Some people were trying to persuade me to have my lunch at the canteen with them. I explained that high authorities had seen fit to ban me from that sacred paradise, and as a good soldier, it was my duty to follow orders given from on high regardless of provenance, motive or morality. Okay, maybe I didn't *quite* use those words, but that was the gist of it. Anyhow, I then proceeded to explain that I would only desire the services of the canteen on 2 occasions: If the cookhouse food was bad or inedible, or if I was hungry in between meals. On hearing this, the reservist who was walking in front of us turned around and asked if I was "active" (ie a full-time slave who hadn't gotten his parole yet) - maybe I have the look, mannerisms, mien and demeanor or a reservist already. When I replied in the affirmative, he muttered vague words about the food now being good, and my not knowing how bad they had it in the past. To people who say that, as well as those who say that slavery nowadays is not such an onerous and demeaning punishment as in the past, and that hence, we shouldn't complain, I used to give the limb dismemberment analogy: Being a slave last time was like having 2 arms hacked off, and being a slave now is like having 1 arm amputated. Would I rather lose 1 arm than 2? Definitely. But that does not mean I liked being deprived of any appendages, or that I shouldn't complain about it. For variety, I now offer this new analogy:

"I think that prisoners on death row (at least in the USA) don't know how lucky they are. In the past, or in other countries people were, variously, stoned to death - a method of execution both inhumane and painful, put in the electric chair - leaving the body charred, torn to bits by mobs, been torn apart by having each limb tied to a horse and having people ride the horses in different directions, had their heads lobbed off with swords, or placed blindfolded before a firing squad. Some were tried by kangaroo courts, or subjected to vigilante justice. Nowadays, you get a delicious last meal, years of reprieve before the execution, professional lawyers defending you and last rites performed by the prison chaplain. With lethal injection, you die quickly, painlessly, bodily intact and with dignity. You don't know how lucky you are! You have no right at all to complain!"

Some people (eg prison guards and SAF commanders) like to justify their sadism and inflicting of torment on other people by saying that they are doing their job, and the implication is that they don't really want to do what they do. Nazis working in the Concentration Camps tried to use that excuse after the end of the war when they were held to account, but Nuremburg did not buy it, because it was obvious that they weren't just going through the motions.

One of the latest army ads urges people to join the army to "get the respect you deserve". With this ad, the SAF has possibly reached a nadir. As everyone knows, you cannot mandate respect: you must earn it. If you try to mandate it, what you get is a pretence of respect, but it is hollow and meaningless. Those who try to force people to respect them earn nothing except richly deserved contempt. The oft-repeated mantra: "Rank is worn. Respect is earned" acknowledges this, though it leaves unsaid how few people actually earn even half of the respect that their rank supposedly entitles them to, so I do not know what the person who conceptualised this ad was trying to do or say. I forsee that those who are motivated by this ad to sign on will be those with ego problems or with poor self-esteem and they will go on to bully their subordinates in the hope of getting the respect they "deserve", so perpetuating a hallowed SAF tradition and the circle of bullying and contempt. Then again, what's new?

For heliborne training, we had to endure 2 almost-identical lectures and waste time rehearsing with a rundown mock-up of a helicopter. There was also rehearsing with chairs on the parade square (practically identical to rehearsing with the mock-up) but luckily we missed that. I wonder if those who make us do these repetitive, pointless activities realise that we have more important things to do.

It is disheartening that enlistees get shouted at, and even get punished, for mistakes that commanders, especially senior commanders are permitted to make, and of a greater magnitude even. So much for bearing responsibility commensurate to your rank.

My unit vision says that "Every individual matters". I always thought that this was rubbish, but have since realised that it is in fact true - every individual matters of the Best Unit Competition (BUC) for ever failure can pull the unit down drastically.

My unit's latest Routine Orders say that "Servicemen who are caught with contraband items will be summary trailed". I wonder how they can spare the manpower to follow offenders around to make sure that they don't breach security with their contraband. Anything is possible in the name of security, I guess.

