Bullying recruits the only good thing about army sergeant’s job

Posted on February 14, 2013 by gdy2shoez

From ‘SAF investigating allegations on Facebook comments’, 14 Feb 2013, Channel News Asia

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) said it has begun investigations into allegations that a third sergeant had boasted about being able to vent his anger on recruits. The third sergeant is believed to have posted the comments on Facebook four days ago.

Screen grabs — believed to have been taken off his Facebook page — have been making their rounds on the internet. When contacted, SAF said it cannot comment further, as investigations are under way.

Angry 3SG

I thought this was sourced from the SAF Confessions Facebook page, but those are supposedly anonymous, protected and moderated. It’s not clear from this post HOW this guy shows his anger, so it’s rather premature to accuse him of recruit abuse unless it involves physical battering or ear pulling. Maybe he just hurled some vulgarities, stomped his feet or slammed some doors. If you look closer at the text, you’ll see that he’s vague on the source of the anger (‘show my anger when I’m pissed…at the recruits’). He could be pissed with an unrelated personal matter, or pissed off AT the recruits. So ‘venting his anger’, which suggests the former, may not be the accurate term to use here.

Anyone in the position of authority would be naturally inclined to bully, or ‘tekan’ others on a bad day if given the chance. Some teachers, for example, would threaten to sodomise you with a bat if you’re cheeky. But unlike proper professions that invoke authority and mentorship such as educators, nuns or doctors, the role of a sergeant in the army is mainly of command and control. As one who’s been through his own share of verbal abuse during NS, there’s no ‘code of conduct’ among army specialists to speak of, and you won’t lose your ‘job’ if you spend half a day ordering your boys to carry a locker up and down the stairs just for the heck of it. The trick, perhaps, is to act like you’re in foul mood on a permanent basis, so that we can’t tell the difference if you’re teaching us a lesson or your girlfriend just ditched you for another guy because you’re such a angry bastard outside of camp anyway.

Like most viral Facebook screengrabs, I believe this incident has been blown out of proportion. People exploit and abuse each other everyday without being reported about it. Your boss doesn’t approve your leave because his wife rejected sex. Your teacher calls you ‘stupid’ when she’s having her period. Your orientation camp leader makes you do push ups on top of girls you hardly know for no damn reason. It’s even harder to remain ‘professional’ when you’re a 3SG serving your time like the rest of your recruits. This guy got picked on because abuse in the army is a particularly sensitive issue, in fear of causing accidental death, psychological damage or worse, suicide. He also chose to voice what most guys in his position secretly relish inside. At the risk of vengeance attacks, notwithstanding.

The SAF Confessions page contains far worse, explicit depictions of abuse and juvenile tomfoolery if they to be believed. A pissed off sergeant would take a shit on your bed, for example.

Screen Shot 2013-02-14 at 9.59.04 PM

Figures of authority are not spared the wrath of their charges though. Some underlings ejaculate into their officer’s coffee.

Screen Shot 2013-02-14 at 10.19.24 PM

The army sure does crazy, extreme things to the mind, having to subject oneself to an atmosphere of regimented violence, confinement and blind obedience. I don’t see this going anywhere beyond a counselling session and maybe extra weekend duties at most, but my advice to this guy is to keep a really close watch on his canteen and coffee mug from now on.

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Filed under: 2013, Army, Violence | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

SAF offering citizenship to Malaysian enlistees

Posted on October 20, 2012 by gdy2shoez

From ‘ Knuckledusters era over, says former ST editor’, 20 Oct 2012, article by Amir Hussein, CNA

In 1973, a reporter at the now-defunct New Nation broke a story about how the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) was inviting Malaysians to enlist, with Singapore citizenship as an incentive. The reporter got the story after spotting a small classified advertisement put up by the SAF in The Straits Times.

On the same day that the story was published, plainclothes police officers turned up at the newsroom and whisked him away for interrogation.  A week later, on a Sunday, the reporter was personally served with an enlistment notice – even though he had completed four years of National Service in the Vigilante Corps.

Detailing the episode in his book OB Markers: The Straits Times Story, former Singapore Press Holdings English and Malay Newspapers Division Editor-in-Chief Cheong Yip Seng said that, until now, the episode was not publicised and was known only to the newsroom, the reporter’s family and friends.

…Among the chapters is one on the “Knuckledusters Era” of the 1970s where Mr Cheong, 69, recounts the Government’s “tough treatment of the Singapore media”, including crackdowns on newspapers.

“I have seen newspapers closed when they fell foul of the government, and friends lose their jobs. Journalists have been detained. I did not suffer their fate, but many were the times when I was at the receiving end of Lee Kuan Yew’s fury,” he writes.

