Enlisted

Today is a very important day. It's the day my brother is officially enlisted in the army.

Whatever the term is. I still haven't figured out what "school" and "company" and "platoon commander" means though I've been trying to for quite some time.

He called back just now. Said that he has shaved his head, did some administrative stuff, had to fall in, stand at attention and was screamed at. heh heh. I was probing him for details. Forgot to ask how are his bunk mates. Either he had very little time to call back or he spent a large amount of his free time talking to his girlfriend because when my mother tried calling back, he said he can't talk already.

From the top - this morning. We went to Pasir Ris Bus Interchange where there were buses there to pick us up to the ferry terminal. It was funny to see so many other young boys there with long hair, sling bags and looking, well, quite lost. Then of course there were families, including our whole family and our cousin, Yong Hao. The boys were told to tuck in their shirts even before they boarded the bus. I giggled quite madly.

I initially had a lesson at 10am in the morning but emailed the tutor and requested to attend the latest 2pm class just for today. Fortunately it wasn't much of a problem. In any case I would have gone anyway because firstly, I have never seen any guys off to army before and since my brother's the only guy in our family, he's the only one who I will be able to see being enlisted right from the beginning. The next person I will see off to Tekong would probably be my son, if I have one, but that would be ages away and I don't have the patience to wait that long. Secondly, he's my brother, so of course I must be there to see him him take that step into that very important part of his life which he will spend significant time talking to his friends about in the future.

I finally saw Pulau Tekong after 21 years of my life!!! I'm so happy!

Even at the bus interchange, there were quite a few men in green and some of them look really decent. =D Then at the little-island-off-Singapore, I saw so many men in green, including one in full battle gear at the erm, what, static display(?) that I would have died a very happy person today.

Except that my brother's now away from home for the next 7 days until Good Friday and it is kind of weird to not have him in the house. I even kind of miss him.

So once we reached Pulau Tekong, the boys, or enlistees, as they were called then, were separated from us while we visitors were taken around to see the place where they would be sleeping, training, urinating, eating and chao geng-ing seeking medical help from. It all looked really decent with proper beds, cabinets, mosquito nets, toilets, well-ventilated rooms and all, except that we all wondered how true all of these were. At one point, the usher said he would bring us to look at the room for leisure activities and my mother exclaimed rather loudly,

Huh, you mean they have free time ah?

And that guy turned and walked away with a slight grin on his face. Well thank you very much for that assurance, dear Mr. Usher. I started giggling really badly.

The place looked like a resort with the new buildings and nice surroundings. But it also looked like a prison because the recruits there were dressed in a biege-brown shirt with black shorts and they were staring at us from the opposite building/company.

I loved the static(?) display where they showed us the food rations, equipment, clothes, uniforms, bags and other stuff they will be using. Was extremely excited to see a soldier in full battle gear complete with camouflage cream standing there. Olivia thought he was a fake. I asked my father if I could ask him for his number. Everything looked really heavy. Cousin Yong Hao told us there is a total of about 13+ kg of stuff on the body.

Soon, we were herded off to the Mass Auditorium (MA) or whatever is the name of that hall. The moment we walked in, we saw the enlistees sitting in the centre portion, all very well-behaved, hands placed separately on each lap or knee, sitting up right and not talking at all. It was amazing yet funny at the same time. Cousin Yong Hao said my brother still seem a little resistant because his hands aren't exactly where they were supposed to be. Plus I think he was a little embarrassed that we were talking to him while we walked past him to our seats. He was directly in the first row, so it was easy to spot him. My brother's like that. Quite resistant.

By the way I loved the shaved heads some of them already had.

A video was shown, a speech given by a LTC Loong, followed by the Q&A. One parent said she wants the full powerpoint presentation to be sent to her, everything including the pictures. She said that it is their right as parents, or something along the lines of that.

What is the point in that? She wants to give presentation is it? Everybody was giggling away. I think the LTC was a bit fed up with her and we could all understand that. She insisted for quite a bit saying that she wanted the whole powerpoint with all the handsome army boys pictures inside though the LTC told her at least twice that the material are all inside the booklet given to us. At some point, he told her that the file is huge and if he did that it would make things very difficult but if she really wants to, he could take out the pictures and send just the content to her, though everything is already inside the booklet they had given to us and she could look for the pictures on their website. He sure has a way of making people feel guilty and embarrassed. Some parents are incredulous.

Following the Q&A, the recruits finally gave their pledge of allegiance. It was a little funny to hear the names and NRICs all mixed up into one big mess as they all spoke it at the same time. Other than that, I thought the pledge was quite strong. For those who had gone through NS, you might remember that the last line of the pledge is "with our lives", and the boys sure said it with gusto.

Within the 1 hour we had separated from my brother, he had learned how to say "Yes sir" in response to a question. What did they do to him?

Father to brother when we met him for lunch,

Now you hold great responsibility! You have to protect us!

Me to him when we met him for lunch,

me: What did they do to you just now? What did you all do? They teach you to say "Yes sir" ah? How did they talk to you? You all rehearsed the procedure just now?
him: Nothing much lah... Yes ass lah... A little bit only lah...

Immediately after lunch, they were told to gather and we said bye to him. Just like that, we aren't going to see him for the next 7 days until Good Friday eve when he gets to come out, which is really lucky because by right he should be in there for 2 weeks straight, then he has to book in on Friday night again.

I went to school, went through tutorial, went for test, came home.

My little brother is all grown up. He's in the army and I'm proud of him.

It's weird to know he's not at home.