On the first day when I came to Brani Naval Base, I did not know anyone here, looking so blur and lost. The first impression I got from the people here was hard to get along with, especially the RPs. When I was allocated to traffic control, I did not know any of my men just then.

Until the third week when I was about to go for lunch, a group of RPs (ET, LSF and TLT) came out of the office and prepared to go to PSA. I happened to walk behind them and ET (whom I did not know initially) stopped to chat with me. He introduced himself and the rest to me and we started with a comfortable conversation like interest, likes and hobbies.

We found that most of us had similar characters and interests. That made us even closer. He even told me that on the first day he saw me, I looked very fierce and I wore no smile, thinking that I would be a very difficult sergeant to 'deal' with. I did not know anyone then, how could I anyhow smile to anyone then. From then on, I began to know each and everyone of them by heart, and things turned out so well that some of us even still contact each other after ORD....

Not long after, 6 newcomers were posted to BNB. One of them were Wee. He looked okay to me initially. But during the On-Job-Training period, he kept applying for leave to see doctor outside and thus indirectly disrupted the planned schedule. Thinking to myself, he must be one of those cao4-gheng1.

One night, ET was the prowler I/C and I was the Guard 2I/C. Wee was allocated to prowler that night. It was about 6.30pm. Prior to, ET told Wee wherever he went, he had to report to ET first as a safety measure. Unexpectedly, Wee went to PSA canteen for one full hour without reporting his whereabouts. This left a bad impression in me. Such similar incident occurred very shortly. He went to bath without anybody known where he was. Impression? Deteriorating.

After his OJT, things also did not turn out right. He was the 2nd one I had 'operate' on. I remembered I paged for him, but no reply. Then I called his home, and his mother picked up. Telling her what happened, she quickly wrapped up the conversation saying how obedient, how good was he to his primary school friends, how good was this, how good was that. From then on came this famous phrase:" Come rain or shine, I shall always be at WCO."

Fortunately, things turned out better when he was transferred to Pass Office (politically), Although he looked sloppy on the first day. It really takes a long time to know one person.

Wil? Everybody knew he would turn purple when something was wrong with him. How we continue to stay in touch was unknown. Can John & Gang members recall?