My time in the Army

People say you will grow the most…

Nah, enough deep quotes.

If I were to sum it up, the biggest takeaway in this journey down being in the military for 2 years has made me discover myself. The journey of self-discovery does not come easy, nor is it something that I would like to venture again into. But, that will be what most people say when they look back into the distance past.

The Junior Phase

Since BMT, the first phase of my military life, I have learned that I was indeed a planner, someone who was also responsible and definitely one hell of an optimist. Other words to describe me includes “motherly”, “nice” and “fun”which my BMT mates often said when I was the appointed platoon IC. I will never forget the journal entries I had written or the comments my Platoon Sergeant and Commander gave me. Probably the entries became a window that allowed my Platoon Commander to have a snippet of my potential and recommended me to OCS, where my 2nd part of my journey began.

Entering BMT is like getting your first job at the supermarket. You have no apprehension of the system already in place, and you find no one comfortable for you to approach. However, this is the best time you force yourself to grow out of your protected shell and be more courageous. And I think I did.

 

The Intermediate Phase

The next phase brings me into a greater journey of doors I have never seen before. Some say when a door closes, the other doors open. This phase of my life shown me otherwise. The doors are just there for you to open. So reach out your hand and open it. OCS had three terms which bestow us with different skills and knowledge. But one thing in common is that my leadership skills have sharpened tremendously. I have learnt what it takes to be a leader – insomnia arising from the tendrils of responsibility that clutter your mind each time you sleep, taking ownership of the decisions and bearing the consequences. I will never forget the day as a cadet wing sergeant major (CWSM) during my service term.

My team took over during the worst period in which the mess from the previous committee was left untouched. We had to work through day and night to set things right. I remembered this once where I had to run everywhere coordinating instructions and people to balance out the workload for the graduation ceremony. Speaking of bearing responsibilities in the aforementioned paragraph, I will never forget the decision I made and the implications. We had this massive event and lunch was indented. After the speech by the emcee, all of us were cordially invited for lunch. However, the queue for the lunch was estimated (by me and several others) to  be an hour and putting things into a larger context, our book out would be pushed back 2 hours later. Instead, I negotiated with the instructor to skip lunch and expedite the booking out process so we could get back early and eat lunch. He agreed, and members of my wing agreed. Just when we thought things were going well, my wing commander stood tall, obstaclizing the path back home. A causal question from him: “Did you guys have lunch?” soon turned out to be disastrous. I had to go back to the cookhouse to see if there was food left and the wing’s book out was pushed back slightly later. Oh well, I had to apologize to the wing eventually for the delay and the wrong decision but, everyone was cool with it and the majority supported my decision.

Throughout these 9 months of training as a cadet, I have discovered my flaws as well. I am someone who cannot function well without sleep, or if I have to, I cannot function the moment inactivity kicks in. Also, making decisions in a time-restricted environment is not my forte as well. Of course, my enthusiasm, my passion, and concern for my fellow mates shadowed the flaws.

But one very important lesson from OCS was that things will never always go in your way. Take my JCC for instance. I decided to vocate into Infantry because I wanted to experience JCC. But everything, every single effort, and time I placed in the trainings, went down to drain a few hours before JCC started because of one wrong slip.

The encouragement from my friends are real and I really appreciate them so much! That gave me insights to how important support from others are!

The advanced term

Transiting to an Intelligence officer at 1SIR was the next best thing I could ever asked for. I had to go through the gruelling UIP where I sobbed and kept pushing myself. Despite UIP being something I dreaded, I think this is the time where my resiliency grew, where I kept myself going.

Subsequently, I got the opportunity to manage a branch of people which left some time back in March and lead a new team in January! People come and go, but the impact I left on them is something really amazing to discover!

Just before I left, I told YF to make a card for me (I know I sounded so much thick skin, but I do not want to regret knowing that I have nothing to reminisce on in the future!), but instead, he surprised me with a notebook!

From the note, I discovered even more traits about myself!

My lame jokes are making the headlines, and how I make them cringe…

And this I believed came from a fan of mine 😛 whom says my cuteness had impacted them…

Looks like my cheerful and optimistic trait served the team well… 

And always looking after them…

There were some surprising ones I did not expect from any one of them!

How I earned the respect of people without even noticing…

Or becoming a role model to them…

And having my legacy build on!

Speaking of which, when I first started out in the branch, I told myself to leave a legacy behind! And seeing how my new DyS2 takes over me with that message, it goes to show that today is the day I put a strike across item number 47 of my bucket list :D!

Or people having the confidence that I will be a good doctor…

The same goes to YF for that…

Or being one of the most capable leaders people seen in their army… Honestly, there’s more people out there who are a lot more capable. Nonetheless, I appreciate that a lot though 🙂

And this!

To be very frank, this quality was one I set to achieve some day while I was serving my tour in 1SIR. I realized I have been too much of a coward and hardly stand for what I believed in. I guess the MP incident taught me a huge lesson on standing up for what I think is right. And I should use this as a constant reminder to tell myself, always protect your principles.

This definitely came in surprising because I didn’t knew he think so highly of me until today! Hahah…

Roachy deserves to be here because the cockroach definitely made part of my life here more memorable…

And another roachy…

One point I want to address in this is “biggest joke”. I have certainly never come across the thought that one day I will be the biggest joke. As hilarious as this may sound, I think it speaks a larger problem of the inability to be serious and making the right decisions. I guess its high time I start to ponder about me developing into someone who can “go all out when it’s time to have fun, and be serious in work”. Of course in addition to that, being someone who act as a role model or a leader (honestly, I quite enjoy leading), I think this will be the next phase of my life – to become a doctor with that personality!

Besides the letters my guys wrote to me, I have written letters for them on my side too!

Photo montage of the cards I wrote!

All except the guy with a charming smile that Jo stirred some shit on previously. I kind of regretted it cause he wrote for me, and I did not write back. And the worse thing was that, he asked for it and I have thought about it before. I guess things happens for a reason and someday that reason will reveal itself.

For now, it’s time to focus on my UKCAT applications and transfer application in hopes to get into NUS Medicine (YLLSoM) or study undergraduate Medicine in the UK.

Peace out guys!