My hair is veli short now.

Cos I have to serve the country and protect the nation for the next 2 weeks.

Cue 我是年轻的卫国军… Blah blah blah…

Bye to the bleached hair that covered the back of my neck and half my face. It’s now a colour that’s suspiciously close to black, but not really black. Can’t dye it black or I’ll have trouble colouring it later on. I think this should be fine for the time being.

Every time I put on my No 4, I have this fear that it won’t fit. I’m sure you can visualize some NSmen, who go around wearing tight No 4s. Never mind if you’re Vincent Ng, but if you are into that 中年发福 stage, you better wake up your idea and go to the e-mart. For those who are very concerned, I can still fit into my No 4. Whew.

The typical Singaporean male undergoes Basic Military Training (now centralised at Pulau Tekong) for the first couple of months, and gets posted to a Unit. There, NSFs begin counting down to ORD, aka Operationally Ready Date.

Joking! Of course they learn a lot of other things lah. Like chao-geng-ing and the 8th core value- Do what you want but do not get caught.

Joking too! The Army Recruitment Centre would love to have me talk about what our NSFs actually learn, but I’m not free- I need to dig out my barang for tomorrow.

Usually, everyone in the same Unit ORD together, and get posted to the same Unit for In Camp Training. Now now, reservist is an obsolete term. Try to forget that R-word and use In Camp Training from now on ok?

Mine is a slightly different case.

I didn’t complete my BMT due to the many visits to Tekong Medical Centre and Singapore General Hospital. Thanks to all the taxpayers out there who paid for my medical fees, the army docs had a clear understanding of my back condition.

Then I was posted to a Unit whose main task was to take care of a Unit of NSmen. Yes, forget the term Reservist, it’s NSmen okie?

And so, I didn’t risk getting killed in live firing exercises or didn’t lay my hands on that one button to blow up a hill. Instead, I was a storeman and a clerk. Usually, it’s either, but dunno why they had special arrangements for me. And after I got the 3SG rank, I could say I was a Store Supervisor-cum-Admin Specialist. Like very high class hor.

When I became a NSmen, I joined the Unit which I had previously came into contact with. It’s kind of hard to blend in initially cos everyone knows everyone else. But, erm, being a 933 DJ does help to break the ice a little. Haha.