At 10am on Sunday morning, I received an SMS:
Fr: Mindef
This is an urgent message from MINDEF, please call 64479447 to
listen to your message. For any enquiries, please call 1800-3676767.
The SMS came right at the end of my care-group meeting, and it got the boys really excited (after all, they are not the ones being recalled). They crowded around my phone, dialed the number to access the message and put it on loudspeaker mode. I knew it was coming; the night before and on the morning itself, there were rumors of an activation and rumors of those rumors. Ironically, one of the last to report back to camp was the one who circulated the ‘insider’s info’.
Dhana, my raft commander, called a little while later and told me he intended to snatch the early bird’s special: the raft that reports back before 1130hrs gets to book out first.
Turned out to be quite an amazing race. After dilly-dallying in church for nearly an hour (you see, I’ve gotten quite used to my soon to be civilian/NSman status), getting my vaccination for the Nepal trip and saying hello to one and all, I got on to a taxi only around 11am. Then again, not that I could have helped it since so many of the taxis that passed by were carrying passengers.
On the taxi, I folded my No.4 and wore my green socks. I put on my camp pass even though camp was still some distance away. I paid the fare even before the taxi came to a stop, and then I ran, and ran, and ran. Was left beyond any doubt of how unfit I’ve become when some of the guys along the way easily outpaced me; then again, I didn’t have too much time to think about all that then.
Ran to the bunk, put on my green fatigue and ran to the auditorium even before my pants were done and the laces on my boots tied. One of my gutters was missing, so, just stuffed my pants into my socks.
Joined the queue, and scanned my card.
1128hrs
Dhana was a nervous-wreck until then. Joel, who had happily decided to take a bus from Tampines and ended up running all the way from the outer guard house clocked in at 1127.
Signed in at company-line and went to shake hands with OC.
Dhana, my raft commander, called a little while later and told me he intended to snatch the early bird’s special: the raft that reports back before 1130hrs gets to book out first.
Turned out to be quite an amazing race. After dilly-dallying in church for nearly an hour (you see, I’ve gotten quite used to my soon to be civilian/NSman status), getting my vaccination for the Nepal trip and saying hello to one and all, I got on to a taxi only around 11am. Then again, not that I could have helped it since so many of the taxis that passed by were carrying passengers.
On the taxi, I folded my No.4 and wore my green socks. I put on my camp pass even though camp was still some distance away. I paid the fare even before the taxi came to a stop, and then I ran, and ran, and ran. Was left beyond any doubt of how unfit I’ve become when some of the guys along the way easily outpaced me; then again, I didn’t have too much time to think about all that then.
Ran to the bunk, put on my green fatigue and ran to the auditorium even before my pants were done and the laces on my boots tied. One of my gutters was missing, so, just stuffed my pants into my socks.
Joined the queue, and scanned my card.
1128hrs
Dhana was a nervous-wreck until then. Joel, who had happily decided to take a bus from Tampines and ended up running all the way from the outer guard house clocked in at 1127.
Signed in at company-line and went to shake hands with OC.
0 Responses to “Mobilization”
Leave a Reply