Remember in school when you had to fill up the ‘in case of emergency’ form on the first day back every year? Or when your teachers asked for your parents’ occupations. It was so easy for everyone to give an answer, but I always stumbled when it was my turn.
Since young, my parents drilled this into my head – ‘never say what occupation your dad has. Keep it a secret’ Why? Because whatever he did at work was private and confidential. Even my mum had to be kept in the dark most of the time.
You may think, why make it such a big deal? Well, he’s not just in the army…. The camp he goes to it’s quite “up there” – I shall just put it that way. The more I say, the easier it’d be to guess, especially for guys who have been through National Service (NS).
Of course, since being in the army at the age of 18, my dad is no ordinary army dad.
I have lost count of the number of times my dad wasn’t in town for my birthday. Instead of cutting my birthday cake with me, he’s somewhere on the globe spending time with greenery and weapons, or somewhere protecting and saving lives.
You may have heard of SAF’S anti-piracy mission to the Gulf of Aden. My dad was selected to assist the navy for this trip a few years back. My mum, sister and I headed to Changi Naval Base on the 4th of September (my sister’s birthday) to send him off. Imagine sending your dad off somewhere unfamiliar on your birthday. How would you feel? He also was not going to be in Singapore on my birthday, so I told him “you coming home safe would be the best present ever” which I’m glad he did.
There was also a year where he was away for 6 whole months and I spent a good hour on my birthday talking to him on Skype.
A question I asked my dad every single day – even back in secondary school. If he was down for trainings or duty, he would not come home. Even if he did, he would be home at an unearthly hour (2 or 3am) and be out of the house before I’m even awake for school.
Be it grocery shopping, having dinner with the family or even watching a movie in the cinema, we were bound to meet his colleagues from army. CONFIRM PLUS CHOP. No matter where we went – Jurong, Hougang, Pasir Ris, Tampines or Bedok. You get my point.
There was even once when we bumped into his colleague in Japan. JAPAN. Tell me how small can this world get? Or is my dad that popular in SAF?
Like any sergeant or officer, everyone has to fall in on time. Same goes for my dad. Whenever I had to be at a designated pickup point, I had to be there 5-10 minutes before he reaches. There’s no grace period. Get ready to be lectured for 15 minutes in the car about punctuality even if I’d let him wait for just one minute. Are all dads like this? I wonder.
Sounds stern? Yup, that’s my dad if I were to go on a run with him. Whether it is a 3km or 5km run, if I were to catch a breath, he would be behind pushing me forward. No rest at all – I’d get called weak.
A few months back, I finally went on a run after a really long hiatus. Even though I was still doing my HIIT consistently, I was afraid that my stamina dropped and my dad wouldn’t be happy. Surprisingly, I could keep up with his speed and was even praised FOR THE FIRST TIME.
Despite all of this, I’m proud to have a dad who’s in the army. I look up to him for his perseverance, his bravery and his hard work in order to give my family a good home to live in. When I was young, I didn’t understand why he loved his job so much even though it was so life-threatening. Now that I am older and have friends serving the nation, it dawned upon me that what he’s doing, is no ordinary job. Even my friends have respect for my dad, and that’s something to be proud of – thank you daddy and everyone serving the nation.
