Friday, January 19, 2007
Was supposed to go for today's ord talk which was held in camp but due to some unforeseen circumstances, me and my shift mates weren't able to go. That wasn't really a problem because I ord in march so there's the feb ord talk to attend. No worries at all. However, it would have been better if I could just settle this talk and get it over with, at least I've got one less thing to be concerned with. 1 major thingy that I managed to settle today and get it out of my mind was the booking of my FFI and dental appointment at selarang camp.
Supposed to wake up at 8am this morning to do it but overslept all the way till 2 plus in in the afternoon. Called the medic on duty and made a booking for myself, mok, marcus and jason on the 14th feb at 10.30am. It wasn't until I put down the phone that I realized that the medic on duty gave me a slot on valentine's day. Well, not that it really bothered me because I'm not attached at the moment and it was the earliest available date they could give me. Even if I was attached, my gf would be understanding to know that FFI and dental is important. Not to worry because the whole process will probably take around 2 to 3 hours? I heard some of my friends settled theirs within 1 hour.
I asked some of my friends who went for the talk for the main details and tried to get a general picture of what to expect when I go for it in feb. It's good to be mentally prepared or in chee yong's terms, "gan jiong spider". I probably get a bit paranoid sometimes when it comes to settling any admin or paperwork stuff but it's good to have the urgency though. Managed to find out the main points from edwin's blog after awhile and I'm not very pleased at reading that I probably need to go back to camp to settle alot of paperwork? Maybe I'm just giving myself unnecessary pressure and I hope I am.
He mentioned that those who are going on to pursue their undergraduate studies need not apply for deferment(That's something that I've heard of before) but we need to submit valid documentation to our unit camp once we're in the university. To me it means more travelling from one end of the island to the other end. I seriously hate that. Considering that ntu has already sent countless amount of letters to me stating that I've been accepted, the camp should and I hope accepts that as proof. Is there really a need to wait until I get my matriculation stuff then I travel all the way back to changi airbase? To look on the brighter side, at least me and my nus and smu bound friend need not apply for deferment. Students who going to SIM though, has to apply for one as SIM is considered a private university.
Studying in uni gives me immunity from RT and ICT life for a couple of years and maybe 1 or 2 more years after I graduate. You can't have the cake and eat it too because I'm still liable for mobilisation even while studying. You can't blame the government for making this rule because I'm trying to think in their shoes. What if they seriously need to call us back because of any threat? RT and ICT are 2 things that can be done away with but not the ability to call us back. We've gotta inform mindef through ns portal most probably if we're leaving Singapore for more than 24 hours. It's not much of problem because it's just a matter of clicking a few buttons. Like I said, the government just wants to know where it's citizen army is going in case they need us. No use complaining and saying that these processes are a hassle because countless men had been through it. Just live with it.
I've this fear within me that I'll be unable to adapt to certain parts of civilian life once this shit is over. One of it is the fear of being recalled. Ask every personnel inside my camp and they will know how I feel. The kind of vocation we're in makes us more prone to being recalled than most other units. Although at the rate I'm going right now, it seems pretty all right. I just hate that dreaded, unfamiliar numbers that appears on my phone sometimes. I've got some of the camp numbers saved though but they seemed to change them to new ones. Once I get that pink ic and out of army, I will stop thinking about army and move on with my life. Get a part time job and wait until uni starts.
From then on, it's good to have wonderful memories about army but I won't look back. I want to be just a normal Singaporean student, go to school and worry about homework, results, my social life and girls. I don't want to have that feeling of going to school and getting recalled. Even though it won't happen, it will probably take some time to get used to it. 2 years of army life no doubt would have changed certain parts of your lifestyle. The break I'm having right now can be considered my civilian conversion course. Probably when I become an ict, I'll may find that being called up for mobilisation or reservist may be disruptive. However, I like to take on a different view point such as being able to see how are some of my ns friends are doing in their lives when we all meet up back in camp. Some icts even consider reservist as a good break from their work because it's a hectic world outside.
You're only young once so no point worrying so much about such stuff. For every ord personnel or soon to be, gonna live life to the fullest. Be it whether you're working or studying. Ignore the last few paragraphs if you find it meaningless. It's just space for me to rant out my frustrations.
