damian + turion

[080507] In Alpha, it's always our fault

So a big incident happened this week with long lasting consequences, 2 recruits fought - 1 got injured with his arm bleeding profusely from a puncture wound resulting in both of them getting charged and thrown into dentention barracks. All this over some childish provocation, shoving and ultimately trading punches and blows which led to the injury.

It would have been a small matter, well not exactly small seeing that the injury required 4 stitches but i standby the belief that had the Commander NOT seen the recruit being brought over to the Medical Centre, most likely, the recruits would have been merely informally punished and not the resulting charges.

So today marked the day that encik returned and as expected, he called for a NCO meeting in which he questioned how had the incident had been allowed to take place... and how had we failed in our duties and moral obligation in taking charge of the recruits and how we had seemingly thrown away the respect the recruits afforded us... we as instructors are not only role models, disciplinarians, teachers but now we are to act as their guardians and parents in addtion to being a consellor and a physciatrist.

We are supposed to know our men well! He says... get to the ground, know what is brewing in their minds, find out their problems, their concerns and their social well-being within the platoon... well... well... I AM sure i was not briefed about this unknown facet of my job scope... in the end, who gets the blame? we do.

If a recruit choked while having his lunch, it'll probably be our fault as we failed to supervise recruit Lau while he ate his fish. Im sorry encik, i didnt pull out the fish bones from the fish. Sorry encik.

If a recruit slipped while taking a shower, it'll be our fault as we were not there holding his hand and helping him soap up when he juggled with the labourious task of turning on the shower tap and trying to clear the soapy foam from his eyes. Sorry encik.

If a recruit got hit by a car after booking out, it'll be our fault too as we didnt go the extra mile in ensuring our recruits returned home safely after a week's worth of hard training. We probably should have sent them home, individually every friday. Sorry encik.

The irony of it all, the recruit who got his hand punctured was actually the aggressor in the fight, the guy who started throwing the punches. Whatever lah, just keep nodding ur head, take in all the so called lessons in and reply, yes encik. Suck it up, count the days - That is the Alpha Way...

Finally watched Spiderman 3 yesterday night, skipped LT's Danial's offer to watch the 2000 hrs slot as it was too late, headed down to JP after booking out to catch the 1850 slot. Spiderman 3 - the third installation in the trilogy by Sam Raimi was surprisingly disappointing after the brilliance of the first 2 movies. Long time nemesis Venom finally makes his big screen debut in what was a rather subdued role in the movie alongside 2 other villians - Sandman & The Green Goblin. It was cramped to say the least allowing almost no screen time for the characters and plot to properly develop, die hard followers of Spidey would have been dismayed at how one of the most significant plotlines in the comic series was so dramatically shortened, cut and ended. The fight scenes retained their usual fanfare but the movie was itself full of cheesy scenes. One especially stands out from the dozen, moments before the big fight against both Venom and Sandman, spidey swings down and lands on the roof of a building running abit before leaping off and swinging off again, all this happened before the backdrop of a huge illuminated American Flag fluttering with the wind. How's that for being corny. Ultimately, a disappointment from the high standards set by its 2 predecessors but still an enjoyable popcorn kind of movie if you're not a spidey fan.

Spiderman 3 - 2.5 popcorns out of 5

Yesterday's memories