Recess

And so my Home Team Basic Course (a.k.a. HTBC-FY08/01) has come to an end, and to say that I won't miss seeing my fellow Home Team comrades or that I won't miss HTA's comfortable sprawling modern campus would be a big lie, save perhaps for the annoying hawking eyes of SPF's TRACOM. Anyway, I'm on a short book-out to attend NTU's L&MLS test and interview tomorrow morning, and I'm hoping my body will hold up for a few more hours before it gives way like the way it's been screaming the past few days. I hope the polyclinic doctor will be good enough to not give me a hasty prescription as they tend to, because the medicine doesn't seem to be working.

Just for the record, highlights of the week:

- Bringing Yellow Night Fever (my HTBC group) to victory by quite a margin for NE Discussion Forum, and surprisingly winning the Best Speaker trophy which I had expected Tusha the ACJC DEP kid to win.
- Teaching Summer Nights for my group's Social Night item, working with Khalis to make the whole thing work and lo! Yellow group won the group item yet again!
- Meeting, interacting and having fun with fellow Home Team officers (both senior and junior) from the various MHA departments, including SPF, SPS, CNB, ICA, ISD and HTA.

I'm not supposed to speak too much about what we learnt since most of the things are either restricted or confidential, but these few words certainly don't do justice to the fun time I had learning and interacting with Home Team officers. And for the first time in NS, I actually felt that I have a direct role in bringing my team to victory and that I finally managed to use what I'm supposed to be good at for the benefit of the team (admittedly, I'm not the best cadet when it comes to BTMs).

Too bad ERS specs aren't posted to HTA or SCDF HQ seeing how these postings are mostly covered by BOC cadets which we direct-enlistees have practically zero chance of being part of since SAF Tekong boys take it all, but I guess any posting's better than SRB which would instantaneously kill my social and already dying intellectual life. It would be good to do something related to PR or HR because that's probably where I can contribute most to the force, but I'm not too sure if being posted to CDA's CSTW will be good for me seeing how CDA's insanely far for me. Besides, I'm not even sure if I'm good enough for CSTW! In any case, I did somewhat enjoy the workaholic that was coming back to me during HTBC, even if it entailed working late into the night on a single presentation on terrorism and homefront security.

For now, I have to concentrate on getting past Brunei, the various field exercises and our final exercise. I hope our achievements during the HTBC helped to raise the impression of the SCDF specialist cadets (aside from the frequent dozing off) as people who work like the firefighters (the men), but think like the senior officers (the BOC) - and not as a uneducated, uncivilised, rowdy bunch who've only got brawns and no brains. As irritated as I am that we might get confined thanks to some individual(s) being recalcitrant, I guess I've got to accept it as part and parcel of NS life. Sometimes, it just amazes you how some people in this world can be so bigoted in thinking that he's right and that he is king that there's just simply one word to describe such people - incorrigible. I know I'm in absolutely no position to pass such moral judgement, but these kind of people need to learn, understand and appreciate what it means to live and work in a community, understanding how the action of a single person can great rivet the whole chain of events. I certainly do not think that rocking the sturdy vessel that we've worked so hard to build in presently rough waters would fall under the category of an act performed by a "social-minded individual", si?

At the end of the day, I guess what's most important is that we first try to change and remind ourselves to strive for what's better. As Leo Tolstoy said, one tends to be so eager to change the world that he often fails to see the need in changing himself first.


Honour and Unity. Suddenly, although I still find uniformed organisations far too stifling and immobile (at least at the NS level), perhaps serving in the Ministry of Home Affairs as a civil servant may not seem to be such a bad choice after all, even though I've been looking at MFA and MOE for the longest time now (and no, this thought doesn't have anything much to do with NJC's concept of Service with Honour although it may have a slight influence). I guess at the end of the day, I'm pretty proud to be among the men and women in blue, and even though I'll probably remain as a junior officer in the Home Team under the SCDF until the end of my NS life, so what? It's the service that we provide to the nation at the end of the day that's important, service that actually matters in our country's day-to-day running.

After all, we get into the thick of the action - and not pretend to be gunning down imaginary enemies which may never appear in the foreseeable future. All these on top of the fact that Home Team officers are known to be better looking, including yours truly. HAHA.