ORD LOH!!

ORD LOH!!

And exactly said by the title of the post and how I've started this post, I've officially ORD-ed after one year ten months of National Service for my nation and its people.

Already thanked many of the people who helped me, trained me, and taught me everything I need to bring me where I am today.
But now I'll still have to start with where everything began, and record down my NS journey one good time.

One year ten months ago, I was enlisted into the SAF on 10th February 2011.
The date itself doesn't seem too far back, yet the days which followed seem longer than ever, longer than anytime in my life before NS.
Nine weeks of BMT seemed forever back then, friends we made were thought to be friends who we could be best with throughout our NS life.
We were not wrong, but not exactly right either, BMT was quickly filled with bittersweet memories.
Even just after two weeks of confinement, we easily grew close to one another as we are the only ones each other can depend on all the time, and just after our first book in, was the dreaded field camp.
An exciting experience indeed, and one to never be forgotten, one spent with people we simply knew just for two weeks, and one that we had to depend on each other to survive and to excel.
The passion to enter OCS soon died out, after knowing how tough the training can be.
And even though I knew that the training would be nothing for me eventually, being lazy as I was, I started thinking SCS could be a good alternative too, after all, I'll still be a commander after passing out from SCS, and from the way Sgt.Hakim advertised it, it really didn't seem bad either.
Nine weeks ended fast, fast before we even realized.
And leaving the island of Tekong to embark on our final 24km march together is something we all looked forward to yet also can't bear to see happen, as the fact that we would all go our separate ways in a week's time dawned upon us then.
We were finally trained soldiers as we POP-ed at the floating platform at Marina Bay.

And a week later, the results were out, with the few of us achieving the dream of entering OCS, most of the rest of us were posted to SCS.

9 of us from the same section, including me.
And there is where I continued to learn more, learn more about army, and about myself.
The eight weeks couldn't be any longer or shorter than BMT, as we experienced the culture shock of SCS yet also soon embrace how good life is in SCS Foundation Term.
We bonded much yet again, trained together, and had much fun while it lasted.
Eight weeks isn't too long, and soon we had to go our separate ways again.
I have to emphasize yet again, I really don't know how high are the chances, but I can only count myself seriously unlucky to be the only one to be retained back in SCS Hotel, with it being the hosting school for Infantry Pro Term.
And as for my other friends, they were posted into all kinds of vocations, barring the really special and weird ones.
You name it, we've got it, be it medic, military police, signals, recce, combat engineer, artillery, armour, GBAD, and except for me, all my friends had seriously got into every other vocation aside from infantry.

Then began my last fourteen weeks in SCS.
So called the toughest phase of training, least enjoyable one, yet also as memorable as any other phases of my NS life.
Delta literally came and took over Hotel Platon 1, and even though we had the same PWO, PC, and the few of us remained from Foundation Term, things were really different.
It was me being me again, unable to adapt to this big of a change initially, but eventually grew into it anyways.
From a weird new garang careless funny buddy, to a section with many strange lazy hardworking people, and a platoon full of noisy platoon mates, I have yet again had a new group of memories to look back to.
After all, they are the only ones who went through the same shit with me back then, and the only ones I can really relate to whenever we talk about our Infantry Pro Term experiences.
Tweleve and a half weeks were gone too fast, and our Taiwan trip was full of fun too.
Came back with two broken knees, and shingles.
Shingles.
Thanks, my 10days attend C which cost me my CSB just because I didn't get to march 32km.
Arggh.
I managed to use the attend C to complete my design of the Infantry Pro Term poster though, so I guess it's another form of achievement for me.

Being low profile, I thought that through that and escaping getting any bayonets would get me to BMTC.
Perhaps I really shouldn't have done so and should've tried my best, go all the way and got myself a Silver Bayonet instead.
Always not trying my best, seriously is my weakness from all the way back then till now.
And I still remember the times I spent with Gavin in the training shed, chatting till late night, about our dreams, various stuff, and things in SCS.
Chatted about how tough it was to get a bayonet, but how hard we would work just to attain it.
Congrats to Gavin, who not only got a bayonet, but also crossed over finally to OCS, commissioned as an officer this March and became an OCS instructor.
He truly deserved it.
And as for me, no matter how low profile I was, I still got sent to unit.
Devastated as I was at that time, even though I sort of expected it but was still looking for a miracle, I didn't really mind going to unit except that BMTC was really the preferred choice, especially considering how deep hidden 2 SIR is.

2 SIR it is then, and I reported to Amoy Quee for the very first time the week after we graduated as Third Sergeants.
Greeted by unfamiliar faces once more, with just a small group of people I knew from Hotel Platoon 1 remaining, I really didn't know what to expect from unit.
And treated like recruits we were, some among us really had the anger in them.
I didn't feel the same though, because I know one day will come where we will be able to act like sergeants, and sure we did.
UIP was over in a flash, no matter how much we suffered back then.
UIP Platoon 3 Section 1 was yet another awesome section I spent time with, where I knew many great friends and all my fellow Bravo Platoon 5 commanders came from.
Attaining the Best in Skill at Arms was yet another mini achievement of ours, but the time spent together back then was the true reward I'll keep for the rest of my life.

