Saving Private Gallagher

    1...2...3...4...Stretch...and relax. With l ess than a 100 days to go, the fateful number that so many National Servicemen look forward to, there won't be many more Army-standard training exercises to endure.      Its been both mentally and physically exhausting, serving a cause that you have no say in, regardless of if you see its merits.      I've been fortunate enough to have football as an avenue to rid myself of these empty cycles of training. Doing physical training thrice a week with no purpose, no objective and no reason to try. Even when we go outfield, there is no inclination to put effort into what you do, there never is. How are you meant to motivate yourselves if there is only negative reinforcement, and even then its so marginal. You become numb to your superiors' disdain or feedback. I guess that's why its so easy to stand out in the army, possessing motivation and a slimmer of enthusiasm can get you so far. Not to take away fr...

   As I sit here and recall the whirlwind of events that have transpired over the last month, I can't help but have a massive grin on my face. I've represented my nation in front of a thousand fans with even more online, cheering myself and my teammates on as we attempted to write history.    One year ago, I was fresh out of BMT, struggling to adapt to the vigorous training schedule in my new posting, going through a heart wrenching break up and thinking that the decision I made to not attend command school in order to allow myself to chase a far-fetched footballing dream was a terrible one. I was in a hole, and I can't say I was happy whatsoever. I was so far away from my lifelong friends, in a situation I never wanted to be in, unable to do what I loved. I had a goal, unknowing if it would ever materialise. Here I am, in a position that I dreamt of for years, and more importantly that I manifested for myself.    Hearing passionate fans scream the Singapor...

  Loyalty is a trait that never seems to carry a negative connotation, and rightly so. The ability to stick with someone or something through thick and thin is extremely commendable, but to what extent is keeping your loyalty worthwhile? Does forcefully being loyal to your nation for two years (followed by another 10 in intervals) of your life even count?    Being loyal to a just cause, or a person that has earned that loyalty is respectable, but sometimes I look at people serving the army just to get it over with like me in utter disbelief. You have extremes on either end, people so determined to let the army consume their life and revolve around nothing but that position, talking about it endlessly and making others' lives more miserable for the sake of a few rules. In stark contrast, you also have 'chao kengs' or other people of the sorts that take medical leave and have no interest in being of any help to the guys they're working alongside. Loyalty shouldn't lie...

       Well...plenty has happened in the last two months since I last posted here. It wasn't a matter of my life being mundane and nothing happening, but rather me struggling with issues ranging from my football 'career' to my future beyond the army.       For the past four months my army life has changed completely, I've been able to live a childhood dream in the form of playing football for a professional team and to represent Singapore in a way that I would have never thought could materialise. However, at the same time my Army commitments haven't taken a back seat and I've had to juggle them both and it hasn't been the easiest at times. Don't take this as a complaint because I absolutely love the opportunity and challenge that 'living two lives' presents, but I can now empathise with the top professional footballers who deal with issues with their mental health. Everybody outside the world of football thinks that its easy to kick a ball aroun...

     Excuse me for the extended hiatus, but life got in the way. Between the three jungle visits, football starting back up and a host of other things on my mind I let the blog slip. However, today I feel like I have a peach of an entry and hopefully can share some tasty army life morsels.     Let's start with my top five packing essentials. 1. A   Field chair      Whether we're deployed in a conventional (jungle) or urban (buildings) setting, a field chair is a 10/10 must have. When you're sat on your arse waiting for hours at a time for your enemies to make the trek to your deployment, what better way to relax and enjoy your assortment of snacks and Netflix downloads (which I'll get to later). As you gain seniority you see variations of field chair change, the closer you are to ORDing (finishing your service) the further back your chair tends to be able to recline and thus the comfort levels. I have to mention that the equipment you bring o...

There will be defining moments in your life, that when you back on them and think wow, that could’ve gone so differently, probably for the worst. In the last 2 months I’ve been down in the dumps like never before, evaluating what it is I’m really doing, what am I chasing, what version of myself am I happy being. I almost gave up on the one thing that makes me happier than anything else in the world and yet here I am presented with the opportunity of a lifetime to grasp something I’ve been working tirelessly for. At the same time I’ve been brought back down to Earth, being forced to realise that I’m not the perfect human, and I’ve got so many areas I need to grow in and mature. Making mistakes is forgivable, but sitting in silence, not learning from them isn’t, and that’s something I want to preach.  I probably sound like some pastor worshipping different values, but in the past month, I’ve realised more than ever that the work you put in when no one is watching will always be more ...

 The last few weeks in camp have been pretty dull, so in today's entry I'll be answering some of your questions from IG as well as discussing my life outside the army and what that's like. Trying to balance my footballing ambitions and NS commitments      For as long as I can remember I've been chasing the dream to one day play football professionally and maybe represent Singapore. In the past 16 months I've been closer to that than I've ever been before in my life, training with a top professional set up in Kitchee in Hong Kong and coming back here with an opportunity to join the local setup. However, the current global pandemic has severely limited my options and left me with little choice but to wait for things to die down. Having played nothing more than a few weeks of football in Singapore over a few summers prior to enlisting, I had few contacts and didn't really have any hope that I could play over here. Since then, I've started working with some ...