NS

Two years very fast one

Written on 28-01-25

Prompted to write this because of my friend (Ben M) who literally enlisted into the same company and same platoon 2 years after me, right before I ORD. What are the odds?

Intention is to keep this rather short and sweet, focusing on key experiences, core memories + takeaways rather than unpacking emotions. That was done in my 2023 and 2024 reflections.

NS felt a lot longer than a year and ten months. Comparatively to other two year blocks, this period felt very slow moving. It was more like periods of 3-4 months at a time, yet each season felt pretty darn drawn out. The quicker routines were formed and less daunting activities were lined up, time passed a little faster.

I'm going to keep this as watered down and grounded as possible, so that even other wadio personnel who are reading this wouldn't cringe 😛

Training Schools

BMT

BMTC Sch 2 Kestrel P1S4: 28/03/23 -> 01/06/2023

I enlisted on 28 Mar 2023, exactly a year and ten months ago. I'd previously spent some time in New York visiting my brother, and getting ready for BMT meant stacking up on more intense mileage prior to enlistment.

The most memorable experience had to be field camp. Specifically, the time right before we moved out from our field camp site to the situational test area. We were in the middle of declaration (context: ensure no rounds / expended ammunition were on our bodies / belongings) and had just laid everything on the ground when it started pouring.

Everything was out of our field packs. Even our boots had to come off for inspection. Now the funny thing was that it didn't rain a single drop the past 4 days at our field camp site. So much for Tekong weather control. Tekong Weather Control Comic, courtesy of Unemployed Doodles

The even funnier thing was that after our declaration finished, the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was so insane to see steam rising off our drenched field packs while we waited to load up to the sit test site.

At that point, I just laughed at the absurdity of the situation -- everyone went through it together, lol. We were wet and miserable, but at least we were at the tail end of one of our high keys, and much closer to POP.

The shortest, most intense bout of fatigue that I felt was during the Battle Inoculation Course. For some reason, my body wasn't very well adapted to leopard crawling in the sand. I watched the section mate that started out the course together with me zoom ahead (we did it in pairs, I had no idea what status my buddy was on); I had trouble keeping up. I remember being genuinely gassed, hunched over and panting when we'd finished it.

My batch (02/23) was the last (or maybe second last?) batch where we did a full straight 24km route march. For me, that was a long, drawn out fatigue-inducing walk. It would've been much easier running it and getting the whole thing over and done with quickly! What made it worse was that my coy was the last batch to push off, meaning that we reached back to Tekong the latest (close to sunrise). Chatting with friends / platoon mates made the walk much easier, but towards the last 4km, my heels started to hurt. Jogging lightly and landing on my forefoot eased the load a little. One scene that I recall when we were walking back to our bunks was how Sch 4 folks who were waiting for their shuttle back to Rocky Hill Camp were just slumped over their rifles and field packs near the transport node. lol.

As recruits, we could never get enough sleep. One of the most depressing things were waking up early in the morning (think: 0430) and spending extra minutes getting ready for a conduct in smart / long 4 before marching off to the cookhouse. Not a big deal, but in the early stages of NS, small things like these to start the day off could feel like a mountain to climb. REC YEO KX One thing that still makes me laugh is the guy who slept in the bed across from me. He was a solid fella—a joker, in the best way. I’ll always remember his deadpan expression (think: super sian, "bruh" face) as we silently tied our shoelaces and kiwi-ed our boots early in the morning. In those moments, it was like we were sharing an unspoken misery that somehow made things easier. Thinking back on his face now, I can’t help but laugh. It’s little things like that that got me through BMT.

Also, I could never figure out the low rope. I want to try it again some day.

OCS

100th MIDS: 08/06/23 -> 09/03/24

Once we were posted to leadership school, the next phase of training opened up different routes for us. It was possible to get assigned to a different service—Air Force, Navy—even though we all came from the same BMT. The process for determining where we went was completely opaque; the number of available spots varied from batch to batch. For my batch (132/23), there was only a 1–2% chance of being posted to MIDS (Midshipman School/Navy OCS) for NSFs.

Somehow, I ended up being part of that 1–2%. FFDC!

Fire Fighting and Damage Control Day 4. Had a talk at Google HQ right after.

The first term (foundation term) flew by quickly. Most of it was spent studying for academic tests, so it felt more like school interspersed with regimentation. Our Summary Exercise (SUMEX) involved a turnout (wohoo, how fun!) that lasted a morning. Apart from all the shouting and chaos, it wasn’t too bad. The one thing I clearly remember was how sore my core felt afterward—it’s funny how even a short stint of flutter kicks and holding my legs inches off the ground could induce so much pain after. Sailing, for fun!

Recreational sailing, as a break!

The second term was by far the most memorable and interesting, mainly because we got to sail on an operational warship. The voyage took us to Busan and then to Muara. (I’ve already written about this at length here, so I won’t repeat myself.)

