Some people have it easy in the army, while some don't quite enjoy the same felicity another receives. Thus, I find it unjust to judge how army life has been between 2 different individuals, as did Jus did when she asked this guy how was his NS life.
"Nothing much, not really that tough. Yeah guys usually mature, change after NS, impacts your life." (well its somewhere along those lines, words probably got lost in transition)
Hmm, so we have here a guy who underwent a modified BMT and spent the subsequent period of his NS life as a storeman. No offence meant to all the storeman out there, but in all seriousness, other than improving your arithmetic, and knowing how long spiders take to weave their webs, I can't perceive how being a storeman can really impact your life that much.
Anyone who says they love the army would probably be lying through the skin of their teeth, and in all earnest, I haven't seen a single soul declare that with zest. However, we have little choice but to serve, even if any complains we make be seen as whiny by half our population who would never understand what we go through in 2 years. The grim reality is that the word patriotism is thrown out of the window, and we are all living by our obligations of holding that coveted pink IC.
An interesting fact I just read somewhere, no inkling if there is any truth in it, but 60% of NSF intake are Pes C or below by the time they ORD. Really interesting.
It never ceases to amaze me to see someone sitting there reading an issue of Maxim, unperturbed that everyone around him is busy with area cleaning. Whilst everyone is slogging away helping to keep the area clean, how one can act nonchalant, and not feel a tinge of guilt is beyond me. Oh wait, he moves, contributes to area cleaning by leaving the spot he is sitting on so we can sweep the floor, whilst he continues his salivating on the chair. Seriously isit that tough to do your part in a bunk you sleep & live in majority of the week? Even so when its not as if all the scantily clad women are gona come alive and walk away from the magazine.
I won't deny there have been periods I've skive, but at least I ensure I do my part, and certainly not when everyone around me is slogging their guts out. Alright, I complain too much. Perhaps I should stop and reflect.
Linus' Daily Antics | Article
12 comments:
every vocation in army has its own stress and workload, even clerks and storemen. of cos im not denying the fact that they have less physical workload and stresses, but they cannot escape from punishment if they screw up. example, if a clerk accidentally shreds some confidential document or doesnt lock up his documents properly, his punishment will be very harsh. so please give due respect to every vocation. becos most of them are same as you, they dont want to be in SAF also... anyway, i upgraded from pesE to pesB. im not garang, im just unlucky...hahah
being a storeman, or any other service vocation, in a combat unit is probably the worse thing to do.
I've seen storeman going outfield, doing re-supply to the main combat companies in the front.
I've seen storeman and clerks getting screwed by unreasonable and unscrupulous superiors, who think that service personnel should be "more clever" than combat personnel.
I've seen storeman being screwed left right centre during monthly stock takes, thereby signing extras till the cows come home, and then some.
I've seen storeman staying back on weekends, and over long weekends during LRI preperation, and dying terribly if there was just one defi product.
I've seen storeman staying back on weekends to do waterpoint duty during battalion runs at east coast/marina south. while the rest of the battalion goes to those points from home and falls out from there to go back home, these poor storeman have to go from camp to set up point and then back to camp. and the repeat it a couple of times.
I'm not saying that combat personnel have it easy, or that storeman have it tough. but beneath everything that looks like a bunch of storeman tuang-ing, we go through pain and suffering. not physical, but mental anguish. I will never forget the times I slept at 3am in the morning, and opening my store at 6am to resume checks on the weapon allocation for the battalion via a Windows 95 Excel Spreadsheet that crashes every 15 minutes.
I never exactly liked my time as a storeman, and I always hope that I'd be a combat trooper. but I guess the grass is always greener on the other side, and I'm much better of right now with all the stress that has been given to me in the army. can handle un-ruely superiors in the work place a whole lot better. (=
and yes, I was a storeman. Weapon IC of a certain battalion. and I hated that job. I wonder what I did to deserve it. oh yah. I know. I just got arrowed. *mutters*
every vocation has it own worries and responsibility.
i'm a Pes A service medic. hahaha.
Yeah I won't deny even some combat soldiers have it easier than others, and certainly some storeman have it easier than others as well. As I said before, no offence to all the storemen out there, but from what I hear the guy in question did during his storeman days, it was pretty relaxed.
mental torture vs physical torture =D
COPA here (worked my way up from S1PA). Haha! The hokkien pengs called me, "close to the gods." Too funny! The cooks and drivers all treat me really well. That way, their leave forms get priority. What did I learn from all these? How to brown-nose (kiss ass). How to work for days without sleep sifting through / typing up documents. It has served me well in academia. It also taught me to be super anal in my own work. Why? I received 8 extra (guard duty) just because of a couple of typos that embarassed the CO during his presentation. Anyone who thinks organizing, typing up, collating, binding, a document as thick as a phone book, and guaranteeing it to be free from typos and errors, on your own, is welcome to give the experience a try. So, yes, "every vocation has its worries and responsibilities."
well well.. theres no perfect job in the world right? (not that guys willing chose to do this job)
me being a service support officer (MTO, to be precise), msot people think I'm the kind of guy who gets to enjoy after 9 months of suffering. Sorry man, those are the people in the MSD department; not me. I've seen what it's like to be combat, and what it's like to be support. If I have to draw an analogy:
Combat = bodywork of car. protecting on the outside. chiong very hard, slack very hard.
service & support: engine, brakes, clutch, whatever else that's not the bodywork. working round the clock, have to keep running smoothly no matter what. bodywork can take a few dents, internals can't afford to be damaged, even a little warping can affect performance drastically.
clerk + admin: lubricant and oil. without lubricants nothing moves. without paperwork nothing happens.
officers + command personnel: vehicle driver + co-driver + vehicle mechanic etc, points the car in the right direction, keeps the car working smothly. fix what's broken, preserve what's not.
if you think you have it tough, someone else always has it tougher. we all get fucked for different reasons, in different ways, by different people. we do different things in different ways for different people. Talk to the different people you meet in the Army and you'll know what I mean. Pioneer Mag and armynews don't always show the complete picture, for those who think they do.
i was a storeman in the army too. it depend on where u are posted at and whether or not can u do magic or not. i was at OCS. quite alright except for some stupid cadets that u have never seem them for one whole cadet terms and suddenly appear on their pasting out parade. do not how they can hide for so long and still past out. those kind of officers leading in wars sure die one. officer run away first.
anyway to be a good storeman u must have magic. MAGIC to make things appear out of no where to cover your goddam asses. i like the word keput. to me it mean to borrow on a long term basis.haha
but i really like the fact that in army u can have a whole room(for 2 cadets) for yourself. storeman controlled all the bunk keys in OCS haha. my QC even keep a TV in his room and play PS2 every night. wow so siok. sometime we watch educational VCD there too.. ;)
it all depend on how u view NS as. for me i just think of close 2 eyes and finish the 2 yr so quite ok lah. shiok or xiong it all depend on u. if u can look on the bright side, it will be fun and time easier to past. comeon lah where in singapore can u get to travel overseas on SIA with passport and get to bring educational things back by declaring as cargos or wings equipment??? fun lah if u do think so much.
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