Today, October 15, 2009, I complete my obligations to serve my country in the uniformed services. Today, I stand down from the Singapore Civil Defence Force. I was enlisted on January 18, 1978 in the Singapore Police Force, got my commission as an Inspector of Police on October 11, 1978. Spent my two and a half years in the Police Academy and Queenstown Police Station. A lot of amazing experiences – “mati” cases, AWOL, drunken brawls in Holland Village, “mini-turf-club”, anti-vice and anti-drug raids, drunk driving incidents, etc etc etc. RODed from SPF in 1980, did about five years as a reservist Inspector, than transferred to the newly formed Singapore Civil Defence Force in 1985. Did service there, was part of the emergency command center, got trained as a public warning systems officer, participated in a bunch of war-time exercises, then transferred to the MRT shelter company as Company Commander of SC102 (Newton MRT station) in 2002. Was mobilized as a deputy commander of the 1st Contingent of Operation Lion Heart in response to the Indian Ocean tsunami and was on the ground in Banda Aceh for ten days. Never expected to ever be mobilized for anything, but when the call came in, I said yes. And today, I stand down. Thanks. It has been fun.