Time In Green

Despite going back to the same place and meeting the same old faces, each in camp training has its quirks and highlights. This was my 4th ICT. Off the bat, it was a much longer distance to camp, or the equivalent of $21 taxi fare in the morning or 1 hour 15 mins by public transport and walking. Seriously too long. On my first cab ride to camp, with my gigantic, laden field pack, the taxi I was in zoomed by a familiar face by the side of the road, just metres from the Punggol Road exit to TPE (SLE). I could not react in time to stop the vehicle and split my fare in half. I later discovered the man in green was hitching a ride from another comrade in green living in the neighbourhood but complemented with vehicle. Aaah, bells aringing. It turned out that 5 guys were living close to each other. (By the end of camp, the number expanded to 7). So we shared taxis back and forth quite a few times. I also attempted the bus and train routes. It was too painful to reconsider. Hougang is somehow only great for travelling along the purple line, that's it. All else fails. Well, IKEA Tampines in nearby too.

In camp, I shared a 4-man bunk with one other guy because one of two ceiling fans groaned with each spin. He works in a quasi-gahmen company in a PR role. An interesting experience. The guys I was with in the last ICT were next door, so we hung out there for the newspapers and friendly conversation.

This ICT proved instrumental in some respects. New leadership was one aspect, our reaction to goings-on was the other. The situation with reservists is that one can't treat them like NSF and order them around. It takes some tact, some humour, some declaration of commitment. But ICT was however tricky - some participants weren't quite feeling the vibe and this made the more responsive folks upset. So what happened was that I put all the complaining down on paper, and went to talk to the leadership. From what was an approach to my PC began a sitdown with all 4 officers in charge. A little overwhelming, especially when our conversation happened in a windowless room. They listened as I ranted off points discussed with among the concerned, jotted in a notebook. They 'bars' expressed that my feedback was very useful and similarly, I am glad they took the time to take this seriously. They also shared their perspectives and problems with managing this bunch of old fogeys. It was enlightening, heartwarming and somewhat disarming. We're all just Singaporeans too, making this work, trying to make a useful difference.

I had a nasi lemak from the canteen on my last day in camp. The chilli sambal was excellent.

The day after I out-processed, I discover a skin infection under my toes. Yes, ewwww. A present from the field? I dunno. I have antibiotics to take and cream to apply.