One Cold Night

Not sure if I’m gonna miss this…

my late night run around the campus of NTU.

I guess this is something only hostelites have the privilege of doing late in the night. No one has the ability to hinder you from putting on that running shoe and going up that uphill run.

The only thing that can stop you is you yourself.


My favorite route around campus...

Route 8 from this URL i found.

Start: Hall 6.

Up Canteen 2 to Canteen A.

Down to the back of NIE, along 199 route.

NIE Hockey field to Hall 11, 12, 14, 15.

Up Hall 11 to Graduate Halls.

Down Nanyang Meadows (Nice name.. hah) and back.


I especially like the stretch along the back of NIE down from Canteen A.

Gentle down slope.

Silent at night.

My panting, my running pace, my perspirations against the cold sweet and silent night.

Me, only me.

And of course, sounds of crickets if you listen.


Usually the “hot” time for running is after 10 or 1030 pm. Where many hostelites can be seen running, in twos, in groups or just alone around campus.

I like running alone.

Setting my own pace, letting thought come and go, all the self talk while just running.

Sometimes out running in the cold night round campus, you would check out on the “late night runners” running on the opposite side of the road running towards you. Then sometimes they would also check back on you. This “checking out” is like giving each other the silent encouragement to push on the run, to endure, you are almost there kinda feeling. Which is great.

I always have this impression of running along Tekong Highway in BMTC while running along Halls 11 to 15. Maybe it’s the orangey lights from the lamp post under the cold night, the smell and sight of the jungle of the live firing area along the long stretch of road. And not forgetting that these newer halls give impressions of the BMTC bunks. These definitely bring back the images of the road behind my company line in Tekong.


I guess the feeling of running around campus at night can never be the same outside.

In campus, there is much less traffic, or even zero traffic on the road. The black tar road is like totally yours. Without the traffic, the night is so silent and sweet. You are always safe running alone late in the night, cos you are running along the halls where hostelistes dwell. There are always hostelites around when you need one.


Many more nights to go!

保卫国家 2

Since the previous post was on 保卫国家...

During my last 6 months of my active NS days. Together with some of my unit mates, we were posted to the ATEC Aggressor Company where we took up the roles of enemies or aggressors for the SAF for evaluations and exercise purposes. We spend a cumulated 1 month in Taiwan to battle one infantry and one commando battalions on separate evaluations. This was an encounter my jeep driver experienced during his orientation drive around Hengchun village where our camp was located and where the evaluations took place.

In Taiwan, one regulation that we had was to don the Taiwanese soldiers’ uniform instead of our SAF uniform which made us look like the local soldiers. On the orientation drive, my jeep driver came upon a bridge which was owned by one of the villagers and was stopped by this little girl who was there to collect fees for any passage of vehicles across this bridge. When this little girl saw the army jeeps, she quickly asked her mom, "妈妈，军人要过桥，要不要收钱？" The girl’s mom upon seeing my jeep driver and other drivers on orientation promptly replied, "军人保卫国家，不用收钱" Instantly, the army jeeps were allowed to pass through the bridge.


On other occasions, during our exercise, whenever our jeeps drove past the kinder-garden in the village, all the kids would excitedly rush up to the fences and cheerfully shout " 阿兵哥! 阿兵哥!" , waving their hands in the air toward us. In Singapore, these scenes where kids cheer at the sight of soldiers are only seen on the National Day Show Parade, only on Aug 9, one day niah, or on some National Education (NE) Show on TV, on show, show show only, make people happy niah.

Could SAF soldiers get the same respect as we saw in Taiwan? Let's not forget Taiwanese soldiers are conscripts as well. At least some of the gestures may make soldiers feel proud at things that they are doing? Maybe?

In Singapore, when an army guy in camouflage uniform walks into the MRT carriage, everyone will try to shun him. Give him the “Eeee so smelly look”. Would anyone give up seat from these 阿兵哥, with the heavy full packs, duffel bags (opps… duffel bags are not issued anymore and now replaced by those wheeled luggage bags. Some what like air stewards, stewardess?) and the distinctive crew cuts? I guess not.

How about, “Hey, 阿兵哥, 你保家卫国, 你辛苦了, you deserve this seat!”

Impossible.

I guess the only true good impressions of 阿兵哥 were left gazillion years ago in our 好公民textbooks during our primary school days.

保卫国家

Ended one week of In Camp Training (ICT). Reservist is what most people called it. Every year, we part time soldiers would be called back to camp to serve our 10 year-cycle. This is the 3rd in camp that I have attended, that means 7 more to go.

I still remember my Officer in Command (OC) said during our very first in camp: “We are now Part-time Soldiers, not the 2 and a half year Full-time National Service (NS) Men anymore. If you think that certain stuff is too dangerous to do, don’t do it! All of us have families and girlfriends to go back to.” Even the Commanding Officer (CO) mentioned in this in camp that he is willing to compromise on standard of training than to compromise on our safety, partly due to the live combat shoot we had to undertake this 3rd in camp.

