ORD LOH!
The much anticipated day has finally arrived, and i can proudly shout out ORD LOH! AND i am finally reunited with my pink ic after 2 long years (: the taste of freedom is just... wonderful haha. pink is the new colour for freedom!
in the morning, i went back and collected my final few clearance signatures, then went to collect my pink ic and certificate of service. aft tt, went back to guardroom and gave the guys a treat before returning home. so this is it. goodbye sungei gedong!
thinking about my 22 months of national service, i feel that i have grown, albeit not in the way they cornily put it as "from boys to men". there were certainly many things that i would never have done, nor even imagine myself accomplishing, yet under the encourgement and support of my peers, we have managed to tide through these challenges together. many years down the road, im pretty sure that if i run into them along the road, we will be able to reminiscent about the tough times we survived through, or the crazy things we did. these harsh experiences have made me a more determined person, and i will not be easily upset by minor hiccups.
i also got to know many people, from different backgrounds, and with different characters. i learnt to open up, and improve in my interaction with people. getting to know some of these people allowed me to have a greater perspective of the society, which i will in turn be serving in the not-so-distant future. some of these people i knew also had genuine problems (such as family problems and monetary problems), and to them, being in army was actually a "shelter" from the harshness of the "outside world". this made me realise how fortunate i was.
therefore, while i am certain that the army life does not suit me (the regimental style of operation and strict accordance to hierarchy when it comes to making decisions), i do not deny some of the benefits of national service, in terms of character development. i have learnt several lifeskills, and thus grown much in my thinking, and my outlook of life. really, as long as one kept an open mind, no matter how adverse the situation may say, he would be able to take away some positive benefits from the experience, and i have definitely benefitted from my NS experience.
of course, this experience would be much harder if i had not met lots of great people along the way, and i would like to thank all those guys that had helped me, encouraged me and supported me in one way or another. hope to see you all really soon (:
for now, time for a well deserved break.
consilio et animis
11/12/2008 10:23:00 PM