Bringing non-locals into the armed forces with the carrot of citizenship isn’t so shocking when you consider how we dangle incentives in front of foreign talent these days, especially when it comes to our Olympic Table Tennis players. However it’s one thing to have a foreigner win medals, and another to have one bear arms for the country. I just had to find out for myself if such enlistment ads by SAF actually existed. It didn’t take long to dig the online ST vaults to uncover one in 1974, which was out to recruit non-combat staff like mechanics, armourers and storemen.

Zooming in, you can see that ‘non-citizens who are successful in their applications will be offered citizenship’.

You can also refer to a 1973 ad which may be the one mentioned in Cheong’s book, where in addition to those listed above, foreigners may serve as a combat medical orderly. There was, however, no specific mention of Malaysians. Even the NAVY was offering foreigners the same reward. Where one’s loyalties lie was secondary to the urgency of building up military numbers. Shoot first, integrate later. You could apply the same analogy to the current state of ping-pong. Paddler first, Singaporean second.

So how different are things these days? Check out this Navy recruitment brochure, where one prerequisite other than being Singaporean is that you’re a Singaporean PR ‘intending to take up citizenship’.  According to the QnA, you will need to be a Singapore citizen, however, before putting your ink on the contract. You also have to serve NS if you’re a second generation PR. Although there are no explicit terms and conditions guaranteeing citizenship after 2 years of wasting your life, there are subtler ways of nudging you into becoming Singaporean. In 2010, a $9000 payout to NSmen was withheld from PRs, only to be handed out once they become citizens,  serving as both reward (for citizens) and BAIT (for PRs). However, there are still many who would rather give up the PR status than submit themselves to conscription. Minister of Defence Ng En Hen revealed in 2011 that a third of male foreigners who became PRs under the sponsorship of their parents renounced their PR status just before enlistment.

The government has since been juggling between having enough men in the SAF to defend the country vs retaining enough countrymen (and PRs) itself. But it’s not just prospective Singaporeans who are repelled by NS,  many born and bred here are equally reluctant to bear arms for the nation. Ng Eng Hen recently revealed an increased number of Singaporean and PR defaulters (those who failed to register or went AWOL after going abroad) this year compared to last. A sagging birth rate isn’t helping either; we can be discharging all the state of the art missiles our inflated military budget can buy, yet fire nothing but blanks in our bedrooms. You can roll in the mud, hurl a grenade or assemble a rifle in less than 30 seconds, but fail in the most basic task of replacing yourself.

But back to knuckle-dusting. It wasn’t just the 70′s that was a thugs’ life for journalists who question the status quo. The last reference about ‘knuckle-dusters’ came as late as 1994, when LKY wrote in his memoirs his affection towards political writer Catherine Lim.

Supposing Catherine Lim was writing about me and not the prime minister . .. She would not dare, right? Because my posture, my response has been such that nobody doubts that if you take me on, I will put on knuckle-dusters and catch you in a cul de sac . . . Anybody who decides to take me on needs to put on knuckle dusters.

Strong words, but you’d have little to fear really; Knuckle-dusters are banned here and we’re getting too crowded to be caught alone and defenceless in ‘cul de sacs’. But here’s what they look like, for the benefit of those who think LKY’s referring to sparring mittens. You can see it’s far too deadly a weapon even for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Your knuckles are dusted

Filed under: 1970s, 2012, Army, Politicians | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

NS man killed by tree in freak accident

Posted on September 30, 2012 by gdy2shoez

From ‘NSman’s death: Tree was checked in April’, 29 Sept 2012, article by Jalelah Abu Baker and Lim Yan Liang, ST

The site where the fallen tree killed an operationally ready national serviceman (NSman) on Thursday was checked during a routine inspection in April.

The inspection was carried out by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), which said in response to The Straits Times’ queries last night that such checks included the pruning of trees on state land in populated areas.

“For forested state land next to populated or high-traffic areas, SLA carries out periodic and cyclical checks of trees, and will prune them when necessary,” said an SLA spokesman.

The spokesman did not say how often these checks were made, and declined to comment when asked what the authority thought had caused the tree to fall, citing ongoing police investigations.

On Thursday, Lance Corporal (NS) Tan Tai Seng, 23, was waiting to enter the military grounds of the Ama Keng Training Area in Lim Chu Kang when the tree fell and pinned him to the ground.

When a tree falls by the roadside and no one is there to see it, who do you point your fingers at? SLA, NParks or GOD? April is a good 6 months since this tree was maintained, and according to NParks’ Tree Management Programme, inspection along ‘major roads or parkland’ is done at least once every 18 months, to check ‘health and stability to ensure that trees are safe and stable under NORMAL weather conditions’. Which suggests that the authorities have little control over ‘healthy’ trees still succumbing to ‘tree failure’ in the event of storms. Of course when someone’s life is at stake, it’s no longer ‘tree failure’ anymore, but a ‘freak accident’. In the Garden City, when the bough breaks, it’s not just the cradle that will fall. Vehicles are a favourite target for killer trees. Other hits include houses, hikers, covered walkways and even the NTU hostel. One death is too many still, no matter how much pruning or hi-tech tree tomography the authorities deploy to keep our 800,000 roadside trees (in 2009) in pristine condition.

