k r i s a n d r o

I still remember the day when I first got a gold award for my IPPT in Officer Cadet School (OCS). It wasn’t a problem getting maximum points for all the other fitness tests but the 2.4km run has a timing requirement of 9mins 44 secs & below and it has always eluded me. The army won’t present me with 1 million dollars and 99 virgins if I do get gold for my IPPT but I thought of it as a one of the things I must achieve during my stint with national service.

The IPPT Gold Award that resembles the silhouette of Superman as he takes off to peep at Louis Lane again.

It was extremely frustrating for me especially when my timings for the 2.4km run has always bordered around 10mins. Shaving 16 seconds off from a 10min timing is by no means an easy feat – trust me.

On that very day, there was about 4 out of the 30 odd people running that day that were shoo-ins for the gold timing. The game-plan for me and another friend called Christopher was to follow the leading pack as close as we can, without looking like we want to hump them from behind; using them as benchmarks to get a gold timing.

Adrenaline was pumping through me like never before that day. It’s one of those days where I feel like I can accomplish anything – barring jumping down from a flat and the likes of course. The breaking point for me was always on the 3rd lap when the front runners would peel away from me, leaving me with little confidence in their wake. This time, however, I kept up with the pack right up to the 5th lap. As I turned around the corner of my final 100 meters or so, Christopher used his long, lanky legs to put himself for a 5th place finish while I ran for my life to keep up. Another guy overtook me during the last 20 meters and I was about 3 strides behind that sneaky fellow who finished with the timekeeper shouting, “9 mins 42 secs!!!”. My heart was racing as I crossed the finishing line and stared at the timekeeper while time seems to stop as I avoided bullets, Matrix style.

“9 minutes……”

“… 44 SECONDS!!!“

I punched the air jubilantly and gave a grunt which exhausted every ounce of energy left in me as my sweaty platoon mates congratulate me on the achievement that wouldn’t win me 1 million dollars and 99 virgins.

I am serving my first In-Camp Training (ICT) this week as an National Serviceman (NSman) and it’s been a wealth of emotions and feelings leading up to Monday and the completion of the first day in the camp.

1 year and 3 months have passed since I left the Air Force as a regular and the stressed job of being an Air Traffic Controller. The memories of the 4 and a half years spent in the service still lingers in the recesses of my brain (whatever is left of it).

I need approximately 2 hours to travel via public transport from my home to my squadron in the east and I wanted to rest early. I tried to sleep from 12 midnight and could only doze off into a semi-conscious state at around 3am because I stressed myself out from thinking of all the situations in difficult controlling situations.

Besides the insane amount of travelling time, another big complaint I have is that I cannot bring any gadgets like my laptop, psp or my Nokia N95 into camp and that means ZERO entertainment for 4 hrs of travelling everyday and not being able to take any nap in the train ride as well. Wearing the Air Force uniform with officer epulettes and sleeping on the train is akin to shouting out loud,

“HEY!!!! I AM AN OFFICER! I AM TAKING A NAP! WHY DON’T YOU ALL TAKE A PICTURE OF ME SLEEPING AND POST A PIC TO STOMP???”

So, for the 1st time in a decade or more, I went to the library to borrow books to help me pass time in the train. BOOKS! I know people STILL read books but to me, that’s such a retro form of entertainment.

BOOKS! *rolls eyes*