Saturday, March 11, 2006
[[From this land....]]
Went with Jinjin today to Tekong to send him off....
It was
deja vu for me.. seeing an enlistment from a different perspective...
A video was screened. In it, a father said the oath taking seemed all so familiar to him... It was the same oath...
For me, I can't remember half the oath...
However, that doesn't mean that I will forsake my nation...
When I see the new enlistees. I saw myself back then...
I wondered how many really took National Service seriously, and of this few, how many would have their gfs leave them..
hmm...that's not the point...
At WhiteSands, I saw 2 3rd Sergants ushering at the MRT station... Though both were in their Smart 4, they didn't look all too smart to me... They were standing on one leg, and swaying about... For goodness's sake, they are Goddamn commanders...
When I am outside in uniform, I make an effort to be presentable. Not only for my own sake, but also not to make a fool of the uniform... The most disgraceful thing I did would be to listen to an mp3 player... Other than that, I make an effort to stand properly, etc... Proper code of conduct... It's not that I am
garang. It's like discipline man... Or to out it simply, proper upbringing from the army...
When I see the soldiers these days, I see mostly boyish looking, weak-looking man... But the shittest thing would be that they are commanders.. Maybe they just look soft, but they can lead...
But it saddens me that most Singaporeans don't hold our Army in high, or even any regard at all... They take for granted the peace and stability that our nation has the priviledge of enjoying... Does anyone understand the term of Troubled Peace... That is the state we are in now... To us, the world seems so peaceful. However, in actual fact, it's just a dormant volcano... There are so many sleeping giants out there... It's just that we don't see it... Because we have enjoyed this peace for so long, we choose to ignore this. In the words of a Commander, Peaceful days are not an entitlement, but a priviledge.
There's this line from Terminator 2..
"Every day after Judgement Day is a gift"Judgement Day
was the day, the machines lauched a nuclear war on humans. However, John Conner prevented that day from happening... Which was why his mother said that line. Because, the humans were never meant to survive.
From my point of view, everyday we live is a gift... Look around us... There's political unrest, bombings, deaths, disease, epidemics, terrorism... Yet, our nation is still unscathed.. But for how long? My generation don't see this.. So does some of our parent's generation. However on the whole, the older generation is much stronger than us... They have seen a World War, poverty, illness, death, communism, bombing... They had so muchto worry about... They had so much to worry about.. When will a family member die? How is the family going to eat? Is there job available?
Nowadays, my generation has much to worry too... Like whether my HP is the latest.. Is my Initial D card better tuned? When is xbox 360 coming to Singapore? And things like that...
I have army regulars telling me that he won't fight for this army, because it's too disorganised... Then who would you fight for, may I know? Not the enemy, i hope? Or some small guerilla task force you form yourself?
Even our own soldiers look down on our own army. Makes me wonder why people say Singapore can't fight a war... I have seen our capabilities, though not the full range, however I dare say, our firepower and tactics alone are a force to be reckon with... Even if we lose in a war, our enemy is going to feel quite a punch too...
This is our country. Defend it... Where else can you go?
From this land we are born, From this land we will fight
i was here @
11:16 PM.