Duty
I am writing this post because many people, mostly those who have not yet entered national service and those who will never have to, are going to be curious about army life. I cannot tell them spooky ghost stories or funny incidents in camp because I am in a new camp on the mainland that is totally devoid of supernatural hauntings, plus my camp has only one company made up of around two hundred recruits who are being trained by hardened Commando Regulars, so no one is stupid enough to step out of line. Sorry for being a let-down, but Commando training really is that unhappening. But of what I have learnt from my days in army so far, I can tell them what to cherish now and more importantly, why we must serve the nation.It has been three weeks since I went off to serve the nation, and I can safely say that a military life can change a person. For one thing, you learn to treasure every chance of contact with the outside world. The worst enemy of the National Serviceman is not foot rot nor physical injury, but isolation. Many of us have never been away from our families for more than a week. Imagine not being able to see them for week, upon week, upon week. That first experience can crush a man's spirit. For many people, including me, the first two weeks of confinement was the hardest part of NS. I was on the mainland, so psychologically is was easier for me. Imagine what those on Tekong had to go through.
That freedom to go anywhere we please and do whatever we want is so important to us and yet so lightly appreciated that when it is suddenly removed with force, we find ourselves counting every day, every hour, and every minute until that freedom is returned at the end of the week. Previously we could go out and meet our friends at any hour and sleep till the late afternoon. In the army you wake up when the sky is still dark. And the first activity of the day? Morning exercise. I know a few people who would kill for another ten minutes of sleep.
Such sacrifices are not worth two years just to strengthen our bodies, so why exactly do thousands of youths who have went through it still say they had fun? It is because of duty. No, I will not unload a whole lot of propaganda on our duty to protect this nation and so on an so forth. The duty that I speak of is of a more practical nature. Duty is defined by dictionary.com as:
1. An act or a course of action that is required of one by position, social custom, law, or religion.
2. Moral obligation.
3. The compulsion felt to meet such obligation.
4. A service, function, or task assigned to one, especially in the armed forces.
As National Servicemen, we draw allowance from the government. Ergo, we are being paid. As paid personnel, we have a moral obligation to fulfil whatever service, function or task assigned to us. In our case that task would be National Service. In the army there are only two ways to do things; the right way, or the wrong way. Your superiors would insist that we do things the right way, or else. And to do things the right way involves fulfilling our duty to the best of our ability. And in order to do that, we have to find the fun in whatever activities the officers can throw at us. Only then can one really survive National Service with his mind intact.
Always remember that we are soldiers not simply for the sake of being soldiers, but because we have a duty. A duty to our friends and family, because their tax money is ultimately paying us to learn how to protect them.