5 things about The Army

This was me in my armoured vehicle in year 1999. I was arrowed as the 'poster boy' for the then newly launched Singapore-made Bionix vehicle. Forat least a year, this picture could easily be found on newspaper ads, publicity posters and huge exhibition boards placed at various shopping centre (for promoting Army21). The ironic thing is i never got the chance to be operational ready with this armoured fight vehicle.

During this reservist, I noticed 5 disturbing things about the army:

1) The commanders are all very young and kiddish
This may be something relative to my own age, but i cant help but feel that the commanders nowadays are all very young and kiddish. Unlike the past, i always have the impression that they are made up of very matured, strict and no-nonsense kind of personnel. Any compromise with their experience and capability? I duno yet...

2) A waste of young talents (personal view)
There are a couple of young regular officers whom i am quite impressed with their working style and attitude. I am sure they will be an asset to MNCs in the outside working world, helping the companies make big money. But why are they stuck in the Army??? (of cos ppl will argue Army also got bright future.......wat)

3) Super slow moving pace
Having worked in the fast-moving paced society (esp in companies like HP) for sometime, I wasnt quite used to the pace i have to follow in the army. As agreed with my fellow camp mates, we have to switch ourselves to ultra slow mode ie. walk slowly, eat slowly, go toilet slowly, do things slowly, and the list goes on......

4) More time spent on breaks than useful work
I am not exaggerating. I actually spent more time at the breaks than useful work today. Furthermore, I didnt quite remember my lunch break duration was 1.5hrs long 10yrs ago - Today, we spent 1min queuing for the food, 10min to eat, and 79min sitting there tok cok.

5) They assume everyone drives a car
I may be driving one myself, but i am very sure not all my camp mates drive. But they assumed so by issuing everyone a carpark label (by default). They also guided us how to find our way to another camp next week, by telling us which expressways and exit to note, instead of telling us which MRT station and SBS bus to take. The commander even told us we must bring all our army barangs barangs along for reservist regardless whether we need them. He said we can always place these bulky items in "our cars" *faint*