Cherchez La Vérité

ah peace. no shouting, no yelling of instructions, just the nice humming of the computer monitor, and the mad laughter of my colleagues in the background. you know on hindsight, it's really interesting how the army works. it's probably the one of the few places where frankness is practiced and its perfectly ok to be politically incorrect... got a bone to pick with someone?

the working world: gee joe, maybe you shouldnt do it this way, is there anyway we could improve on it?

the army world: PRIVATE JOE YA MAGGOT YOU! WHAT DA @#$! YA THINK YA DOING? YOU'RE LOOKING AT 7 STRAIGHT CONFINEMENTS CHAO !@#$ $%^ (sounds like: cheese pie)

In a way this frankness sorta makes things a lot more efficient, and people do things a lot more faster than they would if they weren't shouted at. But of course its not always the case la, not everyone is mean and foul mouthed. in the office, its very much like the civilian world. rank doesn't really matter now, and we talk freely with each other, putting aside ranks. i guess on the ground when you're dealing with soldiers who have to fight, segregation between the ranks is necessary, in case you get too friendly with your platoon commander. it's a lot harder to follow orders from someone you're chums with. and when you're put in the heat of the battle, questioning orders really doesnt improve your chances of survival.

it's something i've been thinking about the army...wondering what it would be like if the outside world was run like it was here....oh well toodaloo,...

posted by gabriel @ 11:46:00 AM |

WASSSSSSSSSUP! reporting to you from the lofty office of OCS HQ...just got my new posting here in ME TEAM...thats military education team. i've been given the onerous task of overseeing the OCS website and forum... but i wont be taking over just as yet la... still got lots of things to learn from Pixian and Clarance... tey're my upper studies, and i'll be learning stuff from them until they ORD later this year... pix is leaving in april while clarance is leaving this july.

what other contributions does good ol' gabe have to do in his quest to protect the nation during his 2yrs NS term? ( WTH, i'm just crappin folks...) i'll also in charge of giving the cadets MOI (METHODS OF INSTRUCTIONS )lessons dining etiquette lessons (it's a really really small part of the job... dun ask). and i'll prob be involved with a lot of other projects, which i'll prob get info on soon.

i finally got the time that i really wanted all these months. a lot of my friends look at me in surprise whenever i tell them that i've been posted to OCS HQ. most of them expected me to get posted to unit. i guess it's quite flattering that they think i have what it takes to take on a platoon, but i told my platoon comd, LTA Adrian that i wanted this job specifically. actually i wanted to be an instructor, but they only let regulars do that now. i guess it was a sacrifice i was willing to take. trading the brotherhood and commeraderie of men in unit, for the more practical skills that i hope i will pick up doing staff work here in ME TEAM.

so far i can say that it looks promising, wee liang said he would teach me how to set up and run a website, and i'm gonna take up language courses with my new found free time on weekday nights. not before i manage to get my ass off the chair and sign up for driving courses though. my only gripe is that now i gotta have the personal discipline to keep fit, when last time i had instructors conducting all the physical activities for us... well, me and jeremy (yap) have decided to eat our lunch early during morning tea breaks so we can use the lunch period for swimming. get me some sun baby!

heh... thats alll for now man. and eric... yes i will update my blog more now yeah? au revoir!

posted by gabriel @ 11:49:00 AM |