To Mono XI:

People often say that when you think about a place, miss not the bad times but the good memories. It is undeniable that we have indeed been through some rough times in the last couple of months, but what’s more important is that we have all pulled through; battered and bruised, but not defeated. Frankly speaking, I don’t think I would have been able to do this without your support and encouragement. A place would not have been like what you remembered it for if everyone had left. It would be foreign and cold.

This place has undergone a complete overhaul since we first arrived. Everyone we had known has left or are leaving. It’s no longer like what used to know it. I could still remember a time when Mono X were still here where they would just sit on the benches at the vending machine area and chat till dawn on a Monday morning. Or barricading our doors with the bed and cupboard to save Ben from certain destruction after a birthday celebration gone wrong and ended up inadvertently locking ourselves in.

Then times changed. For better or worst, the answers are in your hearts. Regimentation became the first order of the day. Who could forget the numerous times we were turned out after lights-off due to someone still chatting on the mobile or walking around the corridor? Or the sudden introduction of intensive IPPT training sessions every other day just because a certain someone wasn’t satisfied with anything less than a Gold standard?

Well, things couldn’t remain like this forever. Soon after, late nights made a return and the emphasis on physical training wasn’t that strong anymore. Our last days as I recalled were spent where we first begun. Whether it’s at the canteen savouring what little indulgence we could afford in camp. Or on the courts dribbling a basketball or scrambling down the slope to pick up the soccer ball we had just smashed past the netless goalposts. Along the corridors where we met, we couldn’t avoid having a conversation reminiscing about yesteryear.

But all this doesn’t matter. Not today. Not tomorrow. Because however much a place transformed, the people don’t. If you asked me today if there was anything I wanted to change if I could, I would honestly tell you that my answer is a resounding no. I would gladly relive through these days again if I had another chance. True friends are few and far between, but I believe I have certainly made a few in my time here.

I may not have known everyone of you well, but I know and remember every single one of your names because I bothered. As cheesy as this may sound, you are the people who had brought colours to my life, making every day in camp worth living for. I wake up every morning knowing that I’ll have fun getting through the day because of your presence. Thank you for being part of my life and I hope I had been part of yours too. Till we all meet again, au revoir mes amis.

Love,
A friend.