Avalon

Guard Duty

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Unexpectedly, having to go back for guard duty was not that bad an experience. True I dreaded the thought of ever returning to Pulau Tekong since POP (which happened to be exactly one week ago) but apart from the travelling time, I actually looked forward to doing guard duty, to the last chance of meeting people whom I probably might lose contact with after BMT.

Reporting time was early, in my opinion. We had to be at the infamous Singapore Ferry Terminal by 12.30 when our actual duty started at 6 p.m. A few friends and I had to cab to SFT from Pasir Ris because our replacements were afraid that we would purposely go AWOL and kept on rushing us throughout our MRT trip.

It was a wierd feeling to return to Tekong as privates, instead of recruits. One would go as far to think that the two are almost the same, equally rankless, but it still gives me a rush of contentment to see new batches of recruits marching to and fro, shouting out commands in unison and trying to keep in step, basically doing things we had completed. Talk about vicious cycle in the army, huh? I believe it really spans from such feelings.

We had canteen break at our own time since as I had earlier mentioned, we reached Tekong at such an early timing. Of course we did some minor saigang, like helping to carry the rifles from the repair stores back to the arms scott, helping to count the number of magazines and oiling the rifles one by one. Again I do not understand why but I found myself doing all these with a disturbing peacefulness in my heart. No wonder we homo sapiens are known to have high adaptability rates.

Around 6 p.m, we drew arms. Sadly, I couldn't take W89 out for a last stroll. Guard duty was divided into shifts, each with an interval of 2 hrs. My buddy and I were sent to do sentry at the Tekong Ferry Terminal and we were the third and last shift. First shift begun at 10p.m and I was surprised to find that there were still quite a number of people flocking to Tekong on the last fastcraft. So much for my shift being the quietest one. We walked up and down the aisle of the terminal, cautious to take one step every ten seconds. There was just too much time to burn. A while later, the walkie-talkie I was holding onto suddenly sprang into life, emitting some fuzzy signals. I was like giving responses like "Poor reception. Please repeat, over!" for a good deal 3 minutes before finally hearing a clear response, which was rather irritating. It turned out that the person talking through the walkie-talkie was a mainland Regimental Police (RP) who was simply trying to play with the coms-line. So my buddy and I had half a mind to shout *&%^&&* into the walkie-talkie but decided to just carry on with our conversation session. The number of people leaving Tekong was swiftly declining by now. We were so ready to knock off as the time ticked slowly to 12 p.m when there appeared this guy-with-a-security-pass (don't know if its a sergeant or officer because he was in civilian clothes) who told us to go check on a few people whom he claimed were seen resting on the right platform of the terminal.

So we, as privates who were not any bigger than the recruits we still were one week ago, followed accordingly to his instructions. We approached the group and after a bit of Q and A, managed to find out that they were there at Tekong for a training exercise. (Like duh, what else you expect, someone trying to "bomb Tekong?!", quoted from the guy with the pass) So we politely asked the group to continue with what they were doing. (one or two in green uniforms were snoring throughout the whole inquiry session) My buddy later pointed out that he saw that one of the sleeping guys was a Master Sergeant. So much for doing what you think is right, without fear or favour...

The second shift was rather boring. Having been rudely awaken from my slumber, I had just enough energy to stay awake so basically, my buddy and I just prowled around the ferry terminal, staring at empty seats, hardly uttering a word. I spent most of my time leaning against the railings overlooking the seas, appreciating how round the moon is. Pity it was a starless night. But the rolling waves provided a good therapy for relaxation, and there was so much time to think about anything that comes to the mind.

And with this, I left Tekong with an appreciative heart and a tired mind.

Envoy of the Stars @ 2:49 PM
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