Exercise, moving and life
There are many excuses that I have not written for a month, but ultimately it is the fault of my own. If I had the willpower, I could have written blog posts on the phone on the military jeep, in the car or at dinner and not when I am only sitting down in my air-conditioned room in a contemplative mood. But I do hope that the events that I am about to describe to you hold some weight in their ability to prove my incapability to blog. I am addressing both to you, my dear readers, and to you, my future self.
The past few weeks have been filled with military exercises, especially the latest one, of which pictures can be found in the link below. I know that it is non-classified as it was posted as social media but for the sake of secrecy I will not go into further detail unless already stated in the link here.
There is a lost of work that goes into exercises, starting from the prep: we have to make sure that our equipment is working in perfect condition, the transportation vehicles, the field equipment and most of all, we have to make sure that we are mentally prepared for what lies ahead. When the exercise itself is over, we have to do what is called 'upstaking', which is basically accounting for all the equipment that we have used and once again making sure that they are in tip-top condition before returning them, whether to our own storeroom or to other companies that we have borrowed it from.
Then after that it is the self-repair that we have to do. Many a time we come back from exercises tired, mentally and physically, and in most cases constipated or the opposite; too much fluid coming out of our bodies. I have heard cases of constant diarrhoea after exercises, however in my case I have the direct opposite; nothing comes out. As embarrassing/shameful as it may sound in the civilian world to talk about your health problems after going through hardship, it is common in the army to sound off your health concerns so that people around you can help monitor your situation in case anything were to happen, and to see if your platoon mates can help you out. I, for one, waste no time in complaining about my life in the army, both to my platoon mates and to my family back home (who pay no attention to me, mind you).
However, having fully rested, I am ready to continue on with life. Not necessarily ready to take on army life but ready to prepare myself for what is to come in the days after army. Not ready to go back to camp but ready to go in looking forward to the day when I leave. The army life is definitely not for me, and I do hope to be able to fully prepare myself mentally and physically after this life to undertake the final exercise that the army has for me:
'To assimilate back into normal civilian life when I'm done with Army.'
Cheers,
Matthew Tan
The past few weeks have been filled with military exercises, especially the latest one, of which pictures can be found in the link below. I know that it is non-classified as it was posted as social media but for the sake of secrecy I will not go into further detail unless already stated in the link here.
There is a lost of work that goes into exercises, starting from the prep: we have to make sure that our equipment is working in perfect condition, the transportation vehicles, the field equipment and most of all, we have to make sure that we are mentally prepared for what lies ahead. When the exercise itself is over, we have to do what is called 'upstaking', which is basically accounting for all the equipment that we have used and once again making sure that they are in tip-top condition before returning them, whether to our own storeroom or to other companies that we have borrowed it from.
Then after that it is the self-repair that we have to do. Many a time we come back from exercises tired, mentally and physically, and in most cases constipated or the opposite; too much fluid coming out of our bodies. I have heard cases of constant diarrhoea after exercises, however in my case I have the direct opposite; nothing comes out. As embarrassing/shameful as it may sound in the civilian world to talk about your health problems after going through hardship, it is common in the army to sound off your health concerns so that people around you can help monitor your situation in case anything were to happen, and to see if your platoon mates can help you out. I, for one, waste no time in complaining about my life in the army, both to my platoon mates and to my family back home (who pay no attention to me, mind you).
However, having fully rested, I am ready to continue on with life. Not necessarily ready to take on army life but ready to prepare myself for what is to come in the days after army. Not ready to go back to camp but ready to go in looking forward to the day when I leave. The army life is definitely not for me, and I do hope to be able to fully prepare myself mentally and physically after this life to undertake the final exercise that the army has for me:
'To assimilate back into normal civilian life when I'm done with Army.'
Cheers,
Matthew Tan
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