Celebrating 40 years of NS brotherhood

SINGAPORE — Trading stories of how their instructors “tekaned” (punished) them and the rough terrain and operations of their overseas training, a group of close to 40 men spent a merry evening last Friday at a restaurant at Botanic Gardens.

Given the clarity of their memories — down to their vivid first impressions of one another — and the closeness of their bonds, it might seem like this “band of brothers” were just celebrating the completion of their two-year National Service (NS).

This was no normal post-NS gathering — the group of 60-year-olds were marking the 40th anniversary of their passing out from the Standard Military Course of the Officer Cadet School (OCS). These men were the fourth batch to have gone through the course, and the first to have entered not from Basic Military Training, but from their various units, having already been non-commissioned officers.

Although not their first gathering in 40 years, Mr Eric Choa, who was among organising committee told TODAY this year’s reunion was especially poignant, given Singapore’s marking of 50 years of National Service, and it has also been four decades since their commissioning as officers.

It took three months to plan the event, said Mr Choa, chief executive officer of a financial advisory firm. As some members of the group had lost touch over the years, the organisers used social media such as Facebook and Linkedin to trace their batchmates.

And it was evident on Friday evening that despite coming from various walks of life — some worked in the banking and finance industry, some in the medical sector, while others were businessmen, or have retired — their camaraderie remained strong.

This diversity was what bonded them together in the first place, Mr Hadi Devaraj, a retired consultant, told TODAY.

“We had come from various backgrounds. One of us was a Commando, he came in with his red beret. Another (held the rank of) staff sergeant — you will never miss him because his uniform was always ‘kilat’ (top-notch), and his bearing was excellent,” he said.

But their differences also slowly dissolved during the one-week “orientation programme” that got the group up to scratch in their discipline, fitness, and more importantly, sealed the bonds that would last till this day.

Change also came in the form of a mindset change for philanthropy consultant Chew Kheng Chuan, who entered thinking NS is just a “miserable time”, but left with a positive attitude, and a sword of merit — given to the top performers of each cohort.

Many agreed, if a bit wistfully, that the experiences faced by soldiers now differed greatly from their time: From the equipment used to the food served and the conditions of barracks.

But some resisted the comparison between NS then and now.

“Things have changed since then,” said Mr Devaraj, adding that it was “not very fair” to compare experiences from “back in the day”.

“The nature of warfare ... and the threats faced here have changed. Expectations of what National Service should be has also changed. You cannot expect to be an exact replica of how it was like last time,” he added.

Still, all agreed that NS is an important rite of passage.

As the night drew to a close, everyone agreed it was a good gathering. Mr Devaraj said: “To put it quite crudely, it’s good to see everyone still alive.”

Mr Choa added that with age catching up on them, such gatherings held even more urgency. “We can’t afford to wait for the next 40 years, you know,” he quipped. ALFRED CHUA