Haha... pardon the title ^^ Boy i've been pretty busy these past 2 weeks. Dumb Formation Anniversary is THIS SAT! (OMG!!!!) and i've been rushing to get my part done up. So yea, here i am sitting under a TENT, INSIDE an air-conditioned room, surrounded by 24 computers hahaha... Not that i'm complaining, at least i get to stay cool while the others slog it out in the hot hot HOT sun :)
Ok, what brought about the title? Well, i was laminating some stuff in the office earlier when RSM burst into my office delegating one of the clerks under his charge to help one of my warrant officers. Once he left, the clerk very quickly highlighted that he is excused carrying heavy load, before we could even task him anything. Like wth... So my guy asked if he can help load some sandbags into a vehicle. The clerk was like, how heavy is it? Cos if its too heavy my back will break... blah blah... Another warrant officer who was present mildly asked how he came by his condition, to which the clerk answered that he had broken his back before. I almost burst out laughing when the warrant officer mumbled: Then you should be paralysed what, not standing here telling me you're excused heavy load. *LOL* At this point i asked the clerk specifically what the doctor excused him for, i mean heavy load, how heavy is heavy? What condition is it exactly. Cannot lift? Pull? Push? Arm problem? Chest? Upper back? Lower back? He got intimidated and quickly gave some excuse to leave the room just then haha...
You know, whenever i see these people, i feel so pissed off. I'd be reminded of my good old pal, Xin Hao, who was my clerk in NS, he was plaqued with leukemia, yet that did not stop him from serving his NS as a Singaporean. And here you have a perfectly healthy guy trying to "smoke" his way through NS and proclaim he had "served NS".
He's not the first i've seen. There are many others. Usually people with enough money to see a dozen specialists and get a medical excuse from one of them. I mean hey, these days which doctor would take the risk? You keep seeing me for some problem that i could not detect, for my own sake, i better excuse you just in case you really do have that problem... Why take the risk?
These are the people who "serve" the army yet have no idea what it is all about at the end of the 2 yrs, yet brag to others (ie. girls) that army is bullshit, a waste of their time blah blah...
No, not all clerks and people with genuine medical problems are like that, like i said, my clerk was a Class one clerk ^^ But there are alot of the BAD sheep about. If i had my way, i'd kick the whole lot of these freeloaders out of the army and declare in their portfolio that these people had NOT served NS due to medical reasons. And these references WILL be seen by prospective employers in the future. Evil? Hey, if you really do have that problem, your employers would have to know so as to give you the correct medical benefits. If you were simply faking it in the army, no way am i going to let you go that easy! How many people miraculously "recover" from their ailments the moment they leave the army?
I do not claim to be a patriotic person. But i simply can't stand whiny little boys who do not understand National Duty. Boys who may become successful businessmen, lawyers, doctors someday but never do understand what loyalty to country is all about. How can you even claim to be willing to die for the country when abit of running, sweating, muscle aches, minor injuries, are already too much for you?
I may have my complaints about the army as an organisation, but hey, i'm pround to have gone through the "good old days" when we can be made to do push-ups and sit-ups for 2 hours straight as punishment (err... its a tekan session, nowadays every 20 push-ups must allow the soldier to rest -.-"), gone through a 10 day field camp where on the 5th day we're allowed to take a REAL bath, but the moment we step out of the shower were made to do push-ups and sit-ups in the mud... Its inhumane to a certain extent, i hated the instructor and swore never to become like him. But yea i lived through it. The agony of having our arms throbbing and aching from all the push-ups that we could not bend our arms and had to help each other pull our t-shirts off... I believe it was a good experience. Its not the hardship that our grandparents went through during the world war, but it DOES make MEN out of BOYS. I don't know about others, but hell i EARNED my rank, whether you like me or not, respect me or not. I've learnt so much during those years that made me into who i am. I may the happy-go-lucky, lazy bugger you see right now, but heh, i simply had not found something to throw myself into. I've learnt to never-say-die, to just grit my teeth and keep crawling through the mud. I believe, that there is a future out there worth living for ^^
