Army Open House 2004

Today, I spent the almost entire of my day at the Army Open House 2004 with sumantri (didi). I have always been wanting to visit the AOH for the past few yrs but the conditions were nv ready. Finally I made my way there today.

Indeed, I wasnt surprised NOT to find many guys of my age grp at the AOH, as most of them shld probably be so sick with the army. Perhaps, some may harbour hatreds and resentments for it. Ya! i am the funny weirdo exception who doesn really hate the army that much.

Most of the stuffs i did wth sumantri today were not new to me, be it mounting and travelling on the Bionix Armoured Fighting Vehicle round the training area, firing the SAR21s with live rounds, doing the Standard Obstacle Course (SOC)etc. In fact, I felt a bit malu of 'cheating' them with the souvenirs as I had no problem crossing those SOC stations (I have done them in my army days). And I supposed most of the marshallers could guess tat and tats why they saw me also sian and they din really bother to demonstrate to us on how on how to cross the obstacles. Hmm.. i always thot i dun look very much like a singaporean? Poor sumantri had to cross those obstacles with the marshallers assuming he has done NS before.

Frankly speaking, most of what we did today (SOC, live-firing, mounting on Bionix) were much dreaded by most army guys, and even by myself during my army days. But the feelings of doing them today were much different from the past, with less pressure of cos. Today was probably the first time I walked into the live firing range and jumped into the fox hole feeling so chirpy, haha. In the past, either i was screwed by my instructors or I was the one screwing my men during the ranges.

I feel that one mini success i have achieved is my ability to psycho myself to view and convert negative things to positive ones. Army may be dreadful to many guys including myself, but I dun really hate it as much as most guys do. In fact, I got to appreciate the trainings and hardship days tat I ve been through months before I ORDed. I did a reflection then on how much I have grown, gained confidence and progressed in life. Thats probably why I nv had that repulsive a feeling towards the army compared to most other guys.





Jane, I din really like dogs, but purposely took this pic to make u feel jealous, akakaka...