Musings of the Chairman

I finally got my own google email account. How sweet is that? Ahem, anyway, let's get down to some serious blogging business. Can I have law & order please? This is the chairman of OCT 3&4 speaking. Well folks, this pretty much sums up my experience as the squad chairman. It was nothing less than a debacle, I have to say. After being elected (aka sabo-ed) as the honorable chairman, I was ready to take on my new role with pride on honor. Oh boy, did my pride and honor last. NOT!

It was chaos trying to manage 42 future leaders of the SPF who had raging hormones tipping the scales. Maybe the word chaos is too subtle. But I have to thank my lucky stars that FI Hassan (you guys mentioned him yet?) had the squad under complete control. At this juncture, I have to stress on the word ‘complete’ because for all his ninja and wayang antics, he did an excellent job of managing 42 bright and promising but recalcitrant individuals. Well, some had their own agenda for their nine months tenure. But I couldn’t care less. By the way, did I also mention that this FI of ours was one helluva master of camo. He could just blend into the greens that our good ol PA had to offer and make his appearance when we were least expecting it. No wonder he was notoriously known as the Ninja among the cadets. (btw, FI Hassan doesn’t know that we had a nickname for him)

Initial stage was quite a terrifying experience. When I meant terrifying, I was actually referring to the food. In the army, even though ‘tekan’ sessions took place every other minute, there was something to look forward to. The food! All hail the Singapore Food Industry for cooking up great meals day after day. When the first meal was served in PA, we were thinking to ourselves that we were better off with the SAF despite the frequent jumping jacks and thousands of push ups that accompanied every meal. The all time “Favorite” in PA was the fish delight. (I could swear that the gills of the fish moved at one point while it was lying on my mesh tray)

I was wondering to myself, food sucks, can my fellow cadets be any better? How wrong I was! On the contrary, these are same bunch of guys who I managed to clique with for the next nine months of our stay in police academy. In case I have not, in alphabetical order, let me introduce you to the famous five. Asri, Daryl, Mark, Terence (or is it Nunis) and finally yours truly, the chairman of the board. Aziz is the name.

For all the screw ups and subsequent push ups that we were subjected to, we had our fair share of fun and camaraderie. I have to say that it was one good memorable experience. I couldn’t believe my arse luck when I was not selected for OCS ten years ago. But now, in retrospect I am still thanking my lucky stars that I was selected to be and officer cadet with the SPF. Because not only it taught me criminal law, but it also taught me the law of friendship. To eat, sleep and shit with the same bunch of guys for nine months is no easy feat. I guess all of us passed that test with flying colors. We deserve a pat on our backs and some hot coffee. Pervert seats, anyone?