The 3.5 years I had in NCC was amazing. Needless to say, because of the extraordinary friendships and inseperable bonds that were created, or reinforced.
I still remember in Part A, when we were still fresh off the production line. Due to the fact that I was a Senior Sixer in Cub Scouts back in my primary school, I was pretty confident in a uniformed group CCA. It felt like home. Right off the bat, I was enthusiastic (sorta haha) and I loved NCC, esp. thanks to the wonderful ICs we had. The activities were fun, yet strict enough at times. It was beautiful, really. Awe-inspiring. C:
Ah, Part B. So reminiscent. At the start of the year (somewhere there), 5 of us, Zhi Cai, Ting Wei, Yu Ze, Shaun, and I were selected for the FSD 2011 team. That was a really happy moment for all of us, I daresay, as supposedly only the cream of the crop. I remember, it was the first time being under You Jin as our IC. He definitely was a good IC, haha. One particular incident was the most hilarious. After the annual cross-country that year, we were supposed to have a training together. Our supervisor (not sure if thats the correct name but meh) Zhenyu gave us time to have lunch or whatever with our classes. Kai Wen was running late, and as a prank, we all decided to go into KID position and hold there for damn long, with Zhenyu scolding us. As Kai Wen opened the door into the room, he was just shocked! At that moment, the timer sounded ‘down’, and when we went down, we gave an immensely huge number. It was damn funny, the look on his face. In the end, to this day I still love FSD <3. Anyway, Zhen An was our staff sergeant in ’11. He was very nice and lenient, kind, funny, horny, and you automatically befriend him because he’s just so friendly. Not a good authoritative image, but hey, we turned out just fine. :D. Later that year, after You Jin’s batch took over, we had a flag day event. On the trip home from the event, I had a slight *mishap* on the train and pushed the EMERGENCY FRIGGIN BUTTON. Boy oh boy. You Jin pumped us like 130. After that everybody treated it like a joke so it was fine. And then another significant memory I have is the FSD course selection. Now, I wasn’t very good with armed drills, because I pon a lot when they were teaching us that, so naturally, I, well, sucked. Anyway, Hykel decided to audition us with armed drills. I was taken aback, really, because I had assumed that since it was a freestyle drill course, armed drills would not be involved. I obviously wasn’t well prepared, and I didn’t get the part. Though my motivation and determination did manage to get me to like the 3rd or 4th to be kicked out (there were 2 slots). Albuquerque.
If Part B was a good time, Part C was the best. Right off the start of the year, Lai Yuen and Jie Yuan (the two who went for the aforementioned FSD course) selected cadets from our part and our junior part. I was a 2IC, of sorts. Though I can’t really say I did much, :\. Anyway, one event rings my memory bells the most, the time Mr Malcolm Tan didn’t allow us to stay back further than 6 to practice FSD. I was so damn pissed off, because he said, and I quote, “This is unacceptable. The teacher officer in charge today, me, is unavailable now as I have an appointment that I simply cannot postpone. If any of you are unhappy about it, please, do tell me. If need be, I will don my uniform and take the cadets myself.” Ok maybe not exactly, but somewhere there. And this just burned me up bad. He made it sound like we were nothing but temporary helpers, the Santa’s elves, if I may. I raged so bad I took my shoe and bang against the railing, lol. After that was mainly just preparation for spec course, prespec, all boring shitzxc. And one week before Phase 1, I had another mishap and I injured my left hand, rendering me unable to go for phase 1, so they sent Jackson in place of me. Haha. I was mocked repeatedly you know. For being a “chao corporal”. For not being a sergeant. I mean, come on. I made the cut for phase 1. I was like the 12th out of the 15 slots available (not entirely amazing but it’s to prove a point). Yet people still mocked me. It was totally uncalled for. Anyway, as a corporal, I had to take over as a corporal *sadface*. A lot of people, including my ICs, did console me though. Anyway,it turned out that on the day of POP, I, along with Yu Ze, Justin and Zheng Guang made it into the finals for some Green Home Audit Challenge that we were the first to go for. We made it in, and as a team, we got 1st runner up in Singapore (Clap please). We got a neat plaque saying “Thank you for your participation in the inaugural green home challenge” and a certificate saying we got 2nd place. Worth not going for POP? Lol, still nope. After takeover, we found out that our unit couldn’t go to phase 2 thanks to our ever-enthu CCHMS having extension lessons that week. And I couldn’t go for phase 3 thanks to an overseas school trip. So I had to go to phase 4. Despite bringing home the last 2SG and a Best Cadet in Platoon award, I was still being mocked at. Apparently, a “2SG from Phase 4 is like dunno how many times worse than a 3SG from phase 1”. From what I saw in phase 4, that is not true. There are many, just like me, who are just unfortunate enough to miss all 3 previous phases. Some of them are even better than the best of us, I daresay. That is just pure discrimination. Bahh. After phase 4, Ting Wei, Yu Ze, Yu Zhi and I took the part As ’12. At first I was too harsh on them. Then I backed down a bit and slowly the activities ran smoother and there were generally less complaints, or whatever. But I was still a scary IC, apparently. Anyway, at the annual camp, which our part organised, my section all praised me for my leadership during the camp, how I used less corporal punishment and was more lighthearted during training, while maintaining effectiveness and productivity. During the camp, on the night of the nightwalk, I remember distinctively that I left my computer in the LH2, which the cadets were in. Hykel and Gavin played Johnny English, a comedy/action/whatever, right after the horror movie and right before the nightwalk itself. It ruined the atmosphere completely. The cadets voiced this out, the sirs voiced it back to us. It was like we were taking the blame for something we did not intentionally do. :C And then, I think at the end of it Sir Keith (the almighty) said there was going to be some camp or something for us specifically, the part Cs. Luckily, the plan was not actually executed(haha, geddit). That pretty much marks the end of Part C.
Part D was pretty much bad. A lot of it can be found scattered everywhere on this blog, so I’m just gonna skip the elaboration and shit and just state what I regret at the end of this 3.5 years.
- I regret not living up to my own expectations.
- I regret having been so rash and blunt.
- I regret not being able to do more to help Yu Zhi get promoted.
- I regret walking out of the theatre when the internal promotion was taking place.
- I regret being rebellious when I stepped down prematurely.
Then there was POP. I’m gonna write a whole other blogpost on that, don’t you worry. c: I guess this sums up most of what happened during my journey in NCC. But I’m not putting a full-stop on it just yet. Not yet. There is always more to be done. Always.
:') 