Arm Me: The Beginning of my Military

What better way to start than to put you on track with the stage of life I’m currently in. The Army. Now, the word itself can make the nerves of teenagers across the globe shiver and shake in sweat, and in our republic of Singapore, every able-bodied male citizen has to spend 2 years suffering maturing in National Service.

OK, here’s the big twist. I’m not exactly able-bodied and because of that, as much as I’d love to run, work out and get yelled at, I found myself thrown into PES E’s Basic Military Training in Kranji. In this camp, we don’t ever run, step foot into jungles, hold guns or perspire more than a pint. Instead we have lectures, movie-screenings and dialogue sessions in air-conditioned halls (I just heard your jaw drop).

The focal part about being here for a whole month really, was getting to know the people there—which was the only thing we could do with the 10 hours we had everyday. A lot of people really surprised me and despite the physical disabilities that they have, we’ve shared many intellectual conversations that would make any hock-a-loogie soldier blush. I love marching, that’s one of my favorite things we do in the army. Hot sun or under the rain, it doesn’t matter, I’d march for hours (if only they’d let me damnit!).

My experience was heightened one day when I was to be punished for using the toilet without informing my commanders. I was put on stage infront of everyone and (in an attempt to embarrass me) I was asked to sing a song. Now this was nerve-wrecking for me because I really wanted to keep a very low-profile in camp in order to adjust well to the regimentation. However once that microphone reached an inch from my lips, out came an acapella of “Poker Face“. Everyone loved it and I was so.. gosh I couldn’t stop smilng. By the end of the week, I had performed “Bad Romance”, “Lemon Tree“, and my original, “Our Special Place” to the lot of 200 recruits. I was even in a dance battle against the other platoons and we won! I actually burnt 2 holes on my pants when I slid across the stage to do a stunt with my spunky cheerleading buddy, Jun Yang. I also did a mini sketch with Shawn Chen (a prominent childhood actor from mediacorp) which got an uproar of laughter from everyone. I had such a blast. I’m very very thankful that I got to be me and more in the army.

A bunch of us with the passion of good entertainment (which included my sergeant who’s an almost crystal reflection of me), started using the free time in camp to build an ARMY CHOIR and teach hip hop dance techniques and some choreography! We’re performing tomorrow coz it’s gonna be the last day of our Basic Military Training. I cannot wait to hit the stage with my recruits, we are gonna rock our disabilities off, it’s crazy.

Our month has passed so fast and it’s amazing how much change took place within and around me.
23 more months to go! =)
But don’t worry, I’m using as much time as I have outside of army, to work on my album, music video and covers for you guys. Hardwork baby, don’t ever stop getting at it.

XXXO
Joshua Simon