It’s the 3rd in camp, and I could proudly say we were already kinda “lao jiao” (old bird = veterans) to the reservist system. Guys from my company during my active days were still together and things could be better, funnier and friendlier. In camp to me is like a holiday chalet where we could all get together after ORDing for so long to catch up on each others lives over games of “大老二”, Bridge in our bunks or during more relaxed times while having training.

Besides the usual stuff, there is always something new to share and learn from each in camp training:

1. New Balding Prevention Tips/Cure

And so each in camp, the guys would go around looking at each other hairline and comment on the severeness of hair loss or balding. Each in camp, one guy will suddenly become the new guru in balding and recommend all sorts of shampoos and treatments to ward off this unsightly and inevitable symptoms that man will get upon reaching middle age, ie when they reach the Uncle status. The new guru is most likely to have suffered some worrying hair loss experience either due to stress from work or other unexplainable events during this one year duration between subsequent in camp trainings.

2. Working Life

So at the 3rd in camp, the “Air Level” (a common term for JC guys with GCE 'A' level Certs) guys, who are most likely at their final year of studies or have just graduated for a year, would have experiences and recommendations from their other comrades who are already working. Initial response from our working comrades would be, “Wow so fast hor, already final year liaoz, so long ago we ORD, now you 大学生 gonna go out and earn big money liaoz”

3. Woman

Besides recommending tips to us 大学生, the guys were also interested in the 大学生 Girls as well. Every year the same questions will be asked. “Stay Hostel soong boh? Guy, girls stay together izzit? We want to hear those interesting One Hundred and One大学生 Hostel Stories”. Jokes aside, sharing relationship stories with platoon mates whom you slept together in the same bunk, in the same outfield, in the rain, almost every night during our active NS days could not be that bad sometimes.

4. Revision on HK101

The revision on module Hokkien 101 was definitely a must.

5. 1 x shocking news only after our 3rd ICT

My M113 driver is actually 500 degrees short sighted. And all along for these years we thought he had perfect eyesight as he drove without spectacles all the time. If it was not for his ICT’s combat shoot, we would not have known he was actually 500 degrees short sighted.

If you are 500 degrees short sighted and without spectacles, that means you are totally blind. How in the hell had he driven us over treacherous terrain, over dusty terrain in Australia Wallaby Exercise, day and night for close to 2 years? Seriously, I wondered how he had maneuvered our vehicle at night with the impossibly-to-see night vision device/goggles while convoying in Wallaby while we were soundly asleep in the crew compartment of the M113. We could have easily died in our sleep then. Maybe my driver is actually Matt Murdock aka the Dare Devil from Marvel Comics.


From the struggles for passing IPPT, the fitness level of NSmen is clearly much worse than the active NSFs. With bulging fat bellies and geeky grins donning camouflaged helmets, uniforms, standard webbing, and holding a SAR 21, I wondered if we are the people who are going to win the war and to protect the country. I guess what it takes is the beyond the physical but the psychological aspect of 保卫国家, protecting those that you love and those things that are worth fighting for that makes each and everyone have the power and ability to face up to the threats. I guess when we have these thoughts in our mind, these training that we have during our active or our reservist years would not seem useless or a waste of time, no matter how bad or silly it may seem sometimes.

I seriously hope no war will come to us.

the Boss is Saying Again...

I still remember the first time I took the team as captain for the first competition of the academic year. It was a pressured time as the juniors were showing unsatisfactory training results for their first competition. The fears of tarnishing the victorious name of the team and the pressure of producing results for the school increased as the days to the competition drew close. I guess it was the idea of not letting efforts made by the seniors that led the team to glory for many years to be wasted by each batch of junior archers. However, much to my amaze, the juniors did the team proud and garnered top positions in their events for their first competition. All worries were lifted.

It was a year ago, and the rest were history. It was an eventful year and I felt that the team maintained their standard. Having set down as captain and shooting as a “backstage” archer, made me realised how the seniors felt when they saw the management of the team. There always seems an urge to step in and interfere with the new captain’s ways to ensure that the trainings or the ideas that you thought it had worked for you or for the team to be made known to the juniors. When the discipline drops, you will pop over the shoulders of the captain and give him the hint. Amazingly, those were exactly what seniors did when I was still incharged. It does make me annoyed at times, it is like questioning your ability and competence at work.

Come to think of it, I guess it was purely with good intentions for the team.

I guess this is like a culture for the team, where the seniors look after the juniors and the juniors maintain the culture and pass it on to their juniors to come. Without coaches, we train together as a team and help each other out and improve together. It is not about coming down to the range, shoot 100 over arrows for the day and just leave. It is about sacrificing each others individual shooting time to help the weaker archer. These are something all of us should be proud about. In my own opinion, it is not about making individual winners but about a winning team.

It is the time of the year again when all the juniors are going for their first competition. And as usual, their training scores kinda suck big time. I guess I just have to have faith in the captain and let him do his stuff. Everyone has their own style of doing things. A small defeat in competition may eventually boost up everyone’s determination and hunger for victory. Hopefully everyone will enjoy the shoot over the coming weekend.

"NTU 杀!"