“I really hate to admit it but I am a sheltered JC kid. How am I going to survive NS?” (Part 2: Unit

If you’ve gotten through BMT a-ok, then you really shouldn’t be thinking of yourself as ‘sheltered’ anymore! You’ve survived a few months on that island and for that you deserve a 👍🏼 and an 👏🏼 .

Woah there, don’t get too ahead of yourself, though! Passing out from BMT is only the first of many milestones you will hit over these two years. Many of your next milestones as an NSF will be achieved during your time serving in the unit you get posted to.

Adapting to the culture and routine of your unit is a whole different ball game as compared to adapting to life on Tekong as a recruit. Gone are the days when the only thing expected of you was to rush to wait and then wait to rush. Now you’ll have to do actual work.

That’s right, unit life has a lot more similarities to the working world than you’d think. So read on as we walk you through how to approach serving in a unit, because this is where you’ll likely be spending the bulk of your time as an NSF (even if you are posted to command school after BMT, you will eventually end up in a unit upon commissioning - so don’t skip this article all you future 3 chevrons and 2 bars!).

Getting your posting order

To be frank, there’s really not much you can do as extra prep at this stage. Posting orders are very comprehensive in providing the information you need, such as:

1. Name of the camp you are to report to

2. Reporting time and attire

3. What to bring

4. Who to report to*

It’s really as simple as that so just follow accordingly. If you can’t even do that, you’ll be giving whoever is in charge of receiving you into the unit (most probably the unit’s counter clerk) a pretty bad impression of yourself. And bear in mind that you will likely be seeing this person longer than any of your BMT mates, so you wouldn’t want to start off on the wrong foot with them.

Facing your first week

Whether you enter in a batch or as a loner, understand that each unit has its own culture. This means that there is no hard and fast way for you to settle down in a unit. There are, however, some things you could do within your first week to make the rest of your time in camp way easier:

Befriend the clerk(s) and logisticians

*Take note: who you are supposed to report to and who receives you at the guardhouse may not always be the same.

In most cases, even if your point of contact (POC) is a regular, it is highly likely that one of the clerks will be sent in the POC’s stead to receive you at the guardhouse, so use this chance to befriend him! Clerks are the ones helping the regulars with a lot of the paperwork and administrative duties, so try and build a good rapport with them. That way, they’d likely be more willing to give you a heads-up whenever the regulars in the office receive new updates or important information, which would typically reach you at a much later stage if not for the clerks.

Especially if you are in a leadership position, which basically entails that you’d probably have to shoulder blame (officially) when things go wrong, establishing amicable relationships with the logisticians (storemen, armorer, drivers and their higher-ups) from the get-go is key to ensuring that your ass will be safe! They’ll be your saviours when you are in desperate need of something and if you or those under your leadership have lost/damaged important pieces of equipment. Get into their bad books, though, and well...hmmm maybe we should let you learn of the consequences the hard way instead of revealing everything that could happen 😈🤭.

Listen to the laojiaos

Laojiaos are essentially your fellow NSFs who’ve been in the unit longer than you have so they already know the ins and outs of what is probably a whole new world to you. Aside from the technicalities of how things are run (you will get used to it in time), it’s always good to make use of your first week to ask about the people - and things about them - that you need to take note of. For example:

• Who are the regulars in your camp you have to watch out for (including those in your unit, at the medical centre, at the camp’s HQ, etc.)?

• Who are the higher-ups you will be working closely with and what are they like? (if possible, try to tease out such information before your induction/onboarding interview with your immediate higher up so that you can offer your interviewer a good first impression)

• What are the mess and canteen stall vendors’ idiosyncrasies and likes/dislikes? (after all, getting into their good books might mean discounts, freebies, even skipping the queue! fun fact: our editor was in a camp where the mess vendor demanded to be called ‘dajie’ - big sister - instead of ‘auntie’, and if you were to address her wrongly [she gives new NSFs one chance and one chance only], you’d be immediately consigned to her bad books...even colonels don’t mess with her😎!)

Basically, the first week in camp is about asking the right people the right questions. The laojiaos there will probably give you their honest opinions and observations (cos most of them would like the feeling of being seniors on whom you rely😂) of the people in camp, so stick close to them during your first week!

Prepare yourself for unit as you would the working world.

As mentioned earlier, stepping into your unit is like stepping into any other office in the civilian world. A common misconception that people have about unit life is that they think their unit will expect the same kind of military mentality as that which was ingrained in everyone during BMT. Of course, many rules from BMT still apply (paying compliments when required, personal grooming, etc.) and you’ll still have to do drills during first and last parade, but you can’t expect to breeze through the rest of your days just by following orders.

As corny as the term “thinking soldier” is, that is exactly the kind of mindset you need to have. Whether you are in a combat vocation or not, being in a unit entails having certain tasks to achieve and a specific job scope assigned to you, no matter your rank. This means that you will have responsibilities given to you which require more thought and proactiveness than what was expected of you as a BMT recruit. There is no need to be overachieving or gung ho about it; go into this as you would any regular internship or civilian job. Take your first week to shift your mindset and, from there, it will get easier as you adjust to the routine of your new environment. Again, this is not a military training school like Tekong was - this is unit life (and P.S. OT-ing is a thing here 🤪).

Going about the rest of your NS life

After you have gone through the induction and orientation programmes set out for you in the first week, what’s next? Well for starters, you don’t have officers and sergeants hovering over you and watching your every move anymore, which means you have to look out for your own well-being! If you have to deal with potentially dangerous equipment, be more careful than you were in BMT. Being an NSF will only take up two years of your life...don’t do yourself a disservice by not watching out for your own health and safety.

It’s also important to remember that if you sustain a service injury, you won’t be the only one facing trouble. Your higher-ups would have to spend time writing reports, an investigation officer would have extra work to do, the people in charge of your working equipment or training facilities would also have extra work to do...you get the point*. These are all people you might have an actual working relationship with (unlike your superiors in BMT) so you wouldn’t want to ruffle their feathers! Of course, this is not to deter you from reporting training incidents, but rather a reminder to be extra cautious ⚠️.

*Take note: all of such extra work would also have to be done if you damage any highly important pieces of equipment - most units hold items that are arguably more important than the rifle you slept with on Tekong - so be extra careful with whatever you are handling...we can’t stress this enough!

Finally, the best way to endure the last lap of your NS journey would be to watch your behaviour; don’t be a pushover but do be cooperative! Most NSFs will be doing their best to be amicable since everyone is just trying to get through the week (looking forward to booking out) together, so don’t be a/an *insert some expletives here* to others. Some of the most unassuming people could make your life terribly miserable if you mess with them, so if you have nothing nice to say, just zip your lips. And linking back to a previous point, even if you are a newly commissioned officer, don’t be arrogant and mess with who you may deem “small-fry” (such as storemen or drivers). You wouldn’t want to learn your lesson the hard way, trust us, we speak from having made juicy observations 😏.

That is all from us (for now) about NS! We hope these past two articles serve you well, whether you are about to enlist, have just enlisted, or are already well on your way to fulfilling your duty to the nation.