Scorpions: Silent and Effective

On my way home this afternoon, the cab passed by Bedok Camp at the eastern end of East Coast Road. Bedok Camp was home to the Scorpions (3SIR) for the last few decades, but now it stood silent and deserted, ready to be torn down. I haven't gone by this area in ages, but it still seemed the same, and I could almost hear the men of the 8th mono chanting "Scorpions, To be Respected!" in the parade square after their Saturday 8km run. Across the street was our favorite "Bedok Corner" hawker center, which has now been renovated and given a name: Bedok Food Center. I wonder if they still have my favorite salted fish fried rice (Giam Her Char Png), ching tng and Hokkien mee. And right next to the camp was that little patch of "forest". They didn't allow us to dig holes in the camp, so myself and the Mortar Platoon were marched to this "forest" outside to practice "digging in". It's funny how the Mortar men spend most of their time during an exercise just digging and digging, and then digging again; but when they are finally done, its time to cover up, redeploy, and start digging again. What good training for a second career as a gravedigger!

Since the appearance of the Main Battle Tank (MBT) in WWII, armies throughout the world regarded the infantry as second class soldiers whose only role was to clean up after the armor had finished its job. The blitzing tank was too fast for artillery, and could run down infantry. It was practically invincible in large numbers on the battlefield. That perception changed in 1973....

In the opening days of the Yom Kippur war, Egyptian infantry inflicted devastating losses on the Israeli tank divisions at the Sinai front. The armor fought valiantly, but were no match for the swarming infantry armed with saggers and RPGs. Limited Israeli artillery batteries did not do much damage to the dug-in Egyptian troops (that's why infantry practice digging when they are not moving...), while themselves being subjected to counter-battery bombardment. The tank was king no more...

Alrite, enought depressing war talk already. It appears that I'm very likely to be joining PromiseWorks. If anyone else is interested, just let me know!

Unetaneh Tokaf

This is the prayer every Israeli chanted on the morning of Yom Kippur, 1973:
"On Rosh Hashana it is written and on the day of the fast of Kippur it is sealed... who shall live and who shall die, who in his allotted time and who not, who by water and who by fire, who by the sword..."

The Yom Kippur War: The epic encounter that transformed the middle east

I have finally started reading "The Yom Kippur War" by Abraham Rabinovich! I've been anticipating this book for months, and even ordered it on acmabooks.com.sg a month before its official release. Yet, when it finally arrived, it sat on my bookshelf for a whole month, 'cos I was just so busy with other stuff! I finally opened the wrapper yesterday. I was motivated to buy this book after reading "The Six Day War" by Michael Oren. That other book was really deep and analytical, so deep that most people thought I was crazy reading such stuff, but it was really good. So I opened "The Yom Kippur War" expecting another round of deep analytical reading (I'm an engineer, bring it on!). Surprisingly though, its been quite a pleasant read so far! Just the right mix of analysis and narrative, concise and precise, just the way I like it! Michael Oren critiques that it's not as analytical as most readers would like to see, but what the heck, it makes for a good bedtime story.....

The background:
Israel was formed some 50 years ago by Jewish immigrants leaving Europe for Palestine after the Holocaust. These Jewish immigrants received weapons and ammunition from the US for being an ally during the Cold War. The Arab countries, resentful of the Israelis, received military aid from the Soviet Union. In 1967, a whole bunch of Arab countries decided to attack Israel in what was known as "The Six Day War". The main culprits were Egypt to the West, Syria to the North, and Jordan to the East. Though largely outnumbered, Israel destroyed the entire Egyptian airforce on Day 1, and subsequently won the war in 6 days, capturing the Sinai in the West, Golan Heights in the North, and the West Bank and Jerusalem in the East. Small skirmishes followed in the coming years, but Israel pretty much became complacent after they established military superiority in the region.....

The setting so far:
The year is 1973. It is the week before Yom Kippur, one of the holiest days for the Jews.
Egyptian infantry, armed with water cannons, RPGs and sapper missiles are preparing to rush east across the Suez in a daring raid on the Israeli outposts at the edge of the Sinai peninsula. Anticipating an onslaught of Israeli tanks, the amount of antitank weaponry they are carrying will allow them to create a beach head with the densest antitank defences ever faced by any military. Meanwhile, SAM sites on the west of the Suez are ready to provide anti aircraft coverage, while tanks positioned on ramparts provide a barrage of fire on the incoming Israeli tanks.
On the east of the Suez, the Israeli outposts are thinly manned by reservists behind 60-ft high sand embankments. Fortified tank positions (known as "fins") are unmanned, and the Israelis are not anticipating an attack.
The story contiunes......

Quotable quotes from the Today paper

"Rich or poor, each of us has only one life to give to protect what is ours."
- Raphael Leong

"GEPer, leper -- I wonder why the words look so similar. Coincidence? Perhaps not... It's nice to have brains, nice to have a label recognising that you're not doing badly in school. What would be much, much nicer would be not having the ego to match."
- Edric Sng (former classmate)

Conformists

Just read this in the Today paper:
"One problem is that "gifted" individuals are often "non-conformists" who have difficulties blending in..... Gifted individuals are the ones who scan the environment and decide what is worth doing and what is not..."

It is unfortunate that GEPers and the GEP program have been getting a lot of flak from the public lately. A recent issue of The Economist described Singapore as a "highly conformist society." A couple of people I spoke to actually thought that was a compliment. Trust me, The Economist had absolutely no intention of singing our praises! It would actually do us some good to have "non-conformists" who are able to think creatively and out-of-the-box.

Then there is the accusation that "they become so comfortable with other GEPers that even outside the classroom they prefer each other's company." Hello! At that age who doesn't hang out with their own kind/classmates? Ah Bengs prefer each other's company, so do secret society members. What about the jocks who do sports training everyday? Or the "english-educated" rich kids? Or those in SAP schools? Hey, boy scouts and girl guides hang out in little cliques too! I can't believe anyone could be so narrow minded as to think it is a problem for kids at that age to hang out and form cliques with others who they see in class everyday.....

Italy's economy/ growing old

Just read this in The Economist:
"The World Economic Forum in its annual competitiveness league table recently ranked the country (Italy) a humiliating 47th, just above Botswana."
Botswana?? Super ouch!

Quite a few ppl have commented that I look older than I really am. The usual questions I get are, "So you've been working here for quite some time already?" and "Are you married?". And you should see the shocked look on their faces when I say no. Ok, this is usually at work, not in a social context. Is that a good or bad sign?