Man Of God

Hm... I honestly hope that one day, I will be like that too... a man of God.

Well, I don't know what happened to the embled code or something. Just gotta click the link to youtube bah..

Skit Guys - Man of God: http://youtu.be/AS5sRvF60js

NDP 14

NDP, every NSFs National Death Penalty.

Well, that was what I felt like I got sentenced to when I heard the news in Feb. Thinking back, I remember pretty vividly how depressed I was. Nothing could cheer me up. All that was flooding my mind was all the sacrifices that I was going to be forced to make and I had no say nor any ability to have that cup taken away from me. Sure, I knew my parents would be proud that their son would be involved in Singapore's 49th birthday when I broke the news to them, but their son was in no sense amused or being filled with a sense of pride and honour on being given the opportunity to do so. This was a death penalty in my eyes, and one that would take me a few days to be  get back into the right frame of mind.

At least the news was broken to us way in advance to allow our minds to get back into the right frame of mind. It really helped, because if I was made to jump straight into rehersals during that period of time, I would not have given a care in the world about my marching, or sub-standard marching. I was still reeling from the lost of my Saturdays. Going to D.I., dinner with the boys, playing soccer in the morning, the lack of time to practice for main service on Sundays, the inability to attend meetings at night

Well, so the journey to 9th August continues since time waits for no one. Having internal company drills, wearing IBAs (a army vest) under the hot sun to increase the risk of heat injuries. Honestly, I have no idea why we couldn't do our rehersals nor actual parade in just our No. 4? Especially when you have rehersals in the afternoon during the hottest period in the year. At least, the drills trainings were just the basics, and we had not yet when into overdrive so at least I could adapt and slowly ease myself into the groove.

Then came the NDP rehersals in Nee Soon camp. The camp where many ghost stories have been told, and where a regular was found dead just some time before or during the period when we were having rehersals at Nee Soon. And also the camp where I went through one of the hardest times of my army life. Oh gosh, just remembering how I felt doing guard duty during my course period in Nee Soon was like welfare for me, simply because I could escape the regimentation, the stand by beds and skip the morning portion of the training the next day.

So this was the start of burning away Saturdays. Booking in in the morning (at least I was allowed to drive to camp and have dinner and sleep at home on Friday nights), having to eat cookhouse food (Yucks!), going for many rehersals under the hot sun and hoping each would be the last one of the day so we could go back to send our arms and book out.

All wasn't gloomy during this period as we usually could book out early like 3pm on Fridays and by 7pm on Saturdays so at least I could attend some meetings for D.I. at night, or make some plans for the night. Also, it was nice to see familiar faces at Nee Soon, and how the whole parade was being pieced together slowly. These were the little joy that added some colour to my life. Personally looking back, I felt these Saturdays nights really helped me ease my transition to having rehersals at the Marina Bay Floating Platform, which were way longer but somewhat more rewarding.

So where are we right now? Hm... Oh yes, Nee Soon. Thus, week after week, I would go through the same routines, have the rehersals around the same timing. Celebrate occasionally when there is rain. And as time passed, that meant the arrival of the month of June, and that meant the month of D.I.namite. The experience of D.I.namite as a whole shouldn't be mixed up here, and I won't. But, the fact that both NDP rehersals and D.I.namite would fall on the same day would cause some sort of trouble for either party and thus it did. My stubborness and persistence to want to be able to oversee D.I.namite did eventually pay off but the process getting there wasn't easy. However, I would not elaborate further since, as it is a whole new story by itself. I just felt I should add it here because I felt being able to attend an event that I felt I had responsibility for, show that there is still some hope for the army. Considering I got turned down at least more than 4 times mostly without even finding out why, and how I really almost got into big trouble during the lead up to D.I.namite. #justsaying.

Let's move on to the floating platform, shall we? So the Saturdays where our whole Saturdays would be taken away had arrived. Now, it was booking in before the Sun had risen, and going back at around 10+pm each week. I don't have much to complain for this portion simply because I had already gotten used to the routine, and had already mentally prepared myself for it. Also because there was free food, and drinks up for grabs during this period which helped to keep my morale high. Wait, it was never high, it just kept it from falling in dangerous levels. Honestly, the Milo van and curry'O along with occasional KFC meals helped me not feel so upset about losing my Saturdays and partially Sundays because I would have difficulty waking up early on Sunday mornings, and would feel so tired for most of part of the day.

During this period, I would say, the full dressed rehersal of each week were the best because, I managed to witness the parachuting of the Red lions with my very own eyes. Seeing how everyone was in tuned with one another, along with the music. Knowing the squence of events. Feeling the sense of satisfaction when I hear the song that gave us the queue to march up into the stands. Seeing how the little kids so excited at seeing the soilders march during the NE shows.

And lastly the actual parade. Something happened on that day that nearly caused me not to march for the actual thing which when I think about it, I would get quite pissed but all went well, and I got my way eventually again. It was a day of anxiety for me, I was just fretting over whether I would march, I didn't feel the nerves for the parade just the in justice of the chance of not being able to march after days and months of training. The reason for the lack of nerves was probably because I never volunteered to do it anyway so I didn't care about it. It was more of a task I had to accomplish rather than an opportunity I couldn't wait to grasp. But I would say, the sense of knowing its the end was pretty nice. Sure, there was going to be mixed emotions about the end. No more free food, no more early Friday bookouts, no more Monday offs, yet this meant having my Saturdays back to myself. And knowing it impossible to be stuck in camp over the weekend because I wouldn't have to do a full day of rehersals then do gaurd duty for the whole of Sunday, which when you think about it, its quite horrible and inhumane to do so.

Its almost a month plus after it has happened, yet its not possible to express it all within a post. So much happens each week, but I only stated a few of the more prominent events that happened during this 4+ months. So many loopholes, and I'm sorry I can't better explain and express all that I went through. So oh well, read it if you want.