Watching your child grow up is always bittersweet, but at her eldest son Jeriel’s OCS commissioning parade last weekend, actress Lina Ng felt nothing but pride for the 19-year-old.
Yesterday (Mar 10), Lina, 49, took to Instagram to document this very important milestone in her son’s NS journey.
Sharing a video taken at Jeriel’s commissioning ceremony, Lina wrote: “In December 2023, Jeriel asked me what I wanted for Christmas, and I said: ‘To affix the rank on you, on your OCS commissioning day.’ With a gentle smile, he replied: ‘Okay, I’ll make it happen.’ And true to his word, he did!”
Lina added that Jeriel is her family’s first army officer, calling it “a journey of perseverance spanning 38 challenging weeks”.
In the video, Lina was seen walking up to her son and enthusiastically giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
Jeriel went on to hug his dad, physical education teacher Mike Lam, before breaking down in tears in his arms.
At this point, Lina, who obviously could no longer contain her excitement, asked if she could put the rank on him first. She proceeded to remove the original epaulette from Jeriel’s shoulders and said she and Mike will each put a new rank on a different shoulder.
Lina’s two other sons, Joel, 17, and Samuel, 12, as well as Jeriel’s grandparents and girlfriend were also there to celebrate the occasion.
In an interview with Chinese media zaobao.sg, Lina shared that her son’s OCS training was very tough.
However, being the eldest son, Jeriel was determined to set a good example for his brothers by “conquering” his army training.
“As his mother of course my heart would ache. All the outfield training, whether rain or shine. He didn’t get to sleep or eat well and got bitten by bugs. There was once his body couldn’t handle the ‘strict’ training and had to go for an IV drip. It was inevitable for us parents to be worried and heartbroken,” she recalled.
That said, Lina confessed that she acted like a “tiger mum” at times when she would tell her son to endure and overcome the obstacles like a man.
But the tough times did pay off right?