Otaku enlistment help(s)

I’m pretty sure there’s going to be quite a number of otaku bloggers or readers that will be enlisting this year and the following next few. So as a fellow otaku who is already in the army maybe i could offer some help. I will just share with you guys some of my ups and downs during basic military training in tekong island.

Life as you all know it has been Free and easy for as long as you can remember. Hair color and length could be anything you wanted, tshirt or polo up to you. Eating Macdonald’s or chocolate bar for dinner, why not? macross or gundam tonight? So many choices, so little time to decide. But when you suddenly receive a mail stating you to go to X place for body check up, your world starts to collapse and reality dawns upon you. The reality that freedom as you know of, no longer exists , at least for the next 2 years of your life.

It is one thing to like military stuff and is another to be in it, regimentation may be the one hardest thing to actually understand for most of the people due to the fact that their parents treat the kids like kings and queens. So the kids nowadays have the kings and queen treatment but when they enter army they become the peasants. You don’t sleep anytime you like, you don’t bath anytime you like, you don’t eat whatever you like, heck even you have to look like everyone else.

The first thing that happens when you first enter army, you take an oath to serve the nation and be loyal to the president, really nice opera. Next the separation begins, you are torn away from your life and welcome to the army. Your new “parent” comes in to welcome you, the king of the island welcomes you to his kingdom and you are bound to serve and live by his codes. Congrats , army life begins, now i shall address you as Recruit or REC.

So Rec, after you have torn away from your normal life, you will get your standard army issue items but you must be wondering what to bring?

• Underwear, the army won’t provide of course
• Whatever personnel medication you need and please declare it so you can get free supplies of it when you run out
• Your personnel hygiene care
• Money, so you can take taxi home when you book out
• A book to read in case you got time

Other than that, nothing else is required. Why? you enter and exit the island with your army uniform and nothing else. So normally basic training is broken into 6 category

1. Enhance , for those that pass Nafa(ippt) but i guess most of otaku don’t belong to being “Fit” , you serve 9weeks
2. PTP , for those that didn’t pass Nafa(ippt) and isn’t overweight ; I was in this group , 13weeks
3. Mild overly-weight , for those whose BMI index is over acceptable level but below super fat, in short Fat guys , 15weeks
4. Eagles , Super fat, if you wear more than XL, you pant when you walk more than 50metres, you are in this section, 6months
5. Pes C, you have a lot of medication problems either on paper or physically but can still run/walk/jump , 49days
6. Pes E, you are not worth living, no training, just a walk-a-bout in tekong and slideshows, welcome to a clerk life for the next 2years, and i can bet most of them in pes E do NOT have a real medical problem other than on paper and in fact in your real life you are active in sports, 5-7days

Thats about it , i guess most bloggers that are aged 15-18 and are engaged in anime watching, figurine purchasing falls under over weight, the hours spent being inactive physically will make you fat if you haven’t noticed. So you get to stay on that island for 15 weeks but don’t fret, in fact life on that island will probably be the most innocent time and most enjoyable time during your army life. Everyone around you will have their heads shaved together with you so don’t bother to shave it before you enter and everyone will eat and shit out the same food with you too so don’t worry all of you will smell like a pig sty together too.

Training starts on day 2 after all the admin work is done, introduction to the island life, getting the right size for your wears , letting you learn standards you have to follow and learning that the world is really flat on that island and the sun doesn’t revolves around you anymore. Also, on your first day probably on 9pm or so, you will get to call home! YAY! and maybe cry a bit and tell how much you missed your life and parents and it sucks to be on the island or you tell them you are just fine and happily doing well on the island. Oh you will also learn a new way of talking, every time you ask for something from your “instructors” you have to add “sergeant” or “sergeant major” or “Sir”.

For instance, “may i go to the toilet, sergeant?” or “sergeant, may i go to toilet?”

Training exists in a few forms namely,

• Physical , Daily morning 5bx @ 530am, some runs, some jumps, some push ups and misc exercises through out the whole day and till 10pm.
• Regimental, you learn things army style, punishment given for those that learn slow and you will remember them well cos’ you were taught the hard way
• Mental , no more comfort zone, nothing is private, you are on your own despite being with a pool of other people, this is the time to learn how to walk , run and maybe fly on your own, no more mommy and daddy, no more crying over spilled milk, no more ass wiping service you normally enjoy at your home(ok maybe not everyone has it, i know i don’t)

Physical training forms the bulk and most commonly used form of training afterall you have to be fit to fight a war or at least be fit enough to run away from war. When you get punished, they will tell you that it is a form of physical Training, Do NOT say you are being punished, just follow along and agree, “Yes sergeant, permission to keep fit!” instead of “Why are we being forced to do so many push-ups?” . If you worry about you not able to do it well one thing about phyiscal training and punishment is that your body get used to it and soon enough if you don’t get the same amount of “training” your body will start to ask for it and so will you. If one day in that island and you don’t get physical punishment you will feel weird, trust me you will, when Gwar takes over you, you will do all sorts of weird things.

Regimentation , probably the hardest to drill and implant into someone who comes from a free world and this is the training that will end up into physical training later on. Marching and basic/common military knowledge will be passed on into you. Some may like it, some may not, some can learn it quick, some just don’t get it but ALL will be punished equally, so go ahead be a smart ass, see if you can get everyone else into trouble.

Mental, lets say from a scale of 1 – 10 for being Gwar, i would say everyone started off from -5 like simon from gurren lagann. But over time on that island you will probably become someone like kamina with a Gwar scale of 10! You will experience some changes when you go in and trust me, my Gwar-ness increased a good 5000% when i was in basic training and now in my current camp i lost that Gwar that i once had on that island as i’m in a support camp, i suppose my gwar will maintain if i were to be in combat camp but sadly i’m not .

Ok with all this basic information, i’m pretty sure your first 2 weeks of army will be pretty shocking and hard to accept but no fear, most of the males went through this and you wouldn’t be any different. So wherever you’re at, just take things as it is and adapt to it to make life easier and more enjoyable.