“In the old Nee Soon Camp, when it was called SBMT, the drivers had their own bunks at their company line.

At a point of time, they have to convert a storeroom into a quarter for the men as well. Then, there were 2 men allocated with the 2 beds placed in the store.

Without knowing how long after that, one of the duo got posted out of the unit, leaving the other, a middle-aged Regular driver condemned for his promotion. Several months passed and a new addition to the driving unit arrives and was assigned to the empty bed.

At his new bunk he met the rather old soldier (we shall name him Lee) and quickly got acquinted to him. As the days went, the new soldier (we shall name him Tommy) found out that Lee is a rather hardworking soldier. He would wake up in the morning and found that Lee has left his bed for his duty. At night, they would meet in the bunk and share their daily “encounters” and tips on making army life an easier one for both of them. Tommy also noticed a foul stench in the bunk, but took it as a fact as it was a store. As days passed, he got used to the “aroma” and didn`t think much about it. After all, it only smelt slightly worse than his room back home.

With such a good buddy, army life was a breeze for Tommy and months passed by with a blink of the eyes. It was during a day when Tommy was chatting with some new- found friends at the company line that the rest found out that he was staying at the store-converted bunk. Then, they found out about Lee and was quite lost when the name was mentioned, but they shrugged it off for there were actually soldiers who kept a low profile to escape duties in exchange for a simpler life in the army. This was especially common with the regular men in the support unit back then.

A few days after, Tommy`s new friends started to enquire more about the whereabouts of his bunk- mate. It was then, Tommy realised that it was rather strange not to see Lee around the company line. Though they do meet up at the bunk everynight… Tommy used to think that Lee was always out on field trips. But, as he became more seasoned with the driving unit operation system, he understood that it was near impossible for one not to be spotted at least once a day around the company line in the day, no matter how “condemned” you were.

That night, Tommy missed out on asking Lee on that issue as he was tired out by the day`s duty and quickly forgot about the strange fact thereafter. The next day, a new-found friend at the camp had to drop by Tommy`s bunk for a reason and both soldiers headed towards the “storeroom”. Upon reaching the door, the usual stench grew stronger than it used to be in the normal days.

The two soldiers were totally mortified when they walked into the room. There lying on the bed, where Lee was sleeping and the bed Lee and Tommy had sat and chatted away so joyfully for countless nights, was an outrageously decomposed corpse. After spending so many days together, Tommy almost immediately figured out who`s soul the unwanted “shell” belongs to… It was Lee…”