the enigmatic farewell

it's finally my turn to clear leave now. the long awaited event, greatly underated. it was inconceivable back then, two years ago, that a sense of loss, nostalgia and even a little sadness would overshadow the joy of ORD. spent my last night there eating night snack and talking to platoon 4 for one last time. i was initially at a loss for words actually, but eventually found the voice to say what i truly wanted to say. that much as we hate army, and reluctant as we are, we have to admit that this is when we are polished from boys to men. and that while platoon 4 may not be the fastest or fittest platoon, the strength we have lies in our strong unity and brotherhood - like when the non-swimmers encouraged each other and did pumping together cos no one wanted to come in first, or when zhizhao and gang jumped into the pool without thought in order to save letchu from 'drowning'. these are the friendships that will keep them going well beyond their ord. the frens you make in army will be your frens for life. 'at the end of the day, when you are about to ord and look back at your 2 years' i said. ' you will realise that it is not the fact that you achieved ippt gold or marksman whatever, but rather the amazing memories that you all shared as buddies as friends that would be what you treasure for the rest of your life' and of course, not wasting this opportunity of the frendship talk, i chastise the 2 Kings of Fighters, 'Batman' nathan, and martin for disrupting platoon morale and forced them to share one cigarette at a time during smoking break in order to forge unity. then spent the rest of the night taking photos and 'taun-ning' to watch chelsea vs monaco.
woke up at eleven the next day...that's ord mood for you! took photo with p.o.s and extended my hand for a somewhat reconcilliatory handshake and wished him all the best. guess that's why ppl say, at your deathbed, all enemity vaporises.
the rest of the afternoon was spent at the mess playing pool and stuff. now that i've gone, it's just john and peter pan left in camp. sigh...with militarism consuming the past 2 yrs of my life, what am i to do with this new found freedom??