Yes, I am still serving the nation with the Singapore Civil Defence Force. For those who are curious, I enlisted on the 2nd November 2010, so come 1st October 2011, that would make a good 11 months in the service. Time flies huh! Due to my PES C2L9 status, had a physical fitness-free 5 week modified Basic Rescue Training, went through Clerk Course for a week after, and was finally posted to CDA SSU (Service Support Unit) Office as the Commander's Assistant.
A lot of people came up to me and said I was lucky or fortunate that I was deemed unfit due to night-blindness but to be honest, I was disappointed that I couldn't go through basic training like any other normal, fit males. Call me a traditionalist, but I wanted the proper rite of passage like others, and it was actually a tough 5 week in BRTC mentally when you see the rest getting pumped or punished and we couldn't do anything of the sort. We couldn't even go for a jog during our free time! It's like we are ostracized by everyone there, dealing with prejudice, staring and teasing from everyone else. But I was lucky to have friends inside and outside of camp that were understanding and empathetic of us so that gave me strength to give my 100% every time I came to work.
All those disappointments and insecurities are in the past and work so far is cool I guess. Getting on well with the rest of the camp personnel, got a lot of inside access and first-hand details due to working closely with high-ranking officers. In a way, I guess I have earned a lot of people's respect in camp with the way I go about doing my work. If things go well, I will be promoted to the rank of Corporal in November after 1 year of service, which means pay increment! It's peanuts compared to a SGT or LTA pay of course, but hey, it's still better than the $440 I'm earning every month! :)
