One year ago.

Today marks the first anniversary of the Killer Wave:Tsunami. It is indeed the worst disaster of the century. It not only wiped out the properties and livelihood of countless, it had also claimed thousands of lives. I had special thoughts for this disaster although we were fortunate enough that it had not affected many of us. I can still remember vividly what happened one year ago.
On the fateful day of 26 Dec, when I read the news about this horrible disaster, like many Singaporeans, I could only feel sorry for the affected ones. Little did I knew I could play an important part to help the victims later on. My campmates sms-ed me telling me we would be on standby. At that moment, I thought it was just another false alarm or another stunt of the higher management to show that they care and they do work. I even replied via sms saying, "I'm not god." I was terribly wrong. I could be 'god'. The red button was finally pressed. We were activated. We embarked on a mission of unknowns and unsures. On the very day of the operation, we executed our usual core skills. The vehicles and load were loaded on the LST safely (As usual, of course). LOLO and RORO operations went on concurrently on the wharf. We hardly had anytime to rest and any time for meals. We worked round the clock, and I mean ROUND the clock, getting little or no sleep. I could remember us dropping dead around the lampost like dead corpses when colours was going on. Although the sleep was little but I was definitely enjoying the short rest with the cool early morning breeze. By the way, colours is the flag raising ceremony in the naval base. Hence, you can imagaine these few people in green lying motionless and sound asleep on the platform of the lampost while the navy people stood attentively. I mean it was not an attempt to be disrespectful but our high fatigue level just got the better of us. From as far as I can remember, I think we woke up to find more pellets of relief supplies and more vehicles waiting to be loaded. We had a quick breakfast and continued working. I still remember the breakfast was as usually inedible and it just failed to make the day. More loadings and lashings went on and on and on... We worked into the second night and it was declared near completion when dawn broke. However, just at that crucial point, lashing gears ran short. We did not bring enough gears with us. I can't say anyone is to be blamed as there simply wasn't sufficient time for a detailed planning and such an operation had caught us by surprise. Moreover, OC was a green horn and this made the whole process less smooth. I must say CSM and staff played a huge role with their years of experience. Perhaps the saying, "The older ginger is more spicy?" Until today, I think he did something very, very wrong. He had asked me and my section mate to go back to the camp to get more lashing gears. In the hope to complete the last part of the operation, we agreed. I think it was the most stupid agreement I ever made. Just imagine, driving a 5 ton after two sleepless nights. That was a serious breach of safety! In his stand, he was probably left with no choice and when you were desperately looking for a promotion and a recognition, all you need to do was to optimise your manpower to the extent of using them like pawns. And luckily, our stupidity did not cause our lives but it nearly did. I tried to talk to my section mate, who was driving, to keep him awake and I remember telling him, "Don't sleep, we are reaching the camp soon." The next thing I knew, I woke up and found ourseleves in front of the main gates. He told me, "I fell asleep for a few second just now." Oh man! Thank goodness. The next part of it was simply annoying and I only recalled myself boiling mad for bringing a bunch of idiots from the other company who wanted to leave ASAP and not there to lend us a helping hand, especially that specky guy whom I loathed more than anything else! Pui! The end of it is predictable. We brought the gears back safely and finally concluded our operations within 3 days 2 nights.
If you are commenting that this disaster had brought nothing but misery. I beg to defer. For anything on earth, there bound to be pros and cons. Pros? Yes, pros. For all other aspects, whether national or international level, I shall leave it aside. On the individual level, I think it had benefited certain people. For instance, the crab is finally not lonely anymore, for it has found a partner. The capability of surface work has emerged and the ability to utilise pawns to achieve recognition and accolades proved to be a feasible and invincible formula. The tried and tested way is the only way to survive in the darkest side in the army, I am sad to say so. There are of course exceptions. I must be objective and I shan't generalise and paint a gloomy picture. The former head was so well liked and if he climbed high, I would not be surprised. He said something to me which made me admire him even more. He apologised in hokkien saying that he felt sorry that we got to stay and do all these work. It was apparently no fault of his. Anyway, I was too tired to feedback anything to him. I can't remember how I reacted. All I knew was that I felt so appreciated. Anyway, I was thinking why did he said that, given that he was not at fault and given his status, he need not say anything. In addition, he was once the CO and the latter did not even show signs of appreciation. Oh yes he did with his usual boring speech and cliche words of praise - well done guys. I believe the former is what I call a true leader and everyone agrees he is one. On the latter note, two operations were carried out after the first phase of loading. Three loaded ships left for Bunda Aceh. I declined a trip there due to one reason or another. And as I had said before, my going there was somehow meaningful yet meaningless.
May peace be with us. May the wounds of the affected ones heal. May life be good.