What stands out about MIDS is the sheer amount of fatigue that midshipmen are subjected to. Bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived was basically our default state. And while the demanding schedules were to blame for most of it, there were always those training officers who seemed to enjoy adding extra layers of exhaustion just for fun.

I felt the most tired during the sail, particularly on two occasions:

  • After our very first 8pm–12am watch, we were late closing up and manning our stations in the bridge. A certain officer was less than pleased with us. After the debrief ended at 1am, she told us to report back at 4am as a "penalty" for our tardiness. She even specified tables where we were to assemble. The kicker? She didn’t show up on time herself. By the time she did, we were all face-down on the tables, barely functioning. Cue a flurry of "wake up, wake up!" before she launched into a tirade that felt like it went on forever. I have no memory of what she said—I spent the entire time staring at the floor, nodding off every 10 seconds.
  • 12am–4am watches were another level of exhaustion. Even with caffeine coursing through my veins—instant coffee, energy drinks, you name it—staying awake in a mundane role like helmsman was a monumental struggle. What made it worse was that even high-stakes tasks, like closing up as the 2nd OOW (Officer of the Watch) from 2am–4am, couldn’t stop me from blanking out occasionally. The adrenaline rush just wasn’t enough to beat the sleep deprivation.

pew pew

CIS .50

Throughout the MIDS course, two things consistently annoyed me:

  1. Academic tests: Having to study for tests on top of our insane schedules was maddening. During the sail, I made peace with the fact that sleep was more important than cramming. My limited cramming abilities meant I had to wing most of the tests, but honestly, I didn’t care much by then.
  2. Our training officers kept insane standards of two things:
    1. Staffwork - we had to send movement reports when we went from one place to another. Each movement report had to be formatted manually, even though there were broad templates available. [^1]
    2. Cleanliness - Just a plain old excuse for training officers to whack us. One speck of dust hidden in the depths of some never-touched-before corner in the room meant an extra 10 minutes late book out. That hurt.

Reaching mainland Singapore after the sail was one of the most shiok feelings I’ve ever experienced. My bunk buddy and I even volunteered to shift stores down the gangway, just so we could set foot on Singaporean land a few minutes earlier. When we finally got off the ship, we literally kissed the ground. It sounds ridiculous, but the happiness in that moment was unreal.

Unit Life

Changi Defence Squadron DyS3: 10/03/24 -> 28/01/25, OWADIO

Unit life was a big shift compared to the unpredictability of training schools. Once I settled into a routine, things felt slower, and the room for character development caused by external circumstance seemed to plateau. That said, the slower pace gave me the freedom to pursue other things in my downtime, which I really appreciated. My role leaned more toward administrative and operational tasks, and while I wouldn’t say my training was entirely transferable, there were still moments that tested me in ways I didn’t expect.

The most memorable of these was "wargaming" prep—an exercise in resource management, planning, and directing NSMen with working experience 10+ years older than I was. Communicating requests and ensuring various parties were aligned felt like a crash course in leadership. Even though I sometimes questioned if I was the right person for the job, stepping up and taking ownership taught me a lot about managing pressure.

Another key responsibility was overseeing security arrangements for high-level personnel. These were the moments where things felt heavier, like the stakes were higher. There was a constant tension in ensuring that everything ran smoothly; any slip-up would’ve been glaringly obvious. While these tasks weren’t always enjoyable in the moment, they gave me a sense of purpose and perspective I hadn’t really felt elsewhere in my NS journey.

Unit life was relatively laid back, but I still managed to tire myself out more often than I’d like. I’d stay up late working on personal projects or trying to cram in workouts during odd hours, thinking I had all the time in the world to recover. Spoiler alert: I didn’t.

What really made unit life enjoyable, though, were the people. My boss (S3) had a weird liking for good smashed burgers, so once or twice a month we would find ourselves travelling out to various places to have a good burger meal. And we'd tackle things quickly, get work done in the shortest possible time, and then head back home 😎. Other folks in my unit can attest to this (oops, sorry fellas). jewel

ORD LOH

Looking back, what I miss most is the company of my section mates and the friends who helped me get through the tough times. Having good company always made things easier, even fun at times, though I wouldn’t say that was my biggest takeaway. Honestly, I don’t have the energy to sit down and unpack what my biggest takeaway even is right now. Maybe I’ll circle back once this whole "wadio" feeling wears off and come up with a more convincing answer.

But for now—WHERE GOT TIME? TWO YEARS VERY FAST ONE! ORD LOH!!!

vicks

[^1]: Honestly, I could've built a simple telegram bot or webapp that used structured outputs to spit out formatted messages. I wasn't sure why I didn't do it, but perhaps it was so that I didn't spend more time thinking about MIDS over the weekend while there were better things to do.