Friday, October 05, 2007
[5:33 AM]
It was one hell of a ride and while there's a lot that can be said, stories to be told, no amount of word can fully describe or capture the heart of it. Not a single graduation in my life did I come so close to tears, not for having reached the end of the journey, but for being so proud of myself knowing that I have actually survived ordeals that otherwise should only be figments of anyone's imagination.
I came into the organisation thinking that's it, I'm going to have the worst period of my life stuck in here and it didn't help that it was an order and I didn't have a choice. The people around me felt weird, I was probably sticking out like a sorethumb. I spoke English but they looked at me as if I just said 'your mum's a whore'. Of course I didn't show how much I felt like a martian and it was all smiles, the best remedy when you're lost in translation. Maybe it wasn't actually the people. Maybe it was just me and my ego, it wasn't easy trying to keep an open mind when you have a million and one other things to care about at the same time. I felt doomed.
But then people started talking about postings and vocations and this course simply screamed to me out from the distance and it had my name written all over it. Somehow I realised the only way out of my misery was to actually get into this course. And boy am I glad I did. 6 months through the course I met the craziest fun-loving bunch of sluts (who are men, not bitches :)) than I would elsewhere. I don't have a brother and I've never been surrounded by so many guys ever so having them around like brothers made me think, goodness I can't believe I've been missing out on all this rowdy-guy-fun all the while! But of course, with the many girl friends that I have, I was the guy with the chicks and they wouldn't stop bugging me for numbers - another life discovery made, men do get numbers from chicks, I thought it was just a myth. We men are so superficial are we not.
This is Vincent Sukri, my bed buddy since the very first day I got enlisted, right into the ERS course. How he was able to stand all my antics and survived as my bed buddy all the way through I wouldn't know.
This is Jason. He behaves like how any typical Malaysian Chinese would. A true blue Malaysian beng. Sleeping next to me, he would every now and then offer to share his 'collection of beautiful girls' with me that he had in his iPod video.
This is Winsur, or Windy, President of The Rota Sluts and very proud of it. He whines and slaps like a bitch. Enjoys playing "doctor-doctor" with his girlfriends.
Ahmad Zaini Chia, Windy's best friend. A very religious, very pious, Chinese Muslim. He's so religious he wouldn't even kiss his girlfriend. A very nice guy, he earns my respect for being true to the religion. The only one among The Rota Sluts who's actually not a slut (deserves to be fired).
Farhan aka Abang Bodi. He enjoys admiring his own body in front of the mirror, hence the name Bodi. He's a matrep on the surface but so deep, eloquent, and intellectual, calling him a matrep would be an insult to Albert Einstein, and maybe the matreps as well (it's a joke, get it?).
This is Ramdan, difficult to pronounce? Just say Ramdam. He slept opposite me in camp, and would come over and play gay with me on my bed almost everynight. He was a best cadet during his army days and was selected to be an officer. God knows why he decided to join the SCDF (waste of your diploma goondu!). He has a girlfriend who's as hot as Aishwarya Rai, how he conned her to be his girlfriend is the 8th wonder of the world. Oh by the way, sitting beside him there is our very own best trainee, Riduan.
The best for last, Maung Aung Kyaw Khaing, or better known as Maung Aung Chao Keng. Our favourite guy from Myanmar, he chews on betel leaves like one would on chocolate or candy, and he doesn't take chocolate. He has teeth that dont look like teeth as a result of the chewing. His nonsense matches that of George Bush's, sometimes you don't know if you should laugh or cry. But we love him still cos he's the funniest thing we've ever come across. His girlfriend is as hot as Maggie Q, him having her is probably the 9th wonder of world.Being in the course was sucha great thing. Spending every single day of the week other than the weekends stuck in the academy for 6 months didn't really matter to me for I knew at least there are people that I could actually relate with and I was confident that that would be enough to make the 6 months in there seem less miserable. But I was wrong, partly. You'd think they were going to make us specialists simply by letting us waltz our way through some easy peasy stuff for half a year! It was hell, so tough no bands of brothers would be enough to help you through. There was only so much your buddy could tell you to motivate and make you stay strong but in the end it all depended on your own mental and physical strength. Think Survivor meeting The Apprentice, and a little bit of Lost and Desperate Housewives for that little bit of drama any team ought to have inevitably. It was crazy.
There was the first shooting of water out of a 64mm hose and nozzle (I tripped on someone's foot and lost control of the nozzle, causing it to fly and wiggle like a snake, wetting my superiors as a result). Then there was the first real fire, those tongues of flame licking the ceiling seemed like it was coming out of an angry and fiery dragon's mouth, ready to toast you alive any moment. Next they put us through a competition that was to determine if having a certificate could help make you a better fire fighter (that wasn't actually the case but it was between us, the specialists, and the fire fighters so it felt like that), and we won, scoring 23 out of the possible 24 points. Soon after they flew us all the way to Temburong, Brunei Darussalam. No training on jungle survival whatsoever and they expected us to be all good and well surviving the wild raw nature. I'd have probably turned mad if not for the wonderful people in my group and the scenery, the coolness of the air, and the fast flowing river, which was all too beautiful to make any witch curse a spell (I'd like to hike Bukit Lutut and swim Sungei Temburong once again if given the chance to). Finally our final assessment came. Thanks to the ass that played the role of my overall commander in the exercise I was assessed on, I was given a score of 62%. It was disappointing because if he had done a better job locating the fire and running the whole operation I know I could have gotten myself a better score. But the most important thing is I passed my IPPT, the only hurdle that was preventing me from graduating at all.
What a journey. I always hear people telling me the best moments of their life came from their NS time. I found that a little absurd, it seemed almost impossible, very hard to believe. You get shouted at, you are out of your comfort zone, how can any of that be special? Memorable definitely, like a nightmare, but not in any way likeable, I couldn't understand. But going through it now I can see why. We like our NS days because of the bonds we make (very, very strong I'm telling you) and the pride we get that allows us to say not just "been there done that", but "been there survived that". You're asking a dancer to learn to fight a fire, what are the odds of him backing out seriously? Well this one survived and excelled baby!
I'm making it sound so great it's getting a little cheesy, and maybe cocky. I just cannot believe that it's all over now. Throughout the course we couldn't help but count the number of weeks to graduation every now and then. And when it has finally ended we are hoping to be given more time to spend with our brothers. We've been together day in day out for the past 24 weeks, the sudden parting simply feels like departure of a loved one, never to return again.