Why Are You Here?

To Changi, With Love

After 3 months of training, countless tonnes of sweat, a little of blood but no tears, a whole load of body and joint aches, countless projects of Sai Kang (Shit Work) , volumes of laughter and fun, moments of anguish and exasperation, a single me and the whole lot of brudders…the 5^th Sea Soldier Course has officially end.

The passing out parade was a simple ceremony. There were not many people present because it was held on a Monday afternoon. We had our first official rehearsal on the Monday morning itself right after our breakfast. We practiced, practiced and practiced to get our drills right. It was tiring but nevertheless it was going to be the last time SSC 5 members are striving towards a common goal - - to have a fault-free parade. The skies opened up and thunderstorm and lightning flashes across the sky during lunch time hour. We were secretly worried whether the parade be postpone/cancel to another day. But the ironic thing about stormy weather is that the word “Thunderstorm” actually belongs to part of our course ensign. It practically refers to US in Changi Naval Base. Don’t ask me why thunderstorm...I still don’t get it today. As far as I could remember, the last SSC 4 parade also encountered thunderstorm on the parade day itself.

I didn’t bring along my digicam to take any shot. It is a military base. Cameras are prohibited to protect sensitive information. However, the funny thing that occurred right after the parade was; some family members of my platoon mates apparently went to the wharves area to take some shots of the LST (it’s a ship by the way) and the submarines! CSM went into overdrive. He promptly exclaimed those trainees with shots of submarines/ships will be going DB(detention barracks) right after the parade instead of their usual posting. Upon hearing this news, a fellow trainee was so worried that he went into an overdrive and ran towards the wharf which was at least 30-40 metres to prevent more shots from being taken. I think CSM was only half-joking regarding the matter but he took it damn seriously.

The instructors congratulated us. Buddies say good bye to one another. Firm handshakes were exchanged. But for the corporals, we will be seeing each other in Changi Naval Base 3 weeks from now for our 3 weeks commander course. How about another round of fun..You might say?

Meanwhile, I will be reporting to Tuas Naval Base on Thursday for my On-Job-Training. I will take these 2 days to give myself a really deserved rest and do some area cleaning on my room. It’s getting messy.

posted by Immortali @ 5:30 pm