Parades...

Our routine is filled with parades: Morning Parades, Games Parades, Pre-Outing Parades, Post-Outing Parades........... and the list goes on and on and on. Out of all the military activities, I despise parades from the very bottom of my left hypertrophied ventricle. 

Our parades are not those March Pass Parades that occur during Merdeka Celebration, ours is more like a assembly where we stand in formation according to specific Battalion and intake. The whole aim of the parades is to get the strength of cadets present for a certain activity or to make sure all the cadets are in the camp. 

Morning Parade

Allow me to explain what happens during a parade. We stand still throughout the whole parade staring into space, day dreaming away, occasionally stamping our feet and moving our heads when orders are given, then we resume standing still and staring into space again. We're not allowed to talk, to read or to do anything except to stand still and stare into space. 

Each parade will take 1 hour at the very least, anything faster would be a miracle. So with the number of parades we have, just imagine the amount of time wasted. Time which could have been used for studying or training so that we become smarter, fitter and stronger. In other words better soldiers or doctors or whatever we are supposed to be. But no, they'd rather have us standing still for hours becoming more and more stupid and unfit as time passes.

The process where we are made to become mentally retarded by wasting our time via very time consuming parades is called Stupidization. If we are not careful, we may produce officers in the future who are retarded.

I really thank God that as a medical cadet and a triathlete, I'm resistant to Stupidization as I'm exempted from most parades.   

I'm not saying that parades are useless and should be eliminated totally. Parades have their benefits too.  However, they should be kept short and sharp, taking as little time as possible to increase productivity. I don't see why it should take hours just to do simple math to calculate the amount of people present in a parade. Maybe the effects of Stupidization has already taken place?