Some eight years back, PTE Han Wei Ding was only in Primary 5 and
cheering in the stands of the National Stadium during National Day
Parade (NDP).
This year, he will play an important part in NDP.
PTE Han is one of many soldiers from 1st Guards Battalion who are
packing the NDP funpacks and distributing them to spectators during
the Parade.
Each day, a company of soldiers are assigned to pack the funpacks.
On the average, the soldiers can pack about 8,000 to 12,000
funpacks a day.
Said PTE Han: "This is another way of serving the country. Citizens
can actually see our effort."
One of his commanders, Second Sergeant (2SG) Tay Kok Ling, said: "I
didn't know it would take so much effort to pack funpacks. We had
to unload the containers and then form a human chain to carry them
to the warehouses."
"We also had to juggle between our usual training and funpack-ing,"
added 2SG Tay.
The soldiers start their packing each day at about eight in the
morning and finish around nine at night. They are broken up into
three production lines, where the items are put into the bag one by
one.
A quality control check is done on each completed bag to ensure
that all the items are packed in.
Funpack ItemsThis year, the design of the funpack was
conceptualised by over 50 second-year design students from Temasek
Polytechnic.
The students came up with many interesting and unique designs. The
committee adopted various features of their designs to develop the
final product.
There are 25 items in the 2.7kg pack this year. Twenty-one of these
are sponsored, while the other five, including the bag, are
procured.
Some of the items in the bag include a battery-operated fan,
clapping sticks, face tattoos, food items and magazines.
The bag is designed to look like a sling bag which has been found
to be very popular with teenagers nowadays.
It also has a "customised window", which allows you to slot
pictures into it, on the front flap of the bag.
One of the most interesting items in the bag is probably the cap.
Unlike past designs, this year's cap comes embroidered with a
Singapore flag that lights up with fibre optics. The lights are
battery-operated and can be easily replaced in the future.
LTC Bernard Yeo, chairman of the Logistics and Finance committee,
said: "The lights on the cap will definitely enhance the whole
night scene at the National Stadium."[/img]
