It has been a moderately lengthy hiatus, a distinct lull that sets in almost too rapidly, like the stroke of embarrassment you reel from when you humiliate yourself in public. Things have changed in this interim period, intangible and untraceable elements. And I reckoned it was an ideal time to let these changes go.

I've figured, or to be more precise, refined the way I perceive myself as a soldier. Nothing more than just one in a force of hundreds of thousands, I am nonetheless responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands--a composite of those under my supervision and naturally the very beings we exist to defend. It is indeed hard to fathom that a lone soldier holds such power and importance in an organization laced with red-tape struggling to keep afloat the torrential downpour of criticism. Time and money are certainly cause for concerns considering the scarcity of resources in this minuscule country where every action has to be backed with careful consideration and calculated risk. But to state, to claim, to profess that the allocation of such resources is not only optimal but indubitably necessary is almost instantly blasphemy to the ears of the common. But I stand, firm, as a single lone unbound soldier, to tell you that these resources have not been spent callously. They have been invested in a worthy cause and people like myself are living testaments to the fruits of the defence system's efforts.

But in understanding the skewed mindsets of many, including personnel who compose the very system they stand for, it is clear that there is a common pre-conceived notion that an individual's effort is insignificant and negligible, insofar that there absence and non-existence will too have a non-impact. Bullshit, just utter.

The mass is only as powerful as the capabilities of its composition, and that boils down to every single last individual--soldier, clerk, storeman, whatever. You don't go around telling the government body that their administrative staff are practically dispensable. Do you actually reckon that the parliament can function without these secondary tasking being assigned to specialised individuals. Indeed, these are specialisations that we are assigned and regardless of how much of a contribution we think we make, the end-state cannot be achieved less our contribution. And by extension of logic, every individual's contribution is equally important. If everybody is inter-dependable, then really nobody is more important than another.

And such a premise doesn't end here in the military, it is a common phenomenon that is unfortunately widespread. The next time someone downplays his/her importance, just send the person home, so that everyone else will feel the repercussions of one less important individual. In saying that, the word important is almost contradictory in nature, being in existence to make people feel important yet concurrently subtly and inexplicitly putting someone else down. In my opinion, the only instances such a word should be employed are 2:

"All of you are important"

"All of you are not important"

Choose your words and beliefs wisely.