This is my 5th month into my 2.5 years of service. Even though
the training is tough, I can safely say that I am doing this for a
cause. As mentioned before by other posters, freedom is not really
free. It has to be strived for, and sometimes can cost lives.
However, we as a species do honour freedom a lot, and that gives us
cause to support a stint in the armed forces.
Firstly, the armed forces are our only line of defence against a
military offensive by any party (given the terrorist threat,
countries are not the exclusive danger to our way of live).
How do you expect to party all the way till 3 am in the morning,
and expect to get home without being robbed, mobbed or murdered?
Our police force does that. How do you expect to have a vibrant
economy without being in the target sights of some evil empire
power? The defence forces' deterrance does it. Without these, we
are as vulnerable as we were during World War II.
True, we might not be a match to an offensive by big countries. But
I am sure that all of us here will would rather die fighting than
to let our friends, families and relatives suffer under an
occupation power. Just look at Iraq. Insurgents targetting American
forces show a determination to defend their way of live. As one of
the poster goes, "You will defend what you treasure".
"Freedom - It isn't free:
The ironic thing about freedom is - it isn't really free."
Martin Luther King Jr. died to stop discrimination against the
blacks. What then is the 2.5 years of your life compared to Mr
Luther's sacrifice?
Of course, if you have nothing worth defending, then I would
strongly encourage you to find one, or else you would be just an
empty shell living a life without anything worth treasuring.
Being a small country, we cannot afford to have a professional
army. Heck, the number of sign-ons are pathetic, even after
constant promotion.
Regarding your argument about people against NS, I am inclined to
disagree with you. In fact, all my friends are positive towards
serving NS, and so am I. I am clear that I am one piece of the
puzzle which would determine our fate as a nation. The very
security we have comes solely from the widely known deterrance of
our defence force. Without this deterrance, we are toast.
On a personal ground, this commitment has taken a toll. I am taking
time off from doing other stuff to do this, and there is also the
nerve wracking enlistment process (couldn't sleep the night before
my enlistment day, and my new posting), all new environment to
adjust to, along with disciplining to do. I have to learn to accept
people's weakness, and to not reject outright people with glaring
character flaws (everyone has his/her problems, but some are more
obvious than others). Overall, as of the end of my BMT, I have
learnt some very important lessons in human relations indeed. In
fact, doing NS could just be the closest thing to the real world
outside there, without the disastrous consequences (i.e. losing
your job).
Even as a clerk, my friend has learnt to live with and accept
unreasonable superiors who back-stab him from behind. He is also
learning to watch his back, even as he tries not to alienate or
lose any potential allies.
This is no time to be selfish. We live in a dangerous world indeed.
Serve your term as of all the generations before you have done, or
you will have to suffer the humiliation of being shunned by
society.
