ode to my fren
I have a friend whom I know quite well back in the Commando days. Our friendship started from the first day when we were both recruits. He was from VJC and I was from NJC but all these don't matter when we are "botak" and doing our 100th pushup for the first morning in the army. All these don't matter when we are shouting army songs when we march to have our meals. All these don't matter when the sergeant is screaming at us while we are cold, tired, wet and hungry. We are friends, we are comrades, we trained and played hard together.
One incident that is etched in my mind is when both of us attended the Basic Airborne Course, which means parachuting course. We were one of the few people selected to attend the course first. We were required to wear a helmet all the time with our initials sketched at the front of the helmet. Mine read "J.R Wong". His read "Prem". When we sit on the benches waiting for instructions, we have to sit with our knee and ankle touching the other knee and ankle respectively. This position is called "feet knee lock tight". You guys can try it and it's not easy to sit like that for a period of time because it's unnatural. It's training and we have to LAND after parachuting with that feet position. Anyway, back to the story. One day, someone of a higher rank was shouting at us (as usual), then he wanted to shout at him. He saw his name and said "You. Sperm Head". Me and my friends tried to stifle our laughter and we made a HUGE joke out of it at the end of the day.
We were together too when we were training together to play hockey for the commando formation. Realistically speaking, he's not a fantastic player but he got bulk. He's muscular and the sight of him charging at you can be quite tramatising. We wanted to be in the team badly because playing hockey then was the TICKET out from commando training. It was also the ticket to escape from 3 weeks of Brunei hell. In the end, we both made the team (cause there weren't much players) but after 1 match, I was withdrawn cause I fractured my right ankle due to a parachuting accident. Since then, I have lost touch with him and when I see him, it's just a Hi and Bye. We attended our first commando reservist together last June and he was the same old jovial self since the hockey days.
He was a good friend. He was intelligent, friendly and humorous. He is a patient man too and withstood lots of extra "tekans" from our superiors. He.... passed away last night due to an asthma attack. I knew he had asthma but he told me once that it's harmless but this attack turned out to be a harmful one. Life is unpredictable. Some things are unexpected. Went to his wake just now. He looked so peaceful, as if he's sleeping....
Sleep well, my dear friend. I will always remember you.
Against all odds. For honor and glory.
One incident that is etched in my mind is when both of us attended the Basic Airborne Course, which means parachuting course. We were one of the few people selected to attend the course first. We were required to wear a helmet all the time with our initials sketched at the front of the helmet. Mine read "J.R Wong". His read "Prem". When we sit on the benches waiting for instructions, we have to sit with our knee and ankle touching the other knee and ankle respectively. This position is called "feet knee lock tight". You guys can try it and it's not easy to sit like that for a period of time because it's unnatural. It's training and we have to LAND after parachuting with that feet position. Anyway, back to the story. One day, someone of a higher rank was shouting at us (as usual), then he wanted to shout at him. He saw his name and said "You. Sperm Head". Me and my friends tried to stifle our laughter and we made a HUGE joke out of it at the end of the day.
We were together too when we were training together to play hockey for the commando formation. Realistically speaking, he's not a fantastic player but he got bulk. He's muscular and the sight of him charging at you can be quite tramatising. We wanted to be in the team badly because playing hockey then was the TICKET out from commando training. It was also the ticket to escape from 3 weeks of Brunei hell. In the end, we both made the team (cause there weren't much players) but after 1 match, I was withdrawn cause I fractured my right ankle due to a parachuting accident. Since then, I have lost touch with him and when I see him, it's just a Hi and Bye. We attended our first commando reservist together last June and he was the same old jovial self since the hockey days.
He was a good friend. He was intelligent, friendly and humorous. He is a patient man too and withstood lots of extra "tekans" from our superiors. He.... passed away last night due to an asthma attack. I knew he had asthma but he told me once that it's harmless but this attack turned out to be a harmful one. Life is unpredictable. Some things are unexpected. Went to his wake just now. He looked so peaceful, as if he's sleeping....
Sleep well, my dear friend. I will always remember you.
Against all odds. For honor and glory.