Every Singapore child will be obligated to serve their
National Service when they reach the age of 18 to 22. I was not exception as well. On 5th March
2013 was a great sunny afternoon, that day I could always remember clearing as I was
carried two large heavy bags. One of the bag was secured on my shoulder and the
other bag with a trolley function was being pulled along. I traveled together with my parents from the West region
of my hometown to the East region to the ferry terminal to report for my
enlisted basic military training.
As we arrived to the ferry terminal, immediately we could
saw a large crowd packed with people who were my age with their parents or girlfriends ready to send them off to a remote island
which had an infamous name called Palau Tekong Island for their basic military
training. Following the instruction given by the officers, everyone started
to form a line and stand in an orderly manner before they started to move
into the ferry that WOULD later bring us to our destination. Upon arrival to
the destination everyone alighted and holding their heads straight to their respective unit
for attendance taking.
At the assemble hall the officer called out the name for
attendance taking. This was the first time I WAS encountered with the army staff in my life
and it was also the first time I realized how regimental and fierce an army
personnel were. Every few words that came out from his mouth well enhanced with harsh
vulgar word along. I could remember seeing the surprised and shocked facial
expression from everyone around me.
Next, we were all bought to a foyer where we were given a
script to memorize the
oath ceremony later. We were taught to present in our best during the oath
ceremony to impress our parents that their child from this moment on will
transform to a man that will protect his country and his loved ones.
Finally, the ceremony begun and we stood up and put our hand near our heart and
read out the script loudly similar to the historical swear of Hippocratic Oath
performed willingness by medical doctor. Even though not everyone was willing
to be forced to read out something that
was not aligned with our heart still, everyone know the importance of
protecting our country.
From there on, everyone had spent part of their 2 year
adulthood contributing to the nation security. With the
regimental and tough training underwent in our training curriculum I believe
everyone has changed and became a better and more resilience person in physically and
mentality.
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