , despite it being endless teaching because alot of knowledge cannot be imparted just solely based on theory aspect. One must personally experienced in practical then they will learn , regardless of whether they commit mistakes. The road is still long for them , but I have faith in them that they can continue the good overall tradition of Tuas STOs and omit the mistakes my batch has committed before. My greatest satisfaction is to see them being able to live up to expectations , or even surpassing what my batch has achieved.
In conclusion , the 22 months spent in National Service is made up of a myriad of ups and downs. Sometimes I felt so debilitated that I thought I had reach the point of nihilism , but I can actually push myself a bit further despite being completely out of breath. There are gruelling times , but yet there are gratifying moments to savour on. As much as I whine at times about NS , it is a route that all able-bodied young man has to go through. I am glad this phase is all over , but memories will still etch forever in the back of my mind. As I recollect this phase of my life to perhaps my future generations , be it good or bad , I am still able to recount fondly the different memorable experiences I had encountered before. Boy , I survived this phase. Now is time to look ahead and continue to overcome other challenges and obstacles ahead.
ORD LO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It feels just like yesterday , when I was being enlisted into army on 070406. Can still remember bidding farewell to my family , including my grandma who made all the way to Tekong to send off her most favourite grandson. Her eyes were glistening with tears and her nose was red. I held back tears from rolling and as much as I wanted to run towards her and hugged her , I refrained myself because I know I will not want to worry my grandma by allowing her to see me tearing. From the very moment my hair was shaved off , it signifies the start of national service. Life as a recruit in Tekong begun. Making new friends , doing and experiencing all sorts of nonsense that the specialists and officers required us to do and calling Mom & Dad almost every night was part and parcel of life throughout the 9 weeks of BMT. POP was what every recruit looks forward to and mine was on 060606. What an auspicious date.
Was disappointed not to be posted to either SISPEC or OCS after passing out from Tekong. Nevertheless , it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I was posted to STC in 3rd Tpt as a Sea Terminal Operator. Coincidentally , a good brother of mine from JC was posted there as well. Met new people and especially with a group of people , we hang out almost every weekend playing pool and watching movies. Went for BSTOC and Class 3/4 Driving Course. Was posted out to navy with another 9 guys , including my good friend. Being posted to navy was 1 of the best decision ever , which I never regreted.
Officially switched from army to navy from Oct 06 onwards. Was posted to Tuas Naval Base. Went for crane , forklift and Class 5 course which I passed all in 1st attempt. Half among our group of 10 has to be posted to Changi. Luckily , I stayed on in Tuas. I guess my seniors like me. I was selected to be the original admin IC and was the first full-fledged STO among my colleagues. Hence I was exposed to do lots of crane jobs and this helped me in my admin duties as well. I was an all-rounder --- doing admin , operating the mobile and tower crane , forklifts , signalling and driving the cranes. My personal favourite is to operate the tower crane , which I specialised in it because I did most of the tower crane jobs. Admin-wise , I learnt how to stay composed and handle all sorts of crane users. This led to my discovery that to be able to achieve a win-win situation whereby both crane users and us are happy , being composed , astute , tactful and smart are paramount soft skills to be learnt. My predecessor once said that he believed he has not made the wrong choice by selecting me as his successor. I was inspired to live up to his expectation , and to have certain expectations on my future juniors as well. Only by leading in example then can I have the right to expect my juniors to live up to my own expectations. Juniors came and officially my colleagues and I have became seniors. I had my fair share of teaching/orientating most of them , regardless whether is it admin stuffs , operating/driving cranes or signalling. I have done my part in sharing with them all that I know of , despite it being endless teaching because alot of knowledge cannot be imparted just solely based on theory aspect. One must personally experienced in practical then they will learn , regardless of whether they commit mistakes. The road is still long for them , but I have faith in them that they can continue the good overall tradition of Tuas STOs and omit the mistakes my batch has committed before. My greatest satisfaction is to see them being able to live up to expectations , or even surpassing what my batch has achieved.
In conclusion , the 22 months spent in National Service is made up of a myriad of ups and downs. Sometimes I felt so debilitated that I thought I had reach the point of nihilism , but I can actually push myself a bit further despite being completely out of breath. There are gruelling times , but yet there are gratifying moments to savour on. As much as I whine at times about NS , it is a route that all able-bodied young man has to go through. I am glad this phase is all over , but memories will still etch forever in the back of my mind. As I recollect this phase of my life to perhaps my future generations , be it good or bad , I am still able to recount fondly the different memorable experiences I had encountered before. Boy , I survived this phase. Now is time to look ahead and continue to overcome other challenges and obstacles ahead.
ORD LO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, February 03, 2008
My body system was vitiated and went haywired a week ago as I developed acute rashes all over my body. I suspected it was due to the imbibing of beer and frog leg porridge the night before with the lads in a night out to celebrate ORD. The nature of the cause could also be purely due to a bibulous spree too. Went to see the doctor and he gave me an injection and some medicines which managed to control the condition. However on the next day, red patches of rash continued to fester all over my body. The macabre scenerio sent shock pulsing in my veins as the thought of contracting some sort of terminal disease came into my mind. I even asked my mom whether would I die anot. Mom was not happy that my condition actually worsened and accompanied me to see the doctor again , this time was the main doctor in the clinic. Turned out that the doctor that treated me previously was a part-time doctor ----- another classic example of "half-pail water" personnel. This main doctor gave me a stronger medicine and this time round was efficacious to jettison the rashes completely.
Spraining my left ankle and developing rashes right at the start of the year are certainly inauspicious. Nevertheless , I am still glad to pull through the ordeal.
The 3 days of MC that was spent recuperating at home was unexpected. Hence upon returning to camp , I spent the remaining 2 days of the week doing my clearance , teaching my admin successors the remaining bit of stuffs I meant to impart to them and clearing my locker. Completed my clearance and done my part for good in teaching/orientating almost all the juniors in some way or another , be it administrative matters , crane operating , signalling , driving the cranes , etc.
In a pretty relaxed mood now. Tomorrow will be heading to CMPB to do the commitment survey , after which will head for some shopping and settle some stuffs. Tuesday will go back to camp and return my locker key and camp pass for good. Probably take a half-day off from my remaining 1 off day which I doubt have the time to clear in full. Wednesday will be the big day in which I will be officially known as Mr Tan or CPL (NS) Tan as I embrace the moment of collecting back my long awaited pink IC.
The end is nearing as freedom beckons. 1 year and 10 months of NS will come to an end very soon.
Spraining my left ankle and developing rashes right at the start of the year are certainly inauspicious. Nevertheless , I am still glad to pull through the ordeal.
The 3 days of MC that was spent recuperating at home was unexpected. Hence upon returning to camp , I spent the remaining 2 days of the week doing my clearance , teaching my admin successors the remaining bit of stuffs I meant to impart to them and clearing my locker. Completed my clearance and done my part for good in teaching/orientating almost all the juniors in some way or another , be it administrative matters , crane operating , signalling , driving the cranes , etc.
In a pretty relaxed mood now. Tomorrow will be heading to CMPB to do the commitment survey , after which will head for some shopping and settle some stuffs. Tuesday will go back to camp and return my locker key and camp pass for good. Probably take a half-day off from my remaining 1 off day which I doubt have the time to clear in full. Wednesday will be the big day in which I will be officially known as Mr Tan or CPL (NS) Tan as I embrace the moment of collecting back my long awaited pink IC.
The end is nearing as freedom beckons. 1 year and 10 months of NS will come to an end very soon.
