A Mission Down Under!

By the time you read this, I am already at the airport waiting for my chartered flight to Rockhampton, Queensland.

I will be there for the annual Exercise Wallaby with the Armed Forces for two weeks.

It was not my first time there, though.

The last time I was there is eleven years ago during my active days with my unit. As a NSF then, it was an eye-opening opportunity for me to be involved in an military exercise of such magnitude!

Although we do have our own local exercises, what we could acomplish in land-scarced Singapore is very limited compared to what the training area in Shoalwater Bay could offer us!

Training was tough definitely, but we were still able to find simple joys amidst the dull and monotonous exercise.

I remembered how we used to play wrestling in the tentage and even disturbing each other in the bathroom which, I will leave the details to your imagination...

At the end of the day, we would chill out at the canteen and recount our day over a beer and a pop-in-the-microwave burger. 

Oh! How I missed those days!

That three weeks at the Australian outback with my peers was certainly one of the most memorable times of my military life!

Even though all of us have since ORD-ed and parted our ways to different reservist unit, I would never forget this friendship forged between us.

I have never thought that I will ever have the chance to relive those days again so imagine my surprise when I received notification that my unit would be going for Exercise Wallaby this year!

At our age, I guess most people would opt not to go for overseas exercise due to family and work commitments but for me, I was more than happy to go!

My only gripe was what took it so long?

This time, I will be going with a different group of people but I am sure my new friends and I would have a good time just like I had before!

* This is a scheduled post