Sunday, April 03, 2005
"The President of the Republic of Singapore, reposing special trust in your loyalty, courage and good conduct, charges you to carry out your duties with due diligence and perseverence, as commmissioned Officers of the Singapore Armed Forces."
Few words could describe the feelings running through our hearts as those words were uttered.. in that magical moment when we were commissioned as officers, memories of the past 8 months flashed through my mind, recalling the laughter, the tears, the sweat, the grime, and the cameraderiae of OCS.. simply euphoric.
Yes dear reader, yesterday was the parade of a lifetime, the one event which has spurred me onwards for the past 8 months (and for the rest of my platoon, 10 months, since i joined ocs halfway), the one event which every junior cadet eyes with envy and awe, which every parent wishes his son to march in, which the past chapter of blood, sweat, tears and bugs in ears has led towards:
The OCS Commissioning Parade.
The entire day's drizzle had anxieties running high, and had me visiting bunks urging platoon mates to do a rain dance so that it'll pour in the afternoon and not during the parade. Thankfully, the heavens smiled on the graduating class of 56/04, and the drizzle cleared up just in time to make way for cool, crisp evening. (albeit a little humid..)
The parade was wonderful, went pretty smoothly and tho it wasnt a perfect one, it was, in my opinion, an excellent one. All the fumbling hands from the thousand "homat senjatas", the blistered feet from the endless "henta khakis" had finally paid off. What was especially memorable was our "14, one two", that is, to march 14 steps towards the crowd and berhenti (halt) together, and the silent "YES! Nice one.." running through our heads and we saw the admiring smiles and heard the spontaneous applause of the crowd.
The pride sweeping over me was overwhelming as we did the slow march up the grandstand as well, allowing me to march right next to strategically placed family members and a certain pretty lady who took time off studying to come watch me. And of course, the immense joy and elation upon the announcement "Presenting to you.. the newly commissioned OFFICERS!" with peak caps flying high into the sky and my platoon engulfing me in hugs and jumps, in their (successful) attempt at preventing me from joining the other commandos in their group hug in the centre of the parade square.
And yes, big THANK YOUs to Kim, Peter, Merrilyn, Perry, Guan Yuan for the funnest post-parade chill-out session at Coffee Bean, and also to Junwen, Chang King, Jonathan Jacob, Chong Nyen, JiTing, Xiaohua, Nat, and everyone else from 1st Commando Battalion for showing up.. you guys make a guy like me proud. :) And of course, the little lady that makes every day special: you, you, and only you. (ok, mushy)
And at the end of the day, the pride in the eyes of my parents', made all the crap i take being in the army, all worth it.
More pictures will be up soon! (yes yes, i know i keep saying that.. its cause ive just aquired a new image hosting site and am busy uploading all my pics up, and thus havent linked it yet.. long story, easy excuse.)
he rocked the party at 9:18 AM |
