Ah Boys to Men brings back memories of BMT

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I know this is a bit late as Part I was released in Nov 2012 and Part II in Feb 2013, but I have just seen Part II (did not watch Part I).

Before that, there was Army Daze, released in 1996.

Watching both Army Daze and AB2M brought back memories of basic mility training (BMT). Could identify with some of the characters in the movie. So, for nostalgia sake, here goes...

 

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Lobang "Lee Onn": the Hokkien chao ah beng but who has got street-smart leadership qualities and a good heart.

Had two of them in my BMT platoon. Both were from neighbourhood schools. My platoon had recruits from all walks of life: from Hokkien pengs to pre-U students.C

I could see the contrast in their leadership styles: the street-smart Hokkien pengs versus the educated ones from ACJC/Hwa Chong/NJC/RJC (as typified by Aloysius in the movie. More of this later.)

How to get on with both types of leaders? Walk their walk, and talk their talk. We would talk in dialects and more crudely with the Hokkien leaders. But we were direct and open with each other, no hypocrisy. For the elite leaders, we talked in English and showed a bit more manners.

 

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Aloysius Jin aka "Wayang King".

The upper-class, pampered highly-educated goody two-shoe. Usually a Pre-U student from ACJC/NJC/HCJC/RJC.

Had a bunch of this from ACJC in my platoon. Typical brash, loud-mouth elites who always moved together in a group, not mixing with the lower-class Hokkien soldiers. There is a class divide between the two groups.

Always speak in English, never in dialect. Do not drink, do not smoke, still virgins at 18.

And one or two of them, at different times, were sabo kings. And as the section commanders and OC are also Pre-U/poly graduates, the commanders are able to better relate to this group of recruits. They would chat together during tea-breaks or rest periods, talking about school days, what universities and what courses they are going to do after ROD etc. So sometimes this bunch of elites are seen as sucking up to the commanders.

 

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Ken Chow, the "hero" in the movie. The good-looking, English-speaking hero with a righteous attitude.

From the elite Pre-U bunch. A couple of athletic, good-looking, well-brought up and well-educated lads who obviously have got girfriends during their pre-U days. The envy of the platoon. They are the other group of leaders.

But they know how to give due respect to the Hokkien leaders and somehow, both group of leaders got along with each other.

 

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Man In Ping a.k.a IP Man: the loser who lost his girlfriend because of national service.

Quite a few in my platoon. Quite a few guys lost their girlfriends when they entered National Service, from hokkien pengs to Pre-U elites. For some, this was the first time they had a break-up and NS made them lose their innocence to boy-girl relationships and changed them somewhat (from a boyish approach towards girls to a more grown-up, but cynical, approach.)

Like MADMANSG would say: "NS is killing SG!"

 

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Ismail Mohammed - the blur-like-sotong recruit who got marked.

A few blur guys in my platoon. Gave the platoon some entertaining moments.

 

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In the movie, there was a recruit from PRC who spoke only Chinese.

In my time, there were no PRC recruite but quite a few from the Chinese-educated stream. They form a Chinese clique vs the English-speaking Pre-U clique, and they prefer to converse in Chinese among themselves.

Of course, they could not speak Ingerleesh that well and pronounced "educated" as "helicopter". Hence we called them Chinese helicopter.

 

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No such character in the movie but the closest was self-centered Aloysius Jin: the guy who kena saboed by the platoon. (They put a stone in his full-pack for route march).

There was an obnoxious self-centered guy who thinks only for himself. Does not care about camaraderie and mutual respect. Bullies the weaker (the Hokkien pengs and Chinese helicopter) ones but was careful to stay out of trouble with the Hokkien and English leaders.

But inevitably got into an argument with the Ken Chow of my time: the Pre-U good-looking dude. Both got into a fist-fight int he bunk and it was a signal for the two sections (who shared the same bunk) to throw a blanket over the CB kia and whack him. Blanket party! I got a couple of kicks in, wearing my combat boots.

 

[Getloud]

The 6 parts army series in the 1980's I find it closer to reality (BMT life).