The Post which Wails in Four Languages

This world is a small world.





When I first entered my unit at Changi, I felt pretty alone. Damn, posted as a driver to a camp where I knew no one. Then, at a corner I saw someone pretty familiar. Those kind of faces you know you saw it somewhere before, but can't really place where.

A bit of poking around and introductions later, it turn out to be Justin from Chung Cheng High School Main, a year senior to me, and he was good pals with many of my volleyball seniors those days.





A week back, I also come to know the fact that an auto technician in my unit was ALSO from Chung Cheng and TJC. I knew him for nearly half a year before I even realised this.

I started to think, man NS is actually a small world!






I was detailed to for range duties on Thursday, which meant that I had to help send troops and ammo for their live range. A 2nd Seargent took the passenger seat next to me, so we started talking about random stuff to keep ourselves entertained for a really long journey.

"So driver, what school were you from?"

"Chung Cheng Main, then Temasek JC."

"SERIOUS!"

Once again it was another alumnus of Chung Cheng Main, Eugene Teo, also from the 1988 batch, who knew my seniors well. That's pretty cool.

(Now that I think of it, he DOES have a Chung Cheng look to him. Or maybe it's just me.)

He's been in the army for quite a while, a seargent with much more experience in his work than I have in mine. But when we talked, he was friendly and funny. No airs, no restrictions, no senior-junior, supervisor-man thing. Top guy.






The range ended real late, or should I say real early. By the time the whole event ended I had to send the ammo back to the dump. It was 1am in the morning.

I was seriously knackered. Parking my vehicle to give way to a 5-tonner leaving the dump, I left my vehicle to get a drink from a vending machine when I heard a shout.

"EH XIUJIE!"

I spun.

OMFG IT'S WENGSENG!

He was on the back on the 5-tonner, using his phone and he saw me. I must have been real tired because I asked him a silly question.

"What are you doing here?", I shouted up the truck, as though a commando on a 5-tonner in an ammo dump in the middle of the night could be doing anything else.

"Helping out lo."





There I was, seemingly alone and stuck in a long-running detail in a godforsaken place, and I'm surrounded by friends and people that made me feel at home. How awesome is that?





I remember back in the Tekong days when I first enlisted I had the same homesick feeling. One day I was eating at the cookhouse when I saw Yongliang walk past.

I wasn't close to him at that time, knowing him as an acquaintance and rarely speaking to him personally. But I was strangely super happy and glad to see him, knowing that someone familiar is serving for the same cause (and suffering the same treatment).

Fast forward a few months when I met Renjie at Changi. Same story as Yongliang, but now I'm close pals with both of them.

I meet Renjie on a regular basis on our way to work and home. Dead funny lad, optimistic to the extent of craziness and makes me laugh and feel good about a day's work.




Homage to Chung Cheng folks, and fellow friends serving the NS!