The Officer's Creed

***
I am an officer of the Singapore Armed Forces.

My duty is to lead,
to excel,
and to overcome.

I lead my men by example.
I answer for their training,
morale,
and discipline.

I must excel in everything I do.
I serve with pride,
honour,
and integrity.

I will overcome adversity with
courage,
fortitude,
and determination.

I dedicate my life to Singapore.


***

The Officer's Creed is breathtakingly simple but fully laden with meaning and expectation. In OCS it was most commonly associated with the mandatory water parades, which somewhat dulled our sensitivity to the true implications of the creed, seeing that we were too engorged with water to think about anything profound. But right now when I'm so far removed from the familiarity of home and everything it represents, this has somehow gained an entirely new dimension in my point of view. The words possess a motivational value that extend far beyond the military realm into other aspects of my life; whether it be training, classes or just about anything else. Just think about this example- "I will overcome adversity with courage, fortitude, and determination". It helps to reconcile me with my meaning and purpose whenever despair or disillusionment starts to creep in, and helps to assuage the doubt that may have accummulated due to this. I guess I subscribe to the belief that you are only as strong as you think you are. Recently I've been guilty of letting my guard down at times, not pushing myself as hard as I could have, tapering off when no one's around to keep me going. Sometimes it's so difficult to keep yourself motivated, especially when the odds are all stacked against you and you figure that you scarcely have a fighting chance in any situation, so there really doesn't seem to be any good you could possibly gain from imposing such unwonted stress upon yourself. But there always is something to live for, something to prove, and nothing you can't tackle once your mind is dead set on achieving it. It's all in the mind. I can't emphasize that enough, especially since I've started rowing in Michigan and discovered the mental aspect of training at an entirely new level. It's only when you're on the ergometer and midway through a workout piece that you start to play mind games, asking yourself why you're subjecting yourself to all this hard work and why you fought so hard to make it onto the team in the first place when all you've succeeded in doing is to set up more challenges for yourself. And it's at that precise moment where either one of two things happen- your resolve weakens, you figure that no one but yourself knows how hard you're pulling on the ergometer anyway since it's not visibly apparent, and you slack off. Or you grit your teeth, try to sustain your split timing one stroke at a time, get it down below a target rate, and push through the pain. I must admit I've been more inclined towards the former, but honestly what is the point of short-term gratification at the expense of prolonged gains and ultimate satisfaction? It's a tough choice to make, one that's even harder to stick to when you're blinded by the present and barely aware of the future.

"I will excel in everything I do."

Simply put, this is a stark ultimatum- it doesn't leave room for regret, for other alternatives, or for the easy way out. And I don't think I'd want anything less than that for myself.