A Commander's Journal - The Last Leaf

It was in Sep 07 that I left my last command appointment. Jun to Sep 07 was a very trying period, where I had to juggle between my new trainees, National Day Parade, a new appointment, and the preparations for a massive exercise. I often looked back and wished that I had more time for my trainees. As course commander, my primary intent was not to turn them into better soldiers. Rather, I hoped to make them realise, why they have to be soldiers. It was with this hope that I started the Commander's Journal to accompany what my trainees wrote daily.

Since I left, I've learnt from other sources that what I've tried to do (whether successful or not, I know not yet) was correct. The specialists and men I'd spoke to in my new job revealed that many of them do not understand the necessity of the two years of national service. The usual shallow understanding was that it was a waste of two glorious years, and the national economy would benefit if national service was abolished totally.

I've kept a close tab on the developments of my guys (through covert means of course) meanwhile. I'm glad to see that there had been vast improvements in attitudes. I've always emphasised that understanding the higher-order meaning of NS is more important than learning to adapt to NS. You can adapt to and yet hate NS, simply because you would find no meaning in a tough regime which you have grown used to. That's not the point. The testimonials written by my guys who had taken part in NDP last year, gave testimony to their maturity in this sense. I'm proud of you.

Two years on, William had left for his studies. Some of them have completed their obligations, and the rest by March; and I know they had learnt something valuable from their short stint as a conscript. It would be unfair to not mention my specialists who had trained and guided them well. Amanda, Melvin, Jackshen, Edwin, thank you. And to Amanda, this post also serves as a tribute to the tremendous effort you've spent on the men from 160 Sqn. You're irreplaceable, and yet the difficult job of replacing you is looming large; but nonetheless, thank you!