ORD

The much anticipated article is finally out now after much contemplation to have it published in this blog. I give thanks to Wee Chong, who time and again, has been blackmailing (emotionally) me to get my ORD report done up. I did once and I wasn't pleased with what I've written.

And of course, one entry talking about what have happened to me for the past 2 and a half years isn't suffice. While I can, I try to provide snippets of my ORD life and how it has been shaped my beliefs in life. Indeed, it's a "heart-wretchin'" experience to have wasted the prime of my youth, contributing meagrely to the nation and sacrificing my opportunity cost in achieving something else in life.

I will try to recollect a series of events, some are vague while others etched in my memories... close the browser if you do not wish to read on... (I wish)

Zombified at the age of 18, I was called into the mandatory enlistment of national conscription at Pulau Tekong BMTC School 2, Raven Company Platoon 4 Bed 2. Prior to enlistment, I have heard so much about the army and in fact, I have had a stint on how army life will be like when I was in secondary school and I participated in uniform group.

I went into enlistment with an open mind, disregarding all the negativities (punishments) and acknowledging all the wildest imaginations I have for the army. It was quite a disappointment that I was not in the combatant segment of the army which one will be trained to be a leader. It's in my blood to want to be a leader, somehow minusing all the glam factors that one could possibly think of.

My vocation then in the army was a admin support assistant - a fanciful name for a lowly regarded office boy. Determined not to be seen by others as a low self esteem soldier, I braved myself and worked diligently in the manpower branch of SAFAC. The first few months went like a breeze for I recognised that work wasn't as "difficult" as what I thought it would be. It was only when projects start pouring in and my enthusiasm got over me and I ended up landing myself into tonnes of projects work.

Then, I was astounded by the amount of what-other-think-that-they-are-mission-impossible tasks, barely in 3 months in SAFAC. That's where the problem lies and it clearly reflects the limitations of the whole army organisation.

Although I was able to stand foot in manpower branch (being one of the efficient,vocal ones), I wasn't able to shake off the work that was loaded unto me. I faced with 2 struggles at that point in time - one, to request to be posted to a sub-unit nearer to my home and two, how should I communicate the idea of equal distribution of workload amongst my peers.

Struggle one was absolute insane in accordance to the settings of the organisation and moreover, I was indispensable to the manpower branch. If I was granted the posting, it would benefit me than the interests of the organisation. Any senior management staff with a right frame of mind will reject my proposal. However, struggle two was in my utmost priority list to resolve the issue. By my observation and personal conviction, I think that the SAF organisation rewards the less hardworking ones and punishes the more hardworking ones. The bottomline is it does not pay to be efficient. Picture this in a large corporate firm, all low level staff are paid the same amount regardless if they work overtime or they complete their stuff earlier than stipulated period. This is already bad enough but what if those workers who have completed their stuff earlier than the stipulated period are loaded with more work? That was the exact predicament I was facing in the manpower department.

I felt shortchanged, earning peanuts ($350 allowance a month, non taxable) and now I was penalised for being efficient. What kind of shit deal is that? I am a fervent believer of a fair and just rewarding system, based on merits. Worse still, the throat cutting policies the SAF embrace are not in favour of NSFs (National Service Full Time). Although some policies serve as deterrent, most policies are in place to "have emotional/psychological threats" on soldiers.

I was so relieved that my anger and disappointment for the SAF did not overwhelm me that I would have made silly decisions which I might regret in the near future. Back to the shitty deal, I thought to myself how am I to overcome this issue. I could not possibly have a change in my working attitude "in order to realign myself to my peers", neither could I compromise myself to push myself to the limits. [It's not worth it to suffer from mental breakdown during the army, even though there are free treatments covered for me.]

Watch out for the next entry on my experience in the army.

See you (gonna' have dinner now)

p.s: drop me a comment please.