When I was still in school, I thought that National Service was a waste of time. I thought that people like me should not be required to serve 2 years of military service, for couldn't we better contribute to Singapore in other ways? Spending 2 years in the army will necessarily mean spending 2 less years of our prime outside, 2 less years to study, work and pay taxes. Surely the costs of NS were too great to justify conscription - couldn't a regular army do?
I don't think NS helped to change that. In 2 years, I haven't felt the existential threat to Singapore's survival that many say we face and I am not convinced that this is because of the strong SAF that we have. Indeed, although as an AI trooper I learnt how to do fire movement and clear trenches, it never occurred to me that I might one day have to do it for real. If I was a soldier, I was a soldier by name only.
But if NS did not convince me that NS is necessary, it taught me many things about life. NS forced me to interact with people of different educational and social backgrounds. I grew up in a well-to-do household and attended only brand-name schools. In 12 years of formal schooling, I hardly met anyone who speaks Hokkien, much less smokes and sports tattoos. NS allowed me to step outside these gates and meet other people. For what it was worth, I thought it was a good experience. As I got to know my platoonmates better, I learnt to step into their shoes and see the world from behind their eyes. Regardless of whether I agreed with them, I came to appreciate how they thought and why they believed what they believed. Interacting with my platoonmates has made my worldview more sophisticated. It enriched my life and made it fuller than before.
NS also taught me to take responsibility for my own actions and put in my best in everything I do. Unlike school, I struggled with training initially and got very frustrated as a result. I remember being the last person in my BMT company to pass my M16 technical handling test because I just could not assemble the rifle parts. I was also repeatedly shouted at for failing to coordinate my fire movement with the rest of the platoon. My failure to meet standards and persistent poor attitude must have resulted in my posting to 41 SAR after BMT. Thankfully,as I adjusted to army life with the generous support of fellow platoon mates, I learnt to take charge of my own duties and perform them well. Whether it was doing sentry during laager or cleaning arms after exercise, everyone needed to do their part to make things run smoothly. Although I do not have a natural affinity to army stuff, the tasks that I perform can mean so much to so many people. From there, I learnt to take pride in my duties naturally enough, if only to live up to others and myself.
NS taught me to take a healthy and positive attitude towards life. Too often, we, rightly or wrongly, hold on to our viewpoint stubbornly and try to destroy every other position. Many try very hard to down PES and/or slack as much as possible because they are convinced that NS is meaningless and a waste of time. I learnt that this tendency to tear down everything that we disagree with is unhealthy. Even if we disagree on the necessity of NS, we can agree to work towards a more effective AI company and a more effective SAF. Even if we think that we can better contribute to Singapore by not serving NS, we can still try to create a positive NS experience for ourselves and our peers. I learnt that our perceptions and beliefs interfere with and influence our experiences in profound ways. NS, like life, can only be as meaningful as we allow it to be.
Reflecting on the past 2 years, I feel very lucky to be posted to Glory despite all the training and saikang. At the end of the day, our NS experience is not judged by the number of field camps we have been through or how slacky the training was. We remember NS because it has made us fitter, stronger and better people. We remember NS for the 2 years of memories in the field, in the office and outside camp (during cohesion). We remember NS for the many wonderful people that we have met and the number of lives we have touched and changed. On these counts, I think Glory provided me with a meaningful and memorable experience; one that I am grateful for even as I feel relieved to move on with life.
(26 October 2009)
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Several people commented that their problems with NS stem from their lousy superiors. I must say that the vast majority of my superiors have been pleasant to work with. Superiors cannot be expected to be perfect/most efficient. If they screw up and need help, naturally you are expected to help them. I think I have done a fair bit of such work in army, not to mention routine rounds of paperwork. I don't particularly dread them, because I know that if I screw something up, my superiors will try and help me out of my mess. Treats and good welfare now and then do not hurt too. For me, it works well both ways.
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