4 years have come and gone just like that, I have now officially passed out. It's a great milestone for my life in secondary school and being in NP really makes me learn a lot, A LOT of things that I would never have learnt if i had never joined this CCA.
I never knew the exact reason I joined NP, but most probably it's because I'm attracted to the type of stuff that they shown us. The young and immature me thought that those knots, lashings, campcraft related stuff and uniform looked good. Apparently after I joined the CCA, I had a feeling that it was wrong.
I remembered the first NP training, we had this little lecture in the classroom with our seniors (can't remember who) about some NP stuff, then had a ice breaker session. Being super shy at that time, I vividly remember that no-one dared to speak up and it was the NCOs that had to "force" something out of our mouths
I recall of all the tiring drill sessions we had to go through and how I was always feeling sucky abt NP at that time because our drill session always have the "kekanan lurus" treatment. Then the open universe during camps.... I remember how pissed off I was when we were asked to dump everything out of our bags in an impossible amount of time.... Life was kind of bad in NP in Sec 1 coz the training felt "dry" and (a bit) boring due to its repetitive nature. And and and, I always remember how the seniors like to put in the training schedule PT OR Games, and it turns out that it is ALWAYS PT.
Then, sec 2 came. It wasn't that bad. I feel that it is the most fruitful year because that's when we learnt the most things, had the most courses and had a great time with my squadmates. Although there was a bit of a hiccup in between. I got pissed off of my squadmates, my seniors, my life and the repetitive training sessions (for abt 4 to 10 trainings in a row, it was just campcraft and PT). And with an injured back, i missed trainings for a while before reflecting on my actions and deciding to go back, because ignoring a problem wouldn't solve it. So somehow (someway), I managed to survive Sec 2... But more was yet to come....
Sec 3! Life was torturous for the first three months... But looking back, the living hell that we went through from jan to march really benefited us A LOT. We were stronger, physically, mentally and emotionally. Got to take the sec 1 squad and uniform department. Kind of disappointed, but happy at the same time coz I took a squad that requires more time to be invested (they are after all, sec 1s, and more time is needed to train them), but I'm happy coz at least I'm taking a junior squad. Didn't participate in POP 2009, but at least I got to be the emcee... Hahas. :) September AGM came and I had a change of department and squad. Sec 3 squad '10 and store department... I still can remember the agony on Gerin's face when she knew she kanna admin... priceless. The first few months were hectic coz it was damn difficult to settle store stuff... haiz but got through that eventually though. 2009 was an okay year to me...
And finally, Sec 4! This year is an EPIC WIN! Things were like sec 3 but it just felt more fruitful... Somehow, my "rage mode" is more easily activated easily this year. Most probably because of the stress. Sometimes, I feel very very disappointed, but I know that I must not give up hope because it wasn't yet! The campcraft comp was also a great one... although we didn't get top 10, i know that we as a squad have bonded together even more closely. More squad lunches and dinners too!
And today, finally got to throw my beret. My 4 years of service in NP is now officially over. Now that everything is handed over to the sec 3s... I have one last milestone in my secondary school life... O Levels! Must study super duper extra hard! Because I want to see many many "1s" in my certificate next year!
So there it is, this is my NP story... Another long post... Thanks for reading :)
11:04:00 pm
