Reflections from the Past: THE NS DAZE (1997-1999)

Motivated by my wife and time, I'am going to share my 2.5 years of National Service experiences.

The first 5-months (Basic Military Training)
I remembered the day I received my national service call up from a Government Registered letter from CMPB. First reaction 'Siao liao....'. I had to do my medical check at CMPB HQ. Tried my best to 'keng' even from taking the photograph (intentionally made myself look ultra-pathetic, I later regreted because my 11B 'NS IC' photo for 2 years made me look like a spastic IMH patient). It didn't help. I told the MO (Medical Officer) that I had duck feet but I merely got a PES B. With reality kicking in, I started my preparation for my June intake (directly after my graduation from NgeeAnn).

Being an overweight kid, I embarked on my journey of fear. I was in pre-training batch of 2months because I failed my IPPT. Those that passed their IPPT test would go directly to the 3-months. I had an advancement of 2 months. My other buddies who were classified under Obsese would start BMT at the later half of 1997. Being one of the first among my mates to start BMT in June, many were excited for me. I was the guinea pig who would be able to share my experience with the rest.

The night before NS, I had a nice family dinner together with my gf (now my wife). It was sad, reminded me of the last supper. My parents were saying it's only 2.5 years and it'll be over, my gf was upset because it means not seeing me for the first 4 weeks. Me? I was down in the dumps, leaving to a place of uncertainty and to be together with a bunch of new misfits in a similar situation like myself. My best buddies made an appointment to send me off at CMPB at 11am the next day, I guess they were more excited than me probably gleefully soaking in the atmosphere of seeing their friend the first to go to NS.

The next morning, I woke up, saw myself in the mirror and look sheepishly that I will lose my haircut. FYI- my parents and gf did not send me off because I requested them not to. I don't need my love ones there to make me feel even more demoralized than ever. I took my bag (just underwear, some clothes and my slipper) and off I went by cab.

When I arrived there, I met my friends who were darn happy to see me. It was like a carnival with people's families and gfs all crowded together. I was down. Very down. I registered myself and was told that in 20mins I will have to bid farewell and to take a bus. No explanation was given to where I was going. Time passed quickly and before I knew it I was loaded up into an air-con coach with the rest of the other guys. I guess everyone in the bus felt the same way. You could see the crowd waving (I don't know why the hell they look so happy, I think it was more of a mocking happiness to see the guys in the bus moving off to serve the nation and that they still had time to prepare for their own NS in months to come). I avoided eye-contact with my friends as I waved a final goodbye and looked to the next guy sitting beside me (he looked like his face was lang ga by car).

The bus ride took an 1hour before we arrived at Geat Hong camp. It was in Chua Chu Kang, I thought it was the camp in which we were going to spend our 5 months there. But was told by the sergant in the bus that we are headed to Ngee Soon after this stop. We went down from the bus and stood in line in front of a huge warehouse. There, we were shouted by some guys in vest and slacks to stand properly. We were issued our 'Ali-Baba' bag and were told to open up the bag widely for the rest of our army kit (most of the stuff issued will stay on with us for the next 2.5 years). I forgotten much about the contents but my army uniform, boots and a whole lot of junk was dumped into the bag as we moved along the queue. Took us 2 hours to get things sorted before we loaded up the bus again. Then it was another 1 hour ride to our final destination, Nee Soon Camp.

The ride to Nee Soon (refer to left picture of nee soon camp) was not as bad since reality had already kicked in and what I had to remind myself of my civilian life was the photograph of my gf packed safely in my wallet. Oh yes, back in 1997 handphones were a luxury and most of the guys were carrying pagers. As the bus arrived at the mouth of Ngee Soon camp we saw the shophouses lined up with army stuff and the guard house. The bus proceeded pass a large football field, up a hill which shows the cookhouse then into the HQ block pass a parade square. We were then whisked to an assembly hall where we had to surrender our Pink IC. We were then told to sit in rows by company. On that faithful day I was assigned to Gryphon Company, Platoon 1, Section 3 (1997 intake, June). I sat in a row together with a bunch of folks, again, it was like a circus of farm animals. We were all dressed differently, different haircut and in all shapes and sizes (as my intake was for those who failed IPPT, not all of them were overweight). After 30mins, a bunch of sergants (mostly malays) shouted for us to proceed down to the canteen. I thought to myself, fwah so nice let us go canteen but I was in for a surprise.

We were lead infront of the Barber shop. Erm....I wouldn't even call it a barbershop. There were just 4 chairs, 4 shavers, 4 barbers in the canteen. We were lined up in 4 rows and then each got his special haircut. The authenic Ngee Soon BOTAK Recruit hairstyle.

I can't describe the haircut experience, but if you ever watched Discovery Channel and seen how they shave wool off the sheeps? Yes, the experience is similar except that the Sheeps were handled much better. My head was sore from the shaver. The barber had no emotions and his shaver was digging into my scalp. What an asshole. Anyway, after the haircut everyone looked the same. Yes, we looked all the same. Vunerable, naked, embaressed - we looked like a dickhead. Like a bunch of sotongs.

It was already 4pm plus, we were lead back to the company line (the mini parade square) where we met our sergents (or instructors) who would be responsible for the rest of our lives for 5months. I was allocated bunk 3 with 14 people. I can't remember much of their names except for Adrain, Kelvin, Kevin, Ronald. Ronald became my buddy.

We were told to assemble back down to the company line at 5pm in Smart No. 4. We took our time packing stuff into our locker and wearing our uniform. I was lost, I was not from the NCC and the army does not teach people how to wear their uniform, tie the shoelace and stuff. We relied on Kevin and Ronald who became our advisors since they were from NCC. I was glad and relieved that we had such people to guide us.

