Last week in camp, I was walking back to my bunk alongside 2 of my friends, both who are going to ORD in March. (Let’s name them – “X” & “Y” for convenience sake.)

Along the way back, we started joking about army-related stuff and “their clearing of leave” since they were going to ORD. Then “X” and I started teasing “Y” about giving us an ORD treat, cause we always like to tease “Y”.

However, “Y” knowing that we always “bullying” him, joked that he would give us a treat if he struck lottery. We laughed of course, knowing that he ain’t serious.

Then “X” and I pressed further and asked what he would do with the money if he really struck lottery. All in light-hearted tone.

“Y” replied that he would give the money to his “ah po.” (meaning grandma)

Finally AOH is over. I had been covering the army open house for the past few weeks. Nice experience to have, although weekends are burnt. and I missed a few episodes of “溏心风暴.” I learnt quite a few things.

I managed to get first-hand observation of how things are done and put into place – meaning the preparation, work flow and all, small things being put together to form a bigger picture.

External contractors and NSFs work together to organise, set-up tents and booths, banners and so on. But controlling a big group of soldiers is a difficult task at hand. And to persuade them to work willingly to achieve a common goal is not easy. It is like asking “Sai Gang Warriors” – (soldiers who are tasked to do things that nobody wants to do) to work willingly with a smile on their face.

My duty was to cover their safety while they were loading the stores and equipment, which means most of the time, I will be at the water point using “eye-power”, being alert and staying in standby-mode, looking at people working.

Observing how people work has its own merits (not being sarcastic, seriously) because I learn a few lessons.

First thing I noticed is the importance of briefing.

Briefing gives the soldiers a vague idea of how things is going to be carried out. Briefing is commonly done but usually they are too long-winded and “flat”(as in “say already equals to never say at all”). Ideally, it should be short and sweet and highly- motivating. So that it gives a morale boost. Otherwise, it will affect the whole day of work. So a good motivating brief will be like a cup of strong coffee for the soldiers.

Second thing is planning, meaning who is going to do what. Be honest about it. Everyone is going to work hard together.

Third is flexibility, not meaning by left or by right. Up to individual to decide as long as it does not go against values and ethnics or create trouble for others. Sometimes things don’t always work out as what is planned. Don’t stick to one idea religiously.

Fourth is timing with estimation, not rigid timing. Don’t have to be very, very early. Just on time is good enough, because you are still not late. This is a skill that is not easy to learn. From young we were always told to keep to time. In schools, if we are late, we would serve detention after school. Yes, keeping to time is important, simple and straightforward, but there is no need to be kiasu about it and rushes things.

If flag-raising in school starts at 7.45am. Reaching school between 7-7.30am is just nice.

Unluckily, if you are late, don’t panic.(Army context only. This does not apply for school children) Else, your soldiers start panicking and things will turn out worse. And most importantly, if you don’t work last minute, chances are you would still have sufficient time to make changes. What I am trying to say is, just nice is enough.

If you are really, really, really afraid of being late, then do things in advance. My father once told me during his army days, one of his friend wore smart-four uniform to bed. So the next morning, all he had to do is just wear his boots and off he goes to report to the commanders. Most of the time, we laugh at this type of odd behaviour, including myself. Amid the laughters, my father explained. His friend knowing himself is slow, did that so that the whole platoon would be spared of punishment, for being late due to his slowness. Respectable man indeed. Laughing should stop by now

Fifth lesson is “shit happens.” During my SIT-TEST in BMT, I learnt from a reservist commander that there’s something called Murphy’s Law. It says literally “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” As a medic, I will always keep this phase in my head. Things can go wrong, so if anything goes wrong, don’t panic.

Because of this law, all the above lessons make sense.

In design, singapore idol or any other field, we often overplan, oversell or overdo things. Sometimes, just nice is enough.

Currently, I am nearing the end of my course and my parade will be on next friday. Then after which, I will be posted to somewhere as a medic. So far so good, medical training had been fun and I really learnt alot. IVs had ended, and the needle marks on my arms had also started to fade. I had overcome the pain barrier as well. It is strange because I use my spare arms for my friends to practise. They reasoned that my vein is thick and juicy, thus easier to hit. Fair enough…

On my life in army – I say life in army is routine and orderly. It is also simple. One thing I like is listening to how the old army officers talks. The way they speaks exert a certain charisma, I think it comes with mellowness like wine. They spoke words beautiful enough for a poetry. Simple words with strong motivation like this one : “Fitness is individual.” I think this is powerful.

