Good news or bad news? That National Service is now cut to 2 years instead of 2 and a half. Seriously I have no idea how to feel. I have 2 months cut off from my current 2 yrs 4 months, and it is something to rejoice about I guess. Yes, I have to say that I applaud this decision very much.

The main reason is due to the fact that I spent most of my time wondering what I have been doing all this while. I can't say I learnt nothing but that amount of time could be spent on better stuff, for example, learning a new language or making music in a rock band. In economics, they call it opportunity cost. But I also realise that we spent too much time on books nowadays that our bodies cannot keep up with the mind. The 2 months discount means that I have really more time to do the stuff I wanna do before I enter University.

The other reason is the disparities between ranks. Maybe it's luck, if you get into OCS, commission as an officer and earn a thousand worth of pay a month. Now think about those whose ranks are lower and earning much less. Why do I think it's luck? Because there are many capable people out there in the lower ranks who can do as well as the officers do. With the current 2 and a half years of pay, an officer would already earn alot at the end as compared to a sergeant for example. With the cut in service, we can at least see a slight closing of the financial gap between ranks. I guess that's the problem with civil service. Capabalities alone cannot net you high incomes.