Nothing To Lose

To Lead To Excel To Overcome

In Singapore, every Singaporean son must do National Service (NS) by serving the country as a soldier for two to two and a half year. Before that, we would go for a medical check-up. For most of us who were fit, we were sent to the Army for our basic military training. For those who were not as fit, they would get to serve NS as a non-combat soldier. While some pray for an easy life serving as a non-combat soldier, my mum said I should feel blessed to be deemed fit enough to qualify as a combat soldier.

Being a recruit wasn't easy. We were confined in camp for the first two weekends. We were shouted at by almost every personnel in camp. Even the cook reprimanded us for not holding our trays properly when they were serving us. Training was definitely tough. We began each day with physical training followed by all the basic military training. We would end the day with more physical training. We did get our free time to mingle with our platoon mates and even our sergeants. Life was not as bad as it seemed.

I wasn't the fittest among my platoon mates. However, I tried my best in everything I was told to do. Patriotic? Honestly, that word was not familiar to me back then. I was more concern of not being punished by the sergeants. I always looked forward to Saturday afternoon when we get to book out. Naturally, we dreaded the evening of the following day when we had to book in again.

Nearer the end of our Basic Military Training phase, we went through different trials and interviews to determine the vocations we were more suitable in. I remembered going for the Taekwondo Instructor trial as I held a black belt which I attained in secondary school. I was praying that I would be posted to become a Taekwondo Instructor as life would be so easy after that, doing nothing else but training soldiers (officers included) in Taekwondo. The trial went well and I was very optimistic that I would be selected.

After months of tough training, we are ready to be deployed as a trained soldier. As we stood in front of our officer hearing our names being called and our postings being announced, I was all ready to hear my name being called and my posting of Taekwondo Instructor being announced. Finally, my name was called and three words came out from my officer's mouth...... "Officer Cadet School"! Wow! I actually got myself into Officer Cadet School (OCS)! In my mind, I was thinking, "There goes my easy life as a Taekwondo Instructor." However, I felt that sense of pride suddenly as I knew that I was given the chance to become an officer.

For the next ten months, the training got even more intense as an officer cadet. We not only learned about army warfare, we also learned how to be a good commander even during the most challenging situation. I got to know a lot of great buddies who went through the tough trainings with me. Physically, it seemed that the training was really tough, much more demanding than the Basic Military Training. I was glad that God compensated my shortfall in fitness with the mental strength. There was one thing in my mind that kept me going and that was to make my mum proud.

The day finally came when we were ready to be commissioned by the President of Singapore to be the an army officer. It was a moment of pride for my mum as she was there to put the 2nd Lieutenant rank on my shoulders together with my brother.

With the rank on my shoulder, I suddenly felt the sense of responsibility that I had for my men who would be training alongside with me from now onwards to defend our country. For the next one and a half year, I was glad to build a strong rapport with my sergeants and men who brave through the difficult active days with me. That was followed by many more years of brotherhood after we ended our years of NS days to pursue our different dreams in life.

Over the years, I have grown to understand the importance of playing my part as a defender of my country. Although I have completed my 10-years cycle after my NS active days, I am still serving in my capacity as an officer joining some major military exercises whenever I could. I guess it is the best way to proof to my pupils the importance of military defense and I'm glad to say that many of my formal pupils are now army officers like me.

For duty, honor, country!