NS stories are for Man - Singapore Man

I think all Singaporean Man are brothers. It doesn't matter if they don't know each other, don't have the same hobbies etc... because they all have something in common - National Service.



It appears to me that conversations somehow always lead to army-related sharing session.

"Which vocation are you in?"
"Next month BMT, need to start running"
"Oh you are in Commandos, isn't it very tough there?"

I won't be surprised if Singaporean guys know remember only a stranger's army vocation instead of their names at the end of the conversation.

Singaporean Man just get orgasmic talking about NS!

During my JC class meetups, the Singaporean male guys, being very fresh from NS, will talk all night long about their adventures, or misadventures. The girls will sit there speechless, until they start finding something to talk among themselves. And I'm "one of the girls", since I didn't went in NS.

My friends used to tell me that "NS will make a man out of you". I disagree, my childhood adventures have made me a man way before they are. I was in trouble with the law in some way before my peers started their secondary school. I learnt things the hard way while my current peers are cruising through a lovely childhood. I was a kid on the outside, a Man on the inside.

Even in work, friends have made constant reference to what they have learnt in Army. Mr WaterTap and Mr MickeyMouse likes to draw analogies from army life on how to tackle work problems. Once you hear them say "You know what we do in the Army?", you know you are in for another long round of army orientation.

If there's anything I liked about army, its the network of people I will meet. Knowing more people is always good. You never know when you will need their expertise.

All in all, NS stuffs aren't exactly interesting to non-NS people like me.
I will listen, yes.
But I won't have anything to contribute.