Merry X'mas!

'ello!

Well I haven't been posting for a long time. I did up a card for Dael, a good 'ol buddy of mine, and I scanned it....but the comp went down :( But now, the comp decided to work and I bring to you, the card:

Treat this as my e-Card to you all too! Merry Christmas to you all! Happy Birthday to Jesus too...He is the one Christmas is all about. He gave us a great gift none of us can equal. Hope you had a great holiday, and looking forward to put your hair down once again for the New Year! I certainly did enjoy myself this Christmas :) Remember those who are not enjoying themselves...broken families, the terminally ill, the persecuted, the oppressed, and the ones on duty for our sake. Not enough to wish them well...pray for them too. (there's a huge difference between the 2)

I admit it is a bit untidy as I had to rush it due to my duty on the next day. Heh...Dael can get a 'card refund' from me if he doesn't like it lol.

Well, apologies if I am sounding a little too saccharine, but not all things serious have to sound gloomy. Just like to share the joy on this side of the internet.

Army Stuff (yet again...haha)

I have been wondering...what makes me so unhappy about Army, and yet so hopeful of the other areas of my life (like futher studies, Church, family, friends etc). Why the difference? Is my stance towards army gonna be the same towards my future work life?

For my job, I find it difficult to remain happy. Duties on inconvenient dates, field camps, arrows, gripes with upper brass, booking in on Sunday...the list goes on. Guess I would be focusing on the wrong stuff, and keeping myself gloomy. But whenever I think of army, these things come to my mind first.

There are great things about army afterall, 4 months more, good pals to be made, learning through the pain, and maturing in the end. It's not all gloom and 'xian' (slang for ennui).

Army is a life-impacting experience for me, but that does not necessarily equate to a happy or glorius experience. It has taught me well, and perhaps prepared me for the life ahead.

Ultimately, God has seen me through each day, and I thank Him for being there regardless of my sin and imperfection. He has blessed me through the army. No doubt, people can do without the army and mature too, but it's my duty to the land I am born in. In a way, God sent me to the army.

Maybe I can come out with a 'How to be Happy in the SAF' booklet for future enlistees, not as a joke but a useful tool in the SAF. Disenchantment is not uncommon, espacially in its mild forms. Most guys won't like the idea of putting ourselves back 2 years for an organisation we have grown to look poorly on.

For one, there are cases of conscripts of really have a good time in the army. But from where I come from, that has been a restricted few. It is a problem that I believe is wasting away the resource that the SAF needs, the time of its personnel. Guess it could be a malady of conscript armies...but in the end, I will need to study more to provide a better solution/analysis of the SAF hahaha.

Oh wells...gotta scoot off and do my duty again tomorrow while my unit is on block leave. Another one of those duties on a date I'd love not to do it. Call it practice for my possibly hectic and inconvenient future life ahead.

Cheers
Joshua the COS for 26/12/06