Once again, I'm back to my good old blog. And yes I do love long posts, so I decided to blog only once in a while, hahah =)

Just to describe my current state, I'm on a ORD mode/mood and it's gonna go on like this for the next 21 days. It's super slack and I'm loving it. Skip breakfast, wake up at 7.30am for first parade, go back sleep till lunch 11.30am, go back sleep till dinner 5.30pm, go sleep all the way with occasional reading books/playing DS, bathing/brushing teeth/etc. No one to tell us what to do, it's freedom within the ironical four walls of camp.

Many people have been asking me how's Australia been, and it's hard to say what happened in 6 weeks in just a few minutes. And neither do I want to type out all the details here cause it will be a harangue, if not drop dead boring. So I'm just gonna do a summary. (Been like since A levels the last time I did a summary, lol.)

My trip to Australia can be split into 2 part basically, frame 1 and frame 2. For frame 1, it was the tougher part as our battalion had to fight our ATEC a.k.a final year exams in students' term. It was a long and arduous 3 weeks, but relatively better compared to last year as we were going to ORD and we were given better welfare. For frame 2, our whole battalion flew back to Singapore except 20 of us who were told to stay back to help become EU players and another 10+ to go outfield to support a reservist brigade.

For me, I was part of the 20 chosen to become EU players. We were told to play a software called ATLAS, a simulation for the trainings taking place in the army. In reality, when a tank moves, the tank in the software also moves via the satellite. It's really cool to see the big picture. Usually we are outfield and we only see the enemy when they're in sight. Now, we get to see the whole brigade with 100 over tanks, 1000 over people, etc.

So, our job was simple. Just to update the officers if there are any changes and if we spotted any enemies. We did a 12-hour shift and I did the shift from 12pm-12am. Since they only needed us during the duration of the exercise which was 6 days 5 nights, the rest of the frame were spent slacking.

Before long, we flew back to Singapore. Really miss this place, my loved ones, my friends, church, the food, the scenery, every ounce of this island. Absence do make the heart grow fonder. My heart for Singapore has grown bigger. I love this country a lot, and even though I don't like being in the army, I know it is quintessential to maintain the peace and security in this country.

After being in the army for 1 year 9 months and nearing to ORD, army isn't so tough after all. The toughest part in army for me, is the people, not the training. I don't mind going through commando BMT again for 2 years, if I can do it with all my best friends. Conversely, if I get to be a clerk but have to work and get surrounded by people who will make life a living hell for me every single day, I rather transfer out of that place. Nevertheless, it is this place that taught me how to deal with people of different walks in life. They say the working world is similar to the army world. It's really up to one's perspective and what kind of job we get in the future. At least if you get a job in which everyone hates you, you can simply quit. In army, there is no 'quit' button. Only suck thumb, lol.

So glad it's all gonna be over soon.

Days to ORD: 21