ORD is drawing near as i just finished another milestone in my NS life--fought Atech in Austrailia. In exercise wallaby, my unit went Aus to have an evaluation. If one will to ask why we go so far just to be evaluated, well my ans will be that Aus is only big enough for my unit, as we r too familarise with Singapore terrain.
But then again, I'm quite sure we are well-versed with SWBTA, esp the most seniors. Even, i myself came last yr to recce the place. Maybe this is called cheat code or 'half a battle won', as in fact, we knew the place better than Atech.
All in all, it's a good fight and we r awarded only silver, as our sis, adf is our enemies. (if not for those chiongsters, we may get exceeding expectations result)
Life is actually quite tough there, for we r forever in the field with absolutely zero form of sanitation. One can never get his feet clean before sleeping. Even showering is subjected to water, thus we must RATION the water output. Some actually resorted to using drinkable water to shower or vice versa--obtaining hot shower water for hungry cup noodles nites.
It's either hot in the day or cold in the night for the 1st part. Then the weather changed drastically to cold and wet towards the 2nd half of the stay. In a way, being wet is good, as the rain prevent some dust from flying. Basically, in polygon camp, it's forever dusty or muddy. since the higher up don't wanna invest in gravel n small stones, unlike other camps.
Life is so pathetic that even our basic food must be transported, since the place is too dirty to have a kitchen. Ironically, we (even) BBQ for our end of frame dinner. In the beginning, many opt for cup noodles, as the teleported food isn't as fresh. While, at the end, many resigned to fate and have no qualms on eating cold food with a speck of sand, dust, flies or wat not.
As for the use of internet, there are only 4 previous coms using ONE cpu, to be shared amongst 400 plus tech-savy and bored soldiers. Some re--kindled the passion on facebook games, over the about 1 month stint at Queensland, Rockhamton.
However, I'm back, and am a transformed man, as i begin to appreciate things. Such as home-cooked and Singaporean food, sanitation (clean feet to bed!), communications, aka internet, etc.
In a nutshell, it was a different and enriching--esp thr last night at polygon-- experience! Cheers!
Live for the audience of ONE.
