Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Second-Year Soldier

As of today, I am officially a second-year soldier. While it might not seem a particularly significant date to some (especially those who have not served the nation before) and it’s not like it’s an occasion marked with a parade or anything, having crossed the first year mark feels like a huge deal to me, as I’m sure it is to many others (judging by all the MSN nicknames that I see from my friends who enlisted at the same time as me).

Crossing the first year mark means that, for PTP soldiers like me who are serving a full-two years, I am now effectively halfway through my national service, a prospect that seemed impossibly far away just those few months ago when I was in BMT (the enhanced BMT batch have it even better, since crossing the first year mark means that they only have ten months of service left).

While one year might not seem necessarily very long to most people, I think most army guys would agree that an NS year seems to pass about as slowly as ten normal years. Still, probably because I’ve actually had a pretty decent first year in army, it didn’t seem that long. While the months seemed to pass quite slowly, the days and weeks actually went past in a blur (something which I remember commenting about to several friends along the way).

All in all, as I’ve mentioned above, it’s been a pretty good year, thankfully devoid of several of the horror stories I had to listen to before I enlisted. My BMT was, in hindsight, a really good time (true, there were the mandatory field camps and stuff but those weren’t actually THAT bad since they were not so harsh on us recruits), what with having a really wonderful group of section mates (most of whom I still keep in contact with although I haven’t met up with them much) and a group of commanders who knew when to be strict and when to be fun.

Choosing not to enter command school (not that I would have made it in even if I had ticked the box on the form anyway), I got posted, first to a navy unit (which elicited much joy at the thought of no more jungle outfields, camo creams and SOC trainings, or so I heard) before having it changed to an armoured unit within the same hour.

While I have to admit that I was pretty disappointed with the sudden change of posting (not to mention slightly horrified because I’ve heard some of the horror stories about armoured units being some of the most shiong around) and while the first week in my new camp, trying to adapt to a new environment, new people and a new regimental style, was pretty depressing, I soon found out that I had actually lucked out and got one of the better vocations, at least to me (sure, being an AFV operator means I have to clean the vehicle after outfield when everyone is resting in bunk but, hey, it ain’t all that bad).

To top it off, a combination of my new vocation, my platoon posting (I was a spare driver in the HQ platoon of my original company) and my polytechnic qualifications, I was selected to be transferred to my battalion HQ company to be the CO driver instead. While being in the battalion HQ isn’t as slack as people think it is (at least not in the branch I’m working in), it is a far cry from the regimented life of a company line soldier and I’m really thankful that now the main bulk of my work, which are mostly administrative, are more suited to my strengths than the wielding of firearms and having a high battle proficiency.

Personal-wise, I don’t think I’ve developed as much physically as I felt possible. Still, I’m just thankful that I’ve been able to pass my IPPT, even if I hadn’t gotten my elusive silver award (didn’t have a chance to take the test before my first year window closed) or passed my SOC. I remember when I first enlisted that six pull ups seemed such an impossible feat and that even two metres on the standing board jump mat (which is still a fail) seemed crazily far away.

I also remember not being able to scale the low wall or mount the parallel bars at the SOC ground even when all I was wearing was my number 4 and a helmet and that I practically failed every single station that requires some sort of technique or physical ability. Now, at least, I’m able to more or less clear most of the stations (even though the low wall and parallel bars still give me a bit of problems when I’m carrying all the load), even if I still can’t meet the passing timing.

Still, like I said, it’s been a pretty good year and here’s hoping that my second year will be as pleasant, or even more so, than the first year. Here’s looking to an award for IPPT and a pass in SOC!