The SAF Counselling Centre's motto is "Respect. Care. Dignity." The implication is that elsewhere in the SAF, people don't get either. How true :)

The SAR21 is heavier than the M16, and slightly heavier to use, but for all its faults, it has fewer holes and crevices where dirt can be found during pedantic inspections. It also comes with a handy multi-purpose tool to clean what odd and hard-to-clean locations remain.

The people in Pussy company love to take pictures of them when they're training - maybe they'll burn a commemorative CD for the trainees for a POP souvenir. I notice, however, that they never take pictures of them when they're being punished or being screwed. Bah.

After hearing tales of how numerous people were chased or barked at by the stray dogs in camp, I decided to talk to my CSM about them. It emerged that there actually are dog catchers that we can call down, and that he used to call them down before his overseas posting. Perhaps that is why the number of dogs had increased so much in the last half a year or so - he hadn't been around to call the dog catchers. So now we just have to wait and hopefully our dog troubles will be over soon.

I was at a vending machine and most of the drinks were sold out. One of the few remaining available drinks was "Fanta Grape". My curiosity was piqued, for I've never seen Fanta Grape being sold in Singapore, so against my better judgment I bought 2 cans of the "Fanta Grape", one for me and one for a driver. Sure enough, it wasn't Fanta but "Cheers", a Malaysian drinks brand with a proven record of making horrible tasting and vile drinks. Having spent 80 cents, we resigned ourselves to our fate and drank. After all, the can said "New - improved!", so hopefully it wouldn't taste as bad as the previous time. Unfortunately, we found that it wasn't much better. One person said it was too sweet, and another said the smell reminded him of chewing gum. I suppose that the moral of the story is: Malaysians can't make good canned drinks, since all the drinks whose recipes come from Malaysia taste lousy.

I am saddened. After more than 2 years, I have been struck with footrot, albeit a minor case of it. I think it's because of the day I walked home in the rain, for 2 days later the spots showed up. Or maybe I didn't dry my boots properly and powder after the River Crossing day.

Vincent was asking me if I knew of a blog competition. I said I knew of one, and when he said a friend of his was taking part in it, I said that he'd surely lose. He said that it was a she and that she'd win, and when I remembered that he was from Li Hua Secondary School, I corrected myself and agreed that she would win.

Comment from someone: "I can't believe those guys are still trying to make u keep fit by banning u from the canteen.. they never learn do they. I mean, the end result is all the same, so there's not really much point in trying." Oh well. That's the SAF for you.


Quotes:

[On IQA requirements] 'Once Obese Always Obese'. What a stupid concept.

[Patient in sickbay] Hello, medic. [Me: Yes?] Mei3 ci4 wo3 kan4 dao4 ni3, wo3 jiu4 hen3 kai1 xin1 [Translation: Everytime I see you, I feel happy]

tomorrow preparing for lord march (preparing for a route march the next day)

they want to do some reveration works (renovation)

leave it day first (there)

Those people going Bernai trip (to Brunei)

My policy on area cleaning: the area cleaning can never do finish one lah, trust me (be finished)

[On singing silly army songs] Dang1 bing1 shi4 bao3 hu4 guo2 jia1, bu4 shi4 chang4 ge1 de4 [Translation: Being a soldier is not about singing songs, but about protecting the country]

Servicemen who are caught with contraband items will be summary trailed (summarily trialed)

You should add some sex to your blog because it's too full of shit.

Wah, nice sunglass. SOC pass or fail? [Someone: Fail] Failthen take off sunglass! (sunglasses)

[Ed: He Who Must Not Be Named suggests 100 Plus "as a beverage of reasonable drinkability", though it doesn't "taste of anything really". I didn't know it was a Malaysian recipe, but I don't like it anyway. I must agree, though, that Kickapoo is goot.

Many Singaporean drinks suck, but we have Yeo's and Marigold, so.

He also says that "fanta grape is still available in singapore. i've recently seen it sold at Mos Burgers, and the SJI canteen stocked it 2 years ago (no idea
about now)". Hmm. - 18th March]