for pride.

standing in e parade ground clad in a clean long 4, nice smelling body from e bath not too long ago, sweat soaked skeletal battle order and drenched full pack, i stood there in my proudest moment. the 28 km route march from 9pm till 5am on sautrday had zapped every ounce of energy from the soldiers standing right be4 sergeant rocky statue. at 9pm the night before, the sweetest voice over PA in the same parade sq. echoed "they will leave for their gruelsome 28kilometres route march and will return to the parade square in the morning victorious. you will be known as sispec warriors!" how right it was.
with bubbles and bubbles of blisters covering my sole and burning abrasion at the inner thighs, i braved all odds to make it back to the parade sq, donning my uniform and receiving e rank in the proudest way a soldier wud want this 'commissioning' parade to be. though e 28 km route march, i had a relatively easy first 16 when we went all e way to ntu, thru ntu and back again for our long break of 30 mins in the parade square. e only thing bugging me throughout was my heated head which was unusually hot, something i knew was bad, a symptom of heat exhaustion. but like what john said, whatever we begin, we will end it. and how right he was. i began the mental war after 16km. soon, e tireness began to set in and the soles began to give way, with blisters forming over blisters. every step soon became steps of pain. fighting pain and fatigue like a dying man, the last 4km back to camp was arguably e hardest to walk. everything crumpled, my muscles and my feet, and my lungs. i took over as e rear scout, slowly making my way back to camp with sergeant ezekiel. it was tremendously gut wrenching, while i maintained absolute determination to finish e march with pride. and i made it.
Sir came over, as he did one by one, to paste on the corporal rank on my shoulder. it felt like a great accomplishment, after 10 weeks of shit. emotions poured and i thanked sir with my heart, shaking his hands while looking into his eyes. he is a great man in the army, and he is a great person i have met. though he led the platoon by fear of his eccentricity in the start, it soon developed to one of respect and awe. he neednt say much to us, we all knew him, his expectations of us. we delivered. and i delivered.
thank you golf, for all the wonderful memories far more precious than my bmt ones, for the welfare showered upon us though its something not too nice to boost about its still wad i feel and do not feel ashamed about, for the frens i have made, for the things i have learnt, for the 10 weeks.

i am a corporal now. with pride i lead, sispec.






after e passing out parade, it was packing up to leave e bunk. the last few moments in the bunk passed slowly, it was regrettable and yet sense of happiness. sighs, den we moved down to coy lecture room for the last congregation as a platoon, the last debrief by sir, the last of everything in my sispec life. our sergeants sat in a horizontal line with sir on the extreme left. he began to talk to us, and finally started revealing our postings. the moment all of us waited for. he began with saying that there will be ppl going to PTI (physical training instructor), Guards Recce(hell), Armour infantry recce, medic, signals, aslc(aka remainin in infantry in sispec), sniper, airforce and tengah airbase. when i heard airforce i kept my fingers crossed and prayed in a motion that drew quite abit of laughter from the sergeants. PLEASE GIVE IT TO ME. when i went up for my posting orders, i punched the air and cried out in delight! AIRFORCE, i cudnt believe my ears when sir said the magical word. my whole emotions erupted, i have never had such luck before. haha! it was beyond happy and achievement.
my frens in my platoon all have had different posting orders, some to slack and some to xiong vocations. everyone is taking it by their stride and looking forward to monday, and some, friday. we will remember the times we shared together, how we chiong-ed together, how we cracked our nuts literally during exercise nutcracker together. haha.
and that was the end of the last day in sispec.
how wonderful
how eventful.