It goes like this, in the morning run, we could choose to run in different pace groups – A, B and C.(fast, medium, normal)

But common sense explained most of the soldiers joining C.

At the end of the run, this officer was telling us that fitness is important and that we choose how we want ourselves to be, just like fitness – it depends on the individual.

I realized any adjective with “…ness” can be substituted into his quotation.Whatever words you can think of – Happiness, hungriness, funniness, loudness, sweetness, healthiness or shamefulness…edisonchen? His name just came to my mind because he arrived yesterday, sorry to edison’s fans.

Quite a hectic week, been through 2 IVs, blood test and unluckily got guardduty till sat.

So far I am undergoing the medical course to become a combatmedicc, you know the type of soldiers with a red-cross on their arm who goes around treating the injured. So far it has been an eye opener – as in totally different from what i do, but i thought it is useful knowledge to have.

As you all know, I studied design but now i am learning medical-related stuff so i can say i am currently in a different world. Try to visualize a designer working in a hospital.

We learn about anatomy, physiology, diseases, wounds, CPR and Intravenous Infusion. We had to read about the human body, the different organs and system, the heart, blood and so on. Got to memorize bones and muscles, which made me recall some of the bones learn during drawing lesson. Then there were also lectures about wounds and treating various injuries. Basically it’s a bit like nursing.

The most interesting part is Intravenous Infusion which means 打点滴.

We had to practice with our buddy. These are the scary steps.

Tighten the tourniquet around the arm so as to make the vein more obvious , wear those white medical gloves, find the vein, swap the vein with alcohol swab a few times, aim the vein, then insert the needle at 30 degrees into the vein about 2mm, tilt the needle to 15 degree and push it in, then dislodge the needle. Remove the back part of the needle, then screw in the tube of the Hartman Solution, which is the bag of liquid. Then tape the tubes to the arms and bandage.

I just completed 2 practical this week. So currently i had 4 holes in my arm.

Why 4 holes? Cause my friend miss my vein once each lesson. If you miss the vein, your buddy would suffer. Cause the needle would be inside his skin, then you would have to readjust that needle.

The sergeant would be saying: ” A bit to the left, a bit to the right, or pull back a bit, tilt the needle then push back in.” All these while the needle is still in your skin. You feel your nerves being hit, as though there were electric jolts.

For obese people, their vein is less obvious and that makes it harder to locate. For me, my arm in thin so my vein is quite obvious but there were cases of the needle hitting the bone haha so just pray hard.

You really had to believe in your buddy. I thought this lesson really strengthen the bond. When you see your friend suffering in pain due to your error, you feel guilty and wants to improve your skills to reduce his suffering. You see his blood flowing out and dripping all over the floor and the needle still in his skin, you realized you have to remain calm and act fast. You would be nervous but you try to act calm. Then when you finally found the vein, you would feel a sense of joy and relief. Then after which you and your buddy switch over. And if your buddy make mistake, the needle will be in your skin, then the sergeant would repeat what i typed in bold haha. But the weird thing is you don’t blame your buddy, although he cause you pain.

We were once told the reason for this training. If you feel the pain, then you could really understand the person you are treating. Sometimes you really have to be willing to sacrifice yourself for your friend, cause pain is part of the learning process i think.

There will be a total of 10 practical lessons. I think i could really fully understand pain by then haha.

Just to share something funny i noticed when watching Red Cliff 2 or 赤壁 2 yesterday.

I am not sure if i saw correctly, but i remembered there was one scene, when 二哥(Guan Yu) was shot by arrows. Then he proceed to pluck out the arrows from his chest. According to what i learnt, if a sharp object like a knife is impaled into your body, do not pluck it out. If the knife is removed, the blood will flow like a fountain. The victim will die faster. But in the movie, Guan Yu plucked them out, or maybe he is wearing an armour, or did i see wrongly hahah.

Going back to camp soon.