In a blink of eyes, hubs had completed his national duties and will be transferred to MR from next yr. His NS commitments formed quite a substantial part of our relationship. Transferring to MR marks the end of a decade long of love hate feelings with it.
Hubs got enlisted to NS in the 3rd year of our relationship. Not knowing wat is in store for him, he happily got enlisted to commando unit,1 of the more elite forces of our army. All the initial excitement turns into ashes when he came face to face with the culture shock of army life.
Having to share a bunk with 19 other guys who came from all walks of life is no joke . You will train with them, eat with them, sleep with them, suffer with them and try to work side by side with them without booking out for the next 3 weeks.
Hubs was an introvert and this is 1 of the hurdles he found it difficult initially in his army life.
Next is dealing with home sickness or rather love sickness. 3 weeks of not able to meet up is 1 of the longest period we had in our going to be 13th year of relationship. It's was especially hard on him back then since trainin was hard, he was confined, I was starting full time work and we have just entered our 3rd yr. He was so insecure that every minute he have got to call out, it will be to me. And during book out, whatever little time he had, he would expect me to be with him. It was suffocating at 1st,but I got use to it slowly.
Not only him have to adjust to army life, I also need to adjust him being in the army. At 19/20 years old,it wasn't easy for me to straighten my tots. Many a times, I would get frustrated at his controlling ways. I must admit, love does conquered all odds. We got thru the initial adjusting phase and things went smoothly from there. The trick is me being a bit more patience with him and he giving a little more trust to me . Ta-dah, we sailed thru the remaining years.
Things were not rosy for him in the army too. Not known as a good runner, he often struggled in his fitness tests. It doesn't help that good fitness results are often linked to commandos. It's like an invisible coat of stress added to him. Besides fitness tests, he would need to train in airborne. As exciting as it sounds, it actually scared the shit out of him for his 1st jump. It literally had the same effect on me after hearing scary stories of injuries sustained in the course of air boring. I lost count of the no of trips I made to Guan Yin temple at Bugis to pray for his safety during training.
For most of the time during his NS years, our routine remains pretty much the same. On saturday, I would go to either Tampines or Pasir Ris to wait for him to book out. Since there was no fixed timing, it's a waiting game for us. On a lucky day, he would be able to book out by noon. Otherwise, waiting for 4 hrs is consider a norm on a bad day.
Many a times, they will be anxious to book out but the encik would find means and ways to hold them back as a form of punishment for not performing up to his standards or to force them to perform better. Seriously, it cannot get any more cruel than this.
After spending time together for 2 days, I would accompany him to take bus back to Pasir Ris where he would transfer go another bus to his camp while I made my way back hm. Again, his booking in time is usually earlier than other units and he would treasured the limited time we had on the journey back to his camp.
I do recall his overseas trip where he would come back with stories of their trainings there. The 1 that left deepest impression will be Brunei where we went to had a feast at the now defunct Genghis Khan buffet restaurant located at Taka. I think people might have mistook him for not having a proper meal in days! We sat there for 3 hrs eating non-stop. I also lost count of the sleepless nites I have to go thru fearing for his safety during those trip.
Fast forward a few yrs later after ORD, army life never realli left us. He was due for reservist every yr and the oh-so dreadful IPPT that makes him n me suffer so much (gotta acc him to run). On days we r in the mood, we would drive down to Changi Village to satisfy our craving for the fried chickie hor fun, red tea logan or the nasi lemak. These are the food he used to order in for supper during the many guard duty nites. It somehow makes him attached to this far far away food center.
With this in-camp, it officially marks the end of his national duties as a Singaporean Son. I must say, I am very proud of him. Not the fittest, fastest, strongest but he managed to complete his duties and served our nation.
For the last time, "For your honour & glory" Happie pass out Mr Love. No need to standby oredi. Yeah!
I do recall his overseas trip where he would come back with stories of their trainings there. The 1 that left deepest impression will be Brunei where we went to had a feast at the now defunct Genghis Khan buffet restaurant located at Taka. I think people might have mistook him for not having a proper meal in days! We sat there for 3 hrs eating non-stop. I also lost count of the sleepless nites I have to go thru fearing for his safety during those trip.
Fast forward a few yrs later after ORD, army life never realli left us. He was due for reservist every yr and the oh-so dreadful IPPT that makes him n me suffer so much (gotta acc him to run). On days we r in the mood, we would drive down to Changi Village to satisfy our craving for the fried chickie hor fun, red tea logan or the nasi lemak. These are the food he used to order in for supper during the many guard duty nites. It somehow makes him attached to this far far away food center.
With this in-camp, it officially marks the end of his national duties as a Singaporean Son. I must say, I am very proud of him. Not the fittest, fastest, strongest but he managed to complete his duties and served our nation.
For the last time, "For your honour & glory" Happie pass out Mr Love. No need to standby oredi. Yeah!
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| Thru his army days |
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