And once again, in typical SAF fashion, we were separated, this time into our individual companies.
Six of us all went to Bravo, with five of us sorted into the same platoon.
Amazing it was, I really thought we could be the best platoon seeing how well we worked during UIP.
Things might have worked out differently, for the better or for the worse, but as where we stand now, things are just fine seeing how our platoon turned out and how we turned out fine too on this special day for us.
PTP came and went, BMT came and went.
We were really sergeants, commanders, specialists, finally.
Doing what we used to see our commanders do, experiencing what they might had experienced in the past
We learnt to work together, we learnt to have fun, we learnt to lead as commanders.
The men's POP finally arrived on the day before my birthday, and it was the same feeling again as our own as we can't bear but needed to send some of the men away as they got posted out.
As for the rest who stayed, they can be counted as unlucky, or they can be happy that they won't have to face the feeling of separation every now and then.
Received my own section officially, and we went through yet another tough training phase.
AIT followed soon after POP, with two more weeks of preparation before Rotation 1.
And no matter how tough we thought Rotation 1 would turn out to be, it never really lived up to our expectations, thankfully.
As confused as we were back then, we still manage to go through it, largely unscathed, even as we spent time watching Euros in our bunk, and we learnt to have fun in difficult times.
And from AIT to Rotation 3 was just a major period of blank which could've been put into better use.
Much more bonding, learning, training, be it any of the above or anything else.
But I guess things are still okay as they are now.
Through weeks and weeks of helping out at Marina Bay for NDP rehearsals, and NDP itself finally over, we together as a platoon and a company had yet reached another milestone of our life in 2 SIR.

That was when we realized time just flew past us quickly, for me especially so when compared to my first year.
That was when I realized I had already stayed in 2 SIR much longer than the time I stayed in any other places combined.
The clock continued to tick away as Rotation 3 draws nearer and we started our motorization training.
It was finally time for us to switch on our learning mode again after this long of not being recruits/cadets anymore and being commanders.
It was a feeling not felt in a long time, but it was a short lived one as we had to quickly learn whatever we can, and impart the knowledge to our men already.
Rotation 3 was even more messy than Rotation 1, but we somehow managed to finish it once again, as a platoon, a company, and at the very end, even as a battalion, even if we don't fully realize it.
And it was nearing time, the time to say goodbye.

The weeks that followed weren't very important and majority of the time was spent out of camp, or at least, not with the men.
New commanders started to take over fully, and we started getting our hands off everything.
With just a week remaining and our ORD Parade and function over, we were let off until our ORD day.
And yet me being me again, decided to return to camp once more, one last time, one final chance.
People question me, even the men, especially the commanders, but it just didn't feel right having loose ends not tied up properly, unfinished business, and knowing that things are still going on even without my presence.
Of course I understood since the start that one day we have to go and things will still go on for them while life goes on for us, but not in this way where I don't finish off where I started properly and just leave things as they are while I go and carry on with my life happily.
And I don't regret my decision to stay in for the last few days of my NS.
I at least managed to talk to some of the men more, hopefully motivate them a little, or if not at least ease their minds about second year.
I managed to see the camp and enjoy life in 2 SIR for one last time, instead of just leaving abruptly just because I can't bear to stay in the camp anymore.
It was really nice, seeing the men one last time before I really go, because I don't like to leave with regrets, and I know I've done so well, leaving after more or less saying goodbye to people I'd say goodbye too.

And through my NS, I've just learnt so many things, not just about life, about soldiering, about leadership, but about myself too.
From BMT, what Sgt.Hakim taught on always to "Put others before myself", to SCS, to unit in how to be a good commander and one that leads the men well, I've realized how much I myself had grown too.
I realized how much pride I have in the things I do, and that we should always show our feelings instead of hiding it just because you are scared of what others might think.
I took the SCS motto of "with Pride we Lead" with pride, and I believe this should be the way things go because only when we have pride in things we do, we will be able to motivate people to do the same as well.
I never realized how important and useful the Seven SAF Core Values are until I went unit, where I finally realized that all this time how highly I held the core value of "Professionalism" in regard, and how important it really is to possess professionalism, not just in being a commander, but in everything that you do in life.
And many other lessons I learnt through my NS, I hope to always hold them close to my heart, as these are things I shouldn't forget and things which would definitely help me further on future in my life.

With this, I would like to finally end this long post of mine, finally declaring that I am now Operationally Ready to serve our nation in times of need, and that these two years of my life had not been just a blank, like what the COA mentioned in one of his talks to us.
These two years were truly well spent, and these two years truly changed me as a person and made me grow up.
Now I just hope this is a sustainable and positive change, and I'll carry on to apply what I learn in NS to things in life, especially in my own home.

Everyone who ORD these few days, congratulations, I hope all of you had gained as much as me, if not more, from your individual NS experiences.
And now we are finally done with what every Singaporean son has to go through.

ORD LOH!!











Byeall.