In 2000 alone, there were at least 3000 cases of trees falling apart, and NParks maintains that the number has been reduced over the years. So how did SLA suddenly get involved in tree management? Earlier in March, one particular huge tree in Upper Bukit Timah which crushed a couple of cars was reported to be ‘managed’ by SLA (after a clarification by the media that it was wrongly attributed to NParks’ charge) with one of the motorists describing it as more than ‘FLIMSY’. It seems that the work to look after our trees is split between these agencies (though they would call it ‘tapping on mutual resources and expertise’), with SLA taking charge of a tree bank consisting of 11,000 trees in 2008. But even SLA may refer you to someone else if you try to seek damages when a giant tree crashes into your house. In the case of a near-fatal bungalow incident in Seah Im Road in 2008, it was EM Services, a property management company. If a tree falls and hits your car in a HDB carpark, a lawyer may tell you to claim damages against your TOWN COUNCIL, though the latter will tell you to speak to your insurance company. Sometimes, the town council may pin the blame on a ‘horticultural contractor’, and even the URA may be answerable to trees falling in their carparks. Like pesky birds, it seems that we’re facing the same accountability problem with toppling trees, and no one knows if they should call the HDB, NParks, URA, SLA, property agents, insurance companes, third-party contractors, your MP or the Archbishop if something unforseen and terrible happens.

Most of our trees were part of a LKY-led ‘green rage’ to artificially landscape Singapore into a tropical paradise, and instead of just focusing on post-mortem fingerpointing, one should think about the tree’s history too, whether it was indigenous to the area or one of those ‘instant trees’ that was erected in a hurry, like a clumsy prop on a shaky wooden stage. Any attempt to sue NParks, SLA or your town council with negligence in the event that a tree murders a loved one would be countered with the ‘Act of God’ defence, unless you could prove beyond a canopy of a doubt that the authorities have not been diligent in their inspections. But just how efficient are these ‘checks’ anyway? In the recent case of a tree crashing a metal roof of a walkway in Sentosa, it was checked merely 3 WEEKS before the incident, though the inspection was managed by Sentosa’s ‘environment and landscape’ team and there was no mention of any agencies’ involvement. If so, SHOULD NParks have been involved? Or is it a case of ‘your tree, not mine’? Are victims of killer trees condemned to resigning themselves to just ‘bad luck’ and endless rounds of ‘passing the parcel’ over which tree belongs to which agency?

It would be unfair to blame the SAF for not training our soldiers how to defend themselves against uprooted trees, but if history prevails, the likely answer given to the distraught family of the deceased is probably a botanical (fungus infection, bad soil) or a meterological one (bad weather, strong winds). Mother Nature already took the blame for being the mastermind behind our flash floods, and now she’s orchestrating death by trees too.  I think it’s time we have an NParks App that alerts Singaporeans to any tree that is ‘due for inspection’ so that we can watch out for falling branches or whole trees going ‘timber!!’ on us if we’re anywhere near. They could call it Angry Trees or something. It could save a few lives and cost much less than a bunch of overpriced bicycles.

Filed under: 2000s, 2012, Bureaucrats, Environment, HDB, Motorists | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Temasek Revealed’s Hoax NSF death

Posted on January 29, 2012 by gdy2shoez

From ‘Blog post on NSF’s death a hoax’, 29 Jan 2012, article by Jessica Lim, Sunday Times

The Defence Ministry (Mindef) has refuted as a hoax a blog post claiming that a full-time national serviceman (NSF) was shot dead last Friday during a live-firing exercise. The post appeared that evening on a blog which calls itself Temasek Revealed. It said the incident took place that morning.

The post then appeared on a Facebook page called Temasek Review early yesterday. It said a 19-year-old Singapore Armed Forces serviceman had been shot in the right eye by a stray bullet in the Sembawang area and that he died on the spot. Neither the blog, nor the Temasek Review Facebook page, is associated with the sociopolitical website Temasek Review Emeritus (TRE), which was originally known as Temasek Review.

By noon yesterday, the post had gone viral on forums such as Hardwarezone, and on other blogs and social networking sites. Temasek Revealed first appeared shortly after the original Temasek Review website went offline in September last year. The latter has since returned as TRE. An opposition candidate in last year’s general election, Mr Alex Tan, had said on his Facebook page that the Temasek Revealed blog was published by him.

The ‘Temasek’ brand, though initially created to stimulate political awareness and insider ‘journalism’, has