Reflections

To those serving National Service - God's love is near!

Just the other day, one of the boys in my youth group enlisted for National Service (NS), reporting to Pulau Tekong for his Basic Military Training. For the unfamiliar, every Singaporean born male must undergo 22-24 months of NS, serving in the various armed forces in the defence of our nation. Even if you didn’t serve, you would know at least someone who did.

As he embarks on his new life as a soldier, I recall my own enlistment some 12 years ago - the anticipation of getting my head shaved, the anxiety of being thrust into a foreign environment with unfamiliar people, and a strong sense of missing home that was never felt before.

Currently, I am writing this in the grand comforts of my bunk in Sungei Gedong Camp, as I undergo the 9th of my 10 In-Camp Training (ICT) cycles.

I enlisted to Pulau Tekong, and through God’s favour, was then posted to Officer Cadet School. I commissioned as an officer and served in the 41st Singapore Armoured Regiment as a Platoon Commander. God has further allowed me to further my leadership in my reservist unit, now serving as a Company 2IC.

Thinking through key testing moments

My army experience was not a bad one; in fact, there were many positives. But I believe my fellow servicemen reading this can all agree that NS often puts us through moments of testing, whether physically, emotionally, or even morally. You may relate to some of these things I’ve personally experienced or heard from others:

• The very first time staying outfield overnight in the wilderness.
• Surviving on zero sleep and still having to lead your troops and complete your mission.
• Having to serve extra weekend duties, losing precious time with friends and family, and missing Sunday church service. 
• That dreaded lack of appetite at dinnertime on Sunday, just before booking-in; the book-in blues.
• Deciding between getting to know your men better by following them clubbing, or to stay away from places of temptation.
• That conflict between choosing the right way of doing things or the ‘by left’ way due to peer pressure or convenience.
• Considering whether to play the political game among your peers or colleagues, thinking this may protect yourself and those under your command.
  

How I got through the challenges I faced during NS

I believe these examples may trigger similar memories in your mind. Somehow, NS can often make us feel isolated and far off from what is familiar and comfortable. Being even more remote than some of the cemeteries, we often label Sungei Gedong as a ‘god-forsaken’ place. Similarly, in these moments of testing, the term ‘god-forsaken’ has always felt relevant for me.

Just before my enlistment, a fellow believer shared with me a passage from Romans which has stuck with me throughout my years of service.

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:38-39

When I felt the most down during my service, God was always quick to remind me that nothing can separate us from His unchanging and unconditional love. No place is too remote, no plight too twisted, no circumstance too ‘rabak’ (or tedious). There is no ‘god-forsaken’ place; our Saviour Jesus took our place, bore our sins, and was forsaken by His Father, so that we would never be forsaken.