ORD LOH - Part II.III - An Autobiography of my NSF Life

Finally, we have come to the conclusion of this trilogy of a mini-autobiography. Even though I call it a conclusion, it is still gonna be rather long. So sit tight, and try not to sleep. The juicy parts are coming. Soon. To a blog near you. :P

I spent one year and 4 months in the squadron(s) doing my duties. From these 16 months, I have certainly learned quite a fair bit.

You know, almost every NSF I know think of this as a "NS liability", nothing more than that. However, I think differently.

RSAF comprises of mostly a huge proportion of regulars, and us NSFs is only just s small minority in the overall framework of the RSAF. I can't help but feel that to me, what I am doing is a job, a career instead. 90% of my colleagues do this for a living. To them, this is their career. So, for these 16 months, I feel like I am going to work.

That is what I tell my friends. "Hey, I go to work liao." If I was in an army camp, where the demographics is reversed with the NSFs being the majority, I would probably just have said "I am going back to camp" instead.

I am very glad that I am posted to the Air Force. I don't like the army. I don't like fighting, I don't like wars, and I don't like people being killed over stupid things like politics or because some mad dictator took it upon himself to conquer the world or some shit. So, yes. I am glad I don't have to chiong sua. I am glad I don't have to handle guns on a constant basis.

Being posted to the Air Force allows me to escape all that. I am now a technician. I check the fighter jets for serviceability. This allows me to escape front-line combat. Call me a coward if you will, but I am damn scared of dying. Especially if I die in a war. That's a damn disgusting way to go. So yes, for allowing me a chance to work behind the scenes, I am eternally grateful to the RSAF.

That is why, because of me being grateful for the wonderful opportunities given, and coupled with the workplace environment of working with majority regulars, I took a positive attitude towards my work. And, hey, what do you know, it works. I really enjoy my job. I really enjoy being a DCC. I like what I do. And somehow, all these positive thinking only made my life sweeter.

That is also partly why, I really enjoy launching and recovering aircraft. To me, that is an art form by itself. It's aptly called "crew show" for a reason. To me, I see it as a performance, to the pilots and to the ground crew watching. I do very well in launching and recovering. It's my most niche area of my work, and I strive hard every time to give a good launch. I do it for myself, for the pilots, and for the other ground crew. Launching and recovering is my pride and joy, and I certainly won't have anyone come in and take that away from me, and I certainly don't tolerate people who tells me I suck. Because. I. Don't.

I am also a competitive person who strives to be the very best I can be. Once I made up my mind to do something I like, I jolly well make sure I put in everything to achieve my dream. I make sure I will not only do my job, I will do it exceptionally well. Ha. This is what you call "passion". Passion for the things I want to do. For me, I think it's important to have passion in the things you do. If you don't have passion for your jobs/career, then why bother doing it?

I realize I am the lone minority amongst my peers. And you know what, that's ok. Some of them don't like aircraft work, some of them don't like being in the RSAF. You know what? That's ok. Everyone has their own thinking, own mindset. I am not gonna judge anyone, and I hope I won't get judged based on my thinking.

Of course, I do spend time bitching about my NS life. But, it is not the job I bitch about mostly. I bitch mostly about my workplace. Now see here. We spent 16 months in 140, and I think it's long enough for us to get an accurate pulse on the squadron's culture and workplace mentality. Obviously, I am not going to reveal much about the inner politics of 140SQN (that would be committing suicide). I just wanna say that, if I am posted to 143SQN instead, I would be so much happier. So much happier that I could have possibly extended my NS liability. Possibly. (The thought did cross my mind... $610 for 3SG is quite a lot of money...)

Oh yes. I also did mention my batch being the A Levels NSF trial batch. Well, I can safely say that it is a success. Actually, there's not much difference between A Levels and poly students. Yes, you can use the stereotypical "A Levels are more academically-inclined, but less practically-inclined", but then, my batch has shattered that stereotype. We have proved that we are just as capable as the poly guys in this line of work, with or without engineering experience. And how do I say that it is a success? The next A Levels NSF FLC batch is currently in Air Force School, preparing themselves for squadron work. So, yes. The trial is a success.

Do you remember I said in Part II.I that I cannot make it as a technician? Well, I have proven myself wrong. Look at me. I have did countless of BFs/TRs/AFs. All my work so far has been satisfactory (in most cases) and met the standards. I am immensely proud of myself.

I like to think that for every thing I go through, I learn something new along the way. That's one of my main goals in life. I want to be able to take away something worthwhile from all my experiences. I want to use that and hopefully make myself a better person.

One very important thing I was able to take away from all these is the friendship I have forged. I have gained quite a number of close friends, and I cannot thank them enough for being there for me whenever I needed you all. Of course, I do hope that I was there for you all too. I hope our friendship can still continue for a very long time. :D

I also want to thank the people who have helped me along in this journey. Your patience and guidance is deeply appreciated, for it has molded me to become who I am now. You know who you are; I don't really want to mention names. (The problem with this mentioning names bit is that some people will inevitably feel offended that they are left out, whether through my deliberate action or not.)

Finally, this very very long autobiography is coming to an end soon. Some of you question, why do I bother to write so much? Why even write at all? Well, to me, this is a form of closure. I have learned this from a very dear friend of mine (Faisal), and I think it's very important: All things need a closure. This autobiography serves as a proper form of closure for me. A closure of a rather exciting chapter of my life. This sums what I have been through and experienced, and from writing all these down, I found new connections to the things I did and new thoughts came to mind. I can learn so much from this.

Okay la. I don't want to bore you all already. There may or may not be a Part III. It depends on whether I can procure pictures from mon quinze. :P So, thank you for sticking through with me for these past 3 long posts. It must be hard on you and your poor eyes. So, thank you. Merci beaucoup. Until then, au revoir.