De one with First Mob

Troublesome Saturday

Think all the Lao Jiao ("Old bird" directly translated in Hokkien, meaning "the experienced"/old-timers) must be laughing when they read this.. I bet in another 10 year's time, very probable I'll be mocking at my blog too.. that's if it still exists.

Early at 9 am, my BSM delivered a unspecified sms. Kockanathan (expressing "blur" in Malay) I called my man and advised them as I thought so, to report directly to the manning unit. Not until ZZ called did I confirm my folly. Oh dear. Aiya, first time mobilisation. Moreover, the initial sms didn't provide clear instructions.

From my understanding, mobilisation or recall manning, is an operation which is used to test the readiness of the nation's servicemen in times of war. Works pretty much like those fire-drills we used to have in schools. Well, no doubt war is unlikely given the nation's involvement in United Nations and excellant peace-making international relationships, it's still essential to prepare to deal with the unexpected.

As mentioned by Republic Poly's principal over a radio telecast, "national service takes precedence over all others". It's due to this your life's organised-activites would have to be disrupted, by law when the nation needs you even in peace-time. Ironic isn't it.

All my plans for a morning jog, haircut, breakfast and starting some work on my project went into puff all because of today's mob. Won't go into details. Nothing much that we do not know that has to be related here.

What is more crucial to discuss about is how mobilisation could have otherwised been conducted. Is it necessary for the activated personnel to report personally to designated venues? Prior to answering the "why" question, let us look at the objective of doing so. Physical reporting evident the pressence of your unit's strength in times of war outbreak. On this, I suggest the Immigration Department could provide its assistance as all residents travelling offshore have to register with them. In additional, active servicemen has to notify the Mindef on their overseas trips. Failure to comply with this requirement is a chargeable offence under the SAF law. A run through of the system can reveal whether the servicemen is physically present mainland.

With the above sustained, online attendence could be put into practice. I mean applying the analogy of online banking. Notwithstanding ignorant person who giveaway their passwords, security dockets to their spouses or even friends, security could be assured with personal logging in. This could be further improved with requirements of webcamming to capture physical pressence and internet firewalls to detect and deter the occurrence of any pre-recorded or mishandled live-conferencing.

Next would be the issue of whether is it necessary for the servicemen to report in their FBO? The underlying reason is to enable physical inspection of the FBO, which is important to ensure that serviceman is equipped with basic tools deemed essential by Mindef. There's an alternative to the current practice - Despatching audit teams assigned to go to the different parts of the area to conduct random physical checks, with prior notified periods appointed definitely (like how they conduct AAI now.

Further to the above, ZZ highlighted possible high transport costs may arise. I think this can be achieved by revising financial budgets which might be bursting on dispensible expenditures when certain old equipments could be used. Such as.. amendments to the uniform per say.

Of course, all the above with fail in the event when there's power failure and the benefit of doubt given to the servicemen's accessibility to the internet/computer with webcams. On the other hand, the current waiting-for-incoorporative late-comers (for most unit) under unfavourable weather and cost of transport (as many take a cab) pose disadvantages too.

I think, not really a problem la.. power failure could be reduced by back up system. Forget about 3G man... let's improvised an efficient and effective system for mobilisation and move on to be 10G servicemen! (Even cellphones have improved from 2.5 megapixels to 8 now!). Not criticising our curent is not good enough coz we see there's an improvement with all this sms-notification, call centre (which kinda ain't functioning well sometimes), but there's room for improvement. Eh, don't think the US army has this yet. Perhaps if we introduced something pioneer, we could be in the lead!

De one with Gundam Models

Past times

The fascinations with Gundam Seed, Gundam Destiny or even Gundam models didn't begin until I reached the age of 20. This was after the prime "age of animation craze" which happened early when I was around 17 - 18.

There's a reason for everything in my life. Figured that would have to be due to a person who influenced me a fair bit. I recalled I was getting this Gundam model as a birthday gift for this friend and I thought, why not develop a collection. The teenager's passion for something born of a momentary interest was too temptingly irresistable. In the next 2 weeks, 4 models were already assembled. Guilty as it cost a bomb, too much within such short time. Then again, all I knew back then was the interest took precedence, worries about Daddy's query could come later. *smile shyly*

Unfortunately, I didn't like collections without pocessing any history or its origin. Hence, I immersed myself into the entire 8 parts of the Gundam Seed anime within the next month. Having better knowledge, choosing the Gundam models became clearer, preferential and satisfying.

In the blink of an eye, the Gundam collection approached 10.

If you'd ask me if the collection was worth it, it certainly was. Why? Assembling of the plastic models revived the joy of doing the same for a fighter plane F16, a sovenir I bought at the Aero-show when I was in Primary 4. School excursion. Coolest arty experience I ever got.

The love for assembling surfaced since my early childhood. I recalled fixing those two-piece airplanes which was made of styrofoam and costs 20cents. Guess the sense of "great" achievement was the intriguing reward a boy could possibly get!

Then came Jurassic magazine which enables me to collect and assemble the bone-structure of a T-Rex. Freaking awesome!

Growing into the twenties doesn't mean these precious past liking for assembling things or "ability to create" something out of other things are eroded. We just move on to more intermediate levels and pretty sure I found likewise in my Gundam collection. It's better when you figure a way to detach the pieces from the stanzas, how and where to apply glue such that it wouldn't appear ugly or imperfect. All these requires coordination and a fair bit of conceptualisation from the blue-prints to the actual stuff in your hands. Brillant challenge.

After completion, I feel a sense of accomplishment having witness how the stanzaful of tiny parts constructed into a visible figurine. Wuao..

Like a lollipop which wouldn't last forever, the passion leaks. On an ocassion I packed the boxes of Gundam into my storeroom disappointed as I didn't have showcases to display my collection, I thought I should step out of my "wasting-money" hobby and move on. And I did! Convinced collections were not like toys, they can be played or throw around in my imagined story-lines. Only purely assembled for exhibition.

Yet recently, the supressed interest set ablazed. Think it won't hurt to get my long-awaited Akatsuki Gundam!!

Ooooo.. I'm gonna get my hands on this some day.