Once in our lives, two years of our time. Aside from learning to fire a rifle, and being probably the fittest we will ever be in our entire lives, NS also provides many life lessons and philosophies that will carry us through life.
1. On the number of ways to do things:
You quickly learn that there is the 'proper and right' way to do things and there are also short cuts. NS challenges you to think out of the box, especially if it means you can do things faster and go back to the bunk for more admin time.
2. On rules and regulations:
That's one of the first lessons you learn when you enter BMT. The platoon sergeants do a good job scaring recruits into thinking that everything in Tekong is a chargeable offence.
But you soon learn that you can do many things, as long as you don't get caught by the sergeants.
3. There is perfection, and then there is stand-by-bed level of perfection
Stand-by-bed taught us that what we thought was a good job can turn out to be a crap sub-standard job. It taught us not to be complacent.
We didn't know placing the toothbrush/razor/fork/knife neatly in a row was not enough. They had to be placed perfectly apart, measured by the width of our sergeants middle finger.
4. As long as they try, zero fighters can still pull one by the end of BMT
The pull-up bar signified the seemingly insurmountable challenge that can be conquered as long as you work hard, and try and try again. Or in zero-fighters' case, they just had to have their buddy help them pull a few before lunch everyday.
Too bad the pull-up bar will probably fade into history now that IPPT did away with pull-ups.
5. Giving your best all the time
We also learn that the best approach to doing things is to give the best you have the first time round. Especially true during range when the whole company has to comb through the firing range looking for that one missing bullet casing because someone didn't put in the effort the first time round.
6. On dealing with change:
In NS, you realise that there's a lot of waiting around, and then there's also a lot of rushing about from point to point only to wait around even more. That taught us to be chill with the constant changes in life.
7. On responsibilities:
The rifle taught us that life isn't just about 'me, myself and I', and that if you don't pay attention and look after the important things in your life, your sergeant will sneak into your basha at night to steal it.
8. Not being constrained by your inabilities:
Aqua-jogging, aside from giving very sore thighs, taught us that even if you don't know how to do something, life will find a way to get you into the water.
9. The lesson of the perfect shellscrape
The lesson of the perfect shellscrape taught us that sometimes we think that we have been doing swimmingly well, until something unexpected comes and messes it up.
We can only pick ourselves up after that and dig a new shellscrape.
10. Life is all about strategies
Perhaps one of the most-learnt and used lesson, it encompasses most of the other nine lessons into one short phrase. To survive in the game of life, you have to be creative and push the boundaries and don't get caught!
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