Military Exercises
I do have an excuse for not posting for the past week (for the first time in a long while), and that was because I was working on a military exercise with my battalion as an evaluation test, called Exercise Buaya (Crocodile in Bahasa Malayu). Although not involving my company in particular, I was posted to an attachment with them as a support group. Thus I was thrown into the outfield area for about a week. I am quite happy to say that we completed the exercise above and beyond what was expected, and I do hope that my fellow platoon mates and I will be duly rewarded for our performance, which exceeded expectations by far.
Looking back at my first outfield (infamously known as field camp), I started to realise how much I have been acclimatised to outfield conditions. With the intense heat to the soldier fundamentals that we are expected to carry out in deployment sites, it was no surprise that I was on the brink of fainting from heat and exhaustion on my first outfield experience. Now, it becomes the last thing on my mind, with carrying out my duties being one of the first. Of course, I do not enjoy this, but it is fun that my mind works on autopilot throughout this time. This does not come without complaints, but complaining does not make it worse contrary to what many other Singaporeans may think, but it makes it a lot easier when you realise that you have fellow people to complain to and to complain with; after all you are not having a bad experience alone.
For any new enlistees, US or Singaporean, I want you to know that although the conditions don't get any better, your mental mindset does. Soon it becomes easier and easier to withstand these outfield conditions. I want you to know that, because I don't want one to think that your outfield life gets easier, even if you perceive it so. Instead, I want you to note about how much you have grown, just like I have, to be a stronger soldier as time goes on.
Of course, in reality this does not really have any application. There is no chance that a civilian would be subjected under these conditions unless he or she enlists in the army. That is, unless you find meaning in it in your civilian life by twisting the lessons learned in army into lessons that you can carry forward in the corporate world like I am so accustomed to doing. However it's been a long day, and I think it's finally time, after two weeks of preparation physically and a month of mental preparation, to get some sleep and to get some rest. Instead, I'll leave the interpretations to you my dear readers.
Cheers,
Matthew Tan
Looking back at my first outfield (infamously known as field camp), I started to realise how much I have been acclimatised to outfield conditions. With the intense heat to the soldier fundamentals that we are expected to carry out in deployment sites, it was no surprise that I was on the brink of fainting from heat and exhaustion on my first outfield experience. Now, it becomes the last thing on my mind, with carrying out my duties being one of the first. Of course, I do not enjoy this, but it is fun that my mind works on autopilot throughout this time. This does not come without complaints, but complaining does not make it worse contrary to what many other Singaporeans may think, but it makes it a lot easier when you realise that you have fellow people to complain to and to complain with; after all you are not having a bad experience alone.
For any new enlistees, US or Singaporean, I want you to know that although the conditions don't get any better, your mental mindset does. Soon it becomes easier and easier to withstand these outfield conditions. I want you to know that, because I don't want one to think that your outfield life gets easier, even if you perceive it so. Instead, I want you to note about how much you have grown, just like I have, to be a stronger soldier as time goes on.
Of course, in reality this does not really have any application. There is no chance that a civilian would be subjected under these conditions unless he or she enlists in the army. That is, unless you find meaning in it in your civilian life by twisting the lessons learned in army into lessons that you can carry forward in the corporate world like I am so accustomed to doing. However it's been a long day, and I think it's finally time, after two weeks of preparation physically and a month of mental preparation, to get some sleep and to get some rest. Instead, I'll leave the interpretations to you my dear readers.
More or less what we do during these exercises, although the picture can't explain the level of fatigue and mental fortitude it takes to go through these times.
Cheers,
Matthew Tan
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