A poem for Lt. Adnan at Bukit Chandu
Deep rumbling guns, sharp whistle in the air;
Their shells rip in to churn our earth,
Then attacks provoked by fury. Yet no despair,
No crack in our resolve. Freedom's worth
Is the blood we shed. Our cause is just:
Sacrifice will never be in vain.
Ta'at Setia: we hold our hill, we must.
Come comrades, our spirits soar again.
The enemy are many, we are few
At one strategic point they boldly came,
Across a stream, up ravines sweet with dew,
We bayonet-dove, we slew, left many lame,
From that clash their hatred grew
Days and nights are sad with mourning:
Houses broken; children we can't find;
The dead, the dying, the groaning.
War has no glory, only what's bitterly unkind.
We may yield the moment, never the inner self.
A soldier's oath, solemn made, is deep.
With duty, honour, the fellowship of life itself
These we cherish, keep.
As companions of our memory.
As guardians of our sleep.
Edwin Thumboo
I copied the entire poem down during the visit to the museum yesterday morning. I thought it reflected the spirit of a soldier. And I'll be commissioning in 2 weeks time, I must be clear what it takes to be good custodian of the values expected.
Anyway, my birthday was just 2 days ago, and well, I woke up that particular morning with terrible body aches. Definitely from the extremely strenuous PAC the day before >.< There was the Navy visit in the morning, so off we went to Changi Naval Base. Suddenlt it dawned upon me that I wouldn't choose to live in a ship for over a month (which was a scary thought considering I almost got convinced to sign on in the navy intelligence voacation) and thus infantry was probably more suitable for me who loves the open --> I associate that with freedom.
In the afternoon, there was the first parade rehearsal of many more to come. We did quite a number of basic drills to warm us up, such as henta kaki with mark time practices, hormat drills, change of arms for rifle, and the usual sedia and senangdiri. The weather was simply, unforgiving. Unconditioned, coupled with killer aches, I had to bear the pain throughout the rehearsal. Thankfully, my contingent performed well, and was praised by SSM at the end, so obviously, we improved.
Thank God. SSM gave the entire cohort nights out right after the rehearsal. That means I could celebrate my birthday outside of camp. Blessed =D So Bron, Alvin, and I headed to Swensens at JP for late dinner, and dear alvin couldn't resist flriting with the waitress. He even called her by her name Alicia whenever we need her assistance. She couldn't stop blushing hahax!! I tried showing my IC to the waitress to prove that it was my birthday, and tried my luck to see what they have to the birthday boy. Heart-shaped Chocolate ice cream cake with sherbet cherries on top. Splendid =D I gave half of the cake to Ahmad's table for them to enjoy. Partly was because the 3 of us couldn't finish the cake. Our tummies were maxed out.
2 more weeks to the parade!
