I am currently living with two ready-to-fight-anytime men who went through the army to defend our country. As both of my brothers didn’t really share their army experiences with the family, I didn’t really know what National Service (NS) really meant to the boys and was curious to know what sort of tough training and the topsy-turvy emotional ride they have to go through. Since the army training grounds and the Officer Cadet School (OCS) is not open to the public for visits, it’s rather difficult for us women to witness or to even imagine what is life of a NSmen.
However, last Saturday was an exception.
Guess what?
For the first time,
the one and only time,
we girls get to step into the OCS camp.
If I’ve visited OCS camp a few years back, it would be a tad lot of excitement for me to be visiting the grounds of well-built and tanned soldiers marching on training grounds, possibly thinking if I was lucky enough to spot my ‘Justin Bieber’-type of guy. But right now, I’m just containing my excitement to take a peek of what life is like for NSmen to be trained hard and fast, just so they could stand on the frontline and defend this tiny red dot, which we called our home.
Who knows?
Maybe I could join in the training and count our hundred push-ups together. Then maybe it’s all worth skipping my Saturday morning gym sessions for this visit to OCS. I’m definitely in need of a good workout.
Off and I went to the most dessert part of Singapore, Joo Koon area, where you will probably find more trees,factories and machineries than human on the streets. It feels like an island on its own, away from all the urbanization and commercialization in the city or neighbourhoods.
We were told to gather at the Army Museum of Singapore where we get to mingle around, do our nails with a military-style theme nail art, and visit the Army Museum of Singapore.
I’m loving the military nail art designs! In fact, I did chose to the Air Force nail art design ( in light blue) that matches perfectly with my fair skin tone. It’s a fun and cute way of showing our support for the men working in the military force.
Before heading over for a tour at OCS, we were brought around to visit the Army Museum of Singapore which provides free admission to all Singapore citizens.
A reminiscent of the Army days in the olden days.
The museum itself has quite an extensive collection of exhibits and artefacts which were well-curated.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to visit the OCS campsite as I need to rush off for a photoshoot. My bad, though I earnestly wanted to take a look at the training grounds!
Picture time with the SAF and MINDEF team
Do you know that there’s a cafe right at Army Museum of Singapore where you can enjoy a beautiful scenic view of a lake?
Before leaving the museum, each of us were asked to penned down some words of encouragement for our boys (or NS men) to give them some moral support. In fact, they really need our emotional and mental support when they are out there in the fields to toughen up and fight for our country.
This event, ‘Think of Our Boys” is part of the effort to garner a stronger support from Singaporean women, who maybe mothers,wives,girlfriends, or sisters of our NS men. And there are just 101 ways of showing them your love,care and concern for our boys who sacrifice their lives for the country.
To all our men (and women) who stood at the frontline, we salute you.
