I'll qualify this by saying that my experience may not apply to
those who served in units that adopt a "yes sir, no sir, three bags
full" philosophy.
As typical of similar units worldwide, CDO breeds rebels - we lived
to buck the system. This was especially evident during BTEC
exercises when we changed strategies on the fly and drove both the
umpires and the opposition crazy by simplying not doing what we
were expected to do. In barracks it was the same thing - we
short-circuited everything, and we had none of the "bullsh*t
baffles brains" mentality.
During NS, whatever abilities I had were finally given a proper
environment to be applied - school was a pure "bullsh*t baffles
brains" environment. I took what I learned to university and stayed
in the top 5% all the way through, going up from being
low-to-average during JC. By the time I got to the doctorate, I was
1 of 12 students chosen out of more than 1400 Honours graduates
worldwide - that's within the top 1% of the top 5% of
undergrads.
I don't think NS made me any smarter - whatever was there has been
there all along. It sure as hell didn't make me any dumber. I think
it's fair to say that it allowed to to take whatever I had on hand
and focus it.
Like I said at the start, though, my unit culture seems unusual
when compared to the rest of the SAF, so I'm just speaking for
myself here.
