Stupidity Factor

On April 10, 2005 · 14 Comments · In Army / National Service

I’m happy to do National Ser­vice not because I’m a True Believer, partly because I’m never sure what I believe in. But National Ser­vice is such a way of life here that I’m bet­ter off not spend­ing my time kick­ing against it while hav­ing to serve, because that’d make me a whole lot more miserable.

As you’d imag­ine, there are sto­ries to be told about National Ser­vice, and because of that, Days Were The Those was started last year, with open invi­ta­tions to any­one (non-serving women also) with a story to tell about National Ser­vice. I like the way it’s been going, with a diverse range of insight and down­right non­sense, with the non­sense bits com­ing mostly from me.

This week, I received an email from a reader who con­tributed a story about how his life was put in unnec­es­sary dan­ger dur­ing his time in ser­vice. I’ve asked him to post the story him­self because I think it’s impor­tant enough, and because I’ve gone through that same stu­pid­ity myself to know it well:

Some nights I can still see the round drop­ping to the ground in slow motion — and yet too fast for me to do any­thing. I know that two years after I ORDed an NSMan died in an inci­dent very sim­i­lar to the one that I had gone through — and on the very same live fir­ing area.

There’s a dif­fer­ence between putting your sons in harm’s way for a legit­i­mate rea­son and some­thing as sense­less as tak­ing a risky short­cut. And it should make you won­der as well, whether real­ism in train­ing dic­tates that you should sim­u­late water tor­ture con­di­tions, when in all rea­son­able expec­ta­tions of real­ity, the chances of our sol­diers being put in that sit­u­a­tion for real is close to nil.

I know there are many more sto­ries along the same vein, and I’m glad they’re slowly ‘declas­si­fy­ing’ accounts of inci­dents to bring those guilty of per­pe­trat­ing gross neglect and stu­pid­ity to bear. I’m still hor­ri­fied by stan­dards dur­ing my time in full-time NS where once, dur­ing a night train­ing exer­cise with live ammu­ni­tion, I was asked to train my machine gun on a ridge 600m away, and only stop fir­ing when I was told that our own troop­ers were charg­ing up the hill. The radio-comms call order­ing me to cease-fire came only after I sighted the sil­hou­ettes of my mates, against moon­light, on the ridge. Good thing I had great eye­sight and night vision.

I’ve lost two mates to National Ser­vice, and I have four years left to serve. I don’t want to lose any­one else.



 
Facebook Twitter StumbleUpon
  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/7661567 stoned.nerd

    i con­cur.

    i’ve lost a mate too, a close one at that, in cir­cum­stances bet­ter left unsaid but not unforgotten.

    but the mad bit is, they cov­ered their asses and blamed anything/anyone but them­selves. appro­pri­ate actions are only taken when an inci­dent is high­lighted in the media. when the case is dis­cussed in the Parliament.

    the com­mando case, though sad and unfor­tu­nate to all con­cerned, has served a red flag to all involved. but it won’t be the last.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/7661567 stoned.nerd

    i con­cur.

    i’ve lost a mate too, a close one at that, in cir­cum­stances bet­ter left unsaid but not unforgotten.

    but the mad bit is, they cov­ered their asses and blamed anything/anyone but them­selves. appro­pri­ate actions are only taken when an inci­dent is high­lighted in the media. when the case is dis­cussed in the Parliament.

    the com­mando case, though sad and unfor­tu­nate to all con­cerned, has served a red flag to all involved. but it won’t be the last.

  • Anony­mous

    Per­son­ally, I think there isnt enough ben­e­fits for NSmen , and hon­estly Sin­ga­pore is really small, hence a bomb would destroy half or whole of island (choy) anyway.

    I think NS is kindof a waste of time for Sin­ga­porean men, and it really isnt fair.

    They should at least uh, pay more or give out schol­ar­ships, or make every­one go to school dur­ing their ser­vice, so every­one have AA/diploma when they’re done with their service.

    RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT?
    or some­thing like that

    xanga.com/amnezia

  • Anony­mous

    Per­son­ally, I think there isnt enough ben­e­fits for NSmen , and hon­estly Sin­ga­pore is really small, hence a bomb would destroy half or whole of island (choy) anyway.

    I think NS is kindof a waste of time for Sin­ga­porean men, and it really isnt fair.

    They should at least uh, pay more or give out schol­ar­ships, or make every­one go to school dur­ing their ser­vice, so every­one have AA/diploma when they’re done with their service.

    RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT?
    or some­thing like that

    xanga.com/amnezia

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1256302 Unknown

    I’m begin­ning to think that *any* mil­i­tary do some sort of cover-up…some sort of alter­nate real­ity if you will.

    I mean, even here in the US…like I need to say more.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/1256302 Unknown

    I’m begin­ning to think that *any* mil­i­tary do some sort of cover-up…some sort of alter­nate real­ity if you will.

    I mean, even here in the US…like I need to say more.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/5487291 ivan

    From i’ve sussed out it’s the same in cyprus, ger­many and britain (no national ser­vice though).

    I think the mr miyagi’s main point of want­ing more account­abil­ity and tran­parency is very valid, esp since this duty might be said to be ‘forced’ upon us, sin­ga­porean. it is just as impor­tant to for sin­ga­pore­ans to realise that it might be due to a ‘mil­i­tary cul­ture’ rather than just the armed forces.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/5487291 ivan

    From i’ve sussed out it’s the same in cyprus, ger­many and britain (no national ser­vice though).

    I think the mr miyagi’s main point of want­ing more account­abil­ity and tran­parency is very valid, esp since this duty might be said to be ‘forced’ upon us, sin­ga­porean. it is just as impor­tant to for sin­ga­pore­ans to realise that it might be due to a ‘mil­i­tary cul­ture’ rather than just the armed forces.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/5193820 Indi­ana

    Any Nations mil­i­tary is a closed shop with it’s own lingo, it’s own rules and it’s own way of pro­tect­ing it’s own ass.

    These prob­lems have always existed but as the media gets more savvy they are being high­lighted and are sub­ject to pub­lic scrutiny…yet I think there is an inher­ent dan­ger that goes with being a servie, and let’s face it you’re not train­ing to be a boy-scout, war is “slightly” dangerous.

    I think the prob­lem for most sol­diers isn’t that shit hap­pens, it’s that so many ass­holes on high cause it.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/5193820 Indi­ana

    Any Nations mil­i­tary is a closed shop with it’s own lingo, it’s own rules and it’s own way of pro­tect­ing it’s own ass.

    These prob­lems have always existed but as the media gets more savvy they are being high­lighted and are sub­ject to pub­lic scrutiny…yet I think there is an inher­ent dan­ger that goes with being a servie, and let’s face it you’re not train­ing to be a boy-scout, war is “slightly” dangerous.

    I think the prob­lem for most sol­diers isn’t that shit hap­pens, it’s that so many ass­holes on high cause it.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/657418 kureshii

    sadly, most offi­cers nowa­days lack the basic dis­ci­pline to ensure that things get done prop­erly, even if they involve seri­ous breaches of safety. what to do? look out for your own ass, and bug the con­duct­ing officer/ whoever’s-in-charge-of-bringing-you-back-in-one-piece even if it’s going to get you extras and what­not. if you feel your safety isn’t being taken care off please sound it off, too many peo­ple die because they keep their doubts to themselves.

    who will keep you safe? the saf safety hot­line, of course. it’s a num­ber you might want to keep in your handphone.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/657418 kureshii

    sadly, most offi­cers nowa­days lack the basic dis­ci­pline to ensure that things get done prop­erly, even if they involve seri­ous breaches of safety. what to do? look out for your own ass, and bug the con­duct­ing officer/ whoever’s-in-charge-of-bringing-you-back-in-one-piece even if it’s going to get you extras and what­not. if you feel your safety isn’t being taken care off please sound it off, too many peo­ple die because they keep their doubts to themselves.

    who will keep you safe? the saf safety hot­line, of course. it’s a num­ber you might want to keep in your handphone.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/3148605 Anthony

    I think the process of account­abil­ity is a –very– good one. It doesn’t mat­ter if we have one safety cam­paign or a hun­dred, because the –mind­set– never changes.

    Can you imag­ine the poor offi­cer that has the job of inform­ing NOK? “I’m sorry that he died, but you know, it was really his fault…”

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/3148605 Anthony

    I think the process of account­abil­ity is a –very– good one. It doesn’t mat­ter if we have one safety cam­paign or a hun­dred, because the –mind­set– never changes.

    Can you imag­ine the poor offi­cer that has the job of inform­ing NOK? “I’m sorry that he died, but you know, it was really his fault…”

Set your Twitter account name in your settings to use the TwitterBar Section.

Switch to our mobile site