When it was time to assemble, someone shouted 'fall-in! fall-in!'. There was a state of panick, everyone just left the bunk, ran down and assembled at the company line. Damn...it was the most confusing and comical sight you ever seen. Some guys in slippers, some guys with army uniform and track shoes, some guys with singlet and slacks, some guys with power all over his body with no.4 but shorts. It was crazy...!! The platoon sergent (this guy would be the main instructor and father of all of us) told us to stand properly. He sat down by the company line while we stood. He said (his words firmly in my mind):' Gentlemen, welcome to Ngee Soon camp, Gryphon Company, Platoon 1. Today, I will teach you a few basic things you need to understand. Rule 1, greet people according to rank. Not uncle, brother, friend. They are not your buddy, they are your superior. You respect people according to their rank in the army. So, you will greet as sergent as sergent. Warrant Officers and Officers as SIR.' Understand anot?

We were silent. Someone shouted loudly 'yes sir!'. Platoon sergent replied...'see gentlemen, you guys don't understand english. I said when you greet, greet sergent by sergent. officer by Sir. you don't seem to understand right?'

This time everyone shouted 'yes, sergent!'. Platoon sergent seemed pleased and said ' ok, now that you understood english, I'll teach you some basic excercise you need. You see in army we believe in keeping people fighting fit for the nation. But before you fight you need to understand how to do the basic excercise. Have you guys done push-ups? Yes right?' He demonstrated by going on push up position and then while in that position he said ' when I say knock it down, it means to go down on this position'. When I say 'down, you do 1 push up, understand?' We said 'YES SERGENT!'. He then proceed to a sit-up position and said ' When I say change, you change to crunchers. When I say Up you do 1 sit-up, understand?' We replied 'YES SERGENT!'

That started our first briefing or the basic form of punishment every NS guy would have had before. It writes a chapter of emotional and physical punishment that we have to go through for the first 1 year of our life as an army boy.

From now I will refer to Platoon Sergent as PS. PS then shouted..'Gentlemen, knock it down'. We looked at each other and then took our time to get into push up position. Some guys were sweeping stones and granite from the tar floor of the company line. PS said 'Very slow...recover'. We stood up. PS shouted 'Gentlemen this is the army you better move fast, knock it down!' We got down and up, I can't remember how many times. But it was too much for me to remember. Then we changed to sit-up positions and back to push-ups. PS said in a repetitive robotic tone 'Change, Change, Change' we became like a tortise flipping from push ups to sit ups position. Oh yes, we were so tired and mind you we had not even done 1 single full push up or sit up.

After 30mins, he said: ' Gentlemen, you guys are like a bunch of school girls, I give you 5mins. Change into No. 4 like what I'am wearing and make sure you look like a recruit. MOVE!'.
We went up and got properly dressed even though we were already in No.4, we were lucky to have those NCC guys explain in advance. We rushed down again and assembled. PS shouted 'Fall in' and then some idiots came again with No. 4 tucked into their pants. It was really funny and most of the people started laughing. PS then told the platoon 'knock it down 20'. Everyone did at their own time and it was un-coordinated. By the time all finished PS said again 'you guys don't know how to count, i count for you. Do it together!'. He proceeded to count from 1 - 20 in like 20mins. (*I will cut short about this because it's taking too long to even explain the trauma of mental and physical torture on our first day).

We proceeded to the cookhouse for dinner lined up with the other new recruits. We queued at the training shed beside the cookhouse and waited for our company's turn to get called. Once we got called by a COS (Company Order Sergent), we walked to the cookhouse to collect our trays. Back in the days of my BMT, the food was cooked by NS cooks. Which means we didn't have the luxury of eating from plates and food catered by Singapore Food Industries. We ate from metal trays and food served by NS Cooks (mostly ah bengs with tatoos who looked like gangsters). We had to hold out trays in both hands, and the cooks would scoop and slame it on your tray as if he owes you a living. Oh yes I remembered the first welcome dinner was Hainan Chicken Rice. Well I guess you must be thinking that Singapore's famous local delight would be served in the style of Boon Tong Kee. Please wake up your idea la, it was 2 small little drumsticks coated with gravy which is more oil (you could see the layer of oil 3cm thick over the chicken) and rice which basically taste hard. Oh yes, the trays after eating are washed by each recruit and yes, noone bothers to wash the trays that clean. So, it's a matter of luck if you get a clean tray or a dirty oily tray. If you have a dirty oily tray, just eat the top layer of rice and leave the bottom layer of rice or food untouched (that separates the dirty part from the clean part).

After dinner, we went back to our bunks and had some free time until 8pm. We were called to assemble in PT Kit (stands for Physical Training - Singlet and Shorts). It was time for night snack. There was milo and buns in a container and there was a chair for the PS to sit. We all sat in rows infront of him while he sat there. The topic for the night was introduction. About 40 guys for 1 platoon and 1 platoon had 4 sections which means each section had 10 guys). There was one guy who stood out, he was the one of the clowns who tucked in his no.4. PS gave him the name of 'KOTEK' I think it means dickhead or something in malay. I don't know there were so many malay names given to us by our sergents because majority were malays.

It was 9pm when we made our way back to our bunk (bunk is a place where we sleep). We did our bedsheets our own way, most of us slept because we had to wake up at 0600hrs the next day. I guess everyone was restless that night, I couldn't sleep. It was a sad night for me, I couldn't make phone calls to my parents and my gf. Noone could call their families that night because the public phone (there was only 1 public phone for the whole 50 guys). It was sad...we just getting to know one another. Anyway, it was just awkward. We had nothing in common except for being in the same boat. Before I knew, I was in my slumber thinking of what's to come.....

[I will cut short on day to day stuff but will continue on some particular experience I had while I under go my training in my new posting]