For me, OBS was a seminal event, it changed me in more ways than I care to admit, in fact I totally hated OBS, I felt that it was going to be the biggest and toughest waste of time in my life in that period of time. It was only further down the road that I realised how much good it was for me, it taught me that I could go beyond my self-imposed limits and it also taught me about people and how they would react under duress and what comes to the surface in such times. Most of all however, it really convinced me that Aziz, Asri, Terence and Mark were the people I could depend on in a backs to the wall situation and hence it really solidified our friendship.
Aziz and I were plonked in a group called Nehru. Since Mr Nehru was one of the pioneers of the Non-Aligned Movement, I guess it was always going to lead to the most factionalised and divded of all the 3 groups (they called groups watches at OBS I think) and it really led to alot of conflict and many people not talking to each other (uh actually, people not talking to me) once OBS was over. Anyway, the other group was called Elizabeth after Elizabeth Choy the great war heroine, of course that was to lead to some rather weak and cowardly behaviour by a less distinguished ah beng in our squad, we shall come to that in due course!
I don't know who gave input in the groupings but CM and FI sure tried to break up the squad cliques! But I thank the high heavens that Aziz was with me in Nehru, because he and Boon were probably the only people I could really count on when the chips were down and that Aziz was a source of sanity as he was probably the only one I could really talk to and plus Aziz had a tremendous supply of smuggled Oreos!
But yes, the rest of the watch were a collection of people from the other cliques in the squad and we just could not get along. In the end it all fell apart after the sailing expedition when we gave up all semblance of pretending to get along. OBS just had a way of bringing out the inner a**hole in many of them especially Gorby (pseudonym, we all know who he is!) I daresay I never talked to him after OBS despite the fact that we shared the same barrack.
I dreaded the day OBS came about, but it happened soon enough, the moment senior term came around, we were off to OBS. I vaguely recall having to do alot of shopping to get ready for the trip like buying a pair of boots just for the sailing and kayaking expeditions.
Despite all the information that we gleaned from the Seniors, I really did not know what to expect but after a prata breakfast at Jalan Kayu which seemed like fattening us up for the kill, we were on the boat to Ubin.
The first few days as I recall were all about team building and the initial heights confidence course. Eventually the expeditions started, land, sailing, solo and kayaking and we struggled through these expeditions and finally we ended off with a pointless 15km run! Then it was over, many of us had changed for good and relations had changed too and the men were separated from the boys. OBS changed my life, the 21 days I spent there were tough, but the time there made me a better person.
These are my memories and I shall elaborate on them in the next few posts:
- Sub-human Dynamics in Nehru: The Monsters emerge
- The Useless Fatsos: The great abseiling misunderstanding
- Land Expedition: When we realised we couldn't get along
- Post Land Expedition: The Great Homophobic Moment (No it doesn't inolve the Choos either!)
- Round Ubin Canoeing: Barnacle Bob takes a chunk out of my shin
- Getting the Crap scared out of me: Solo Expedition
- Sailing Expedition: You can all b**dy swim back to OBS! The only moment where Aziz loses his cool and Daryl follows suit shortly after!
- Feedback Sessions: Picking the knives out of my back
- Interactions with other people: Instructors and other OBS participants
- Reflection Journal: Finding new ways to swear
- Kayaking Expedition: How to Kayak with a tray full of eggs in your cargo hold and not break any.
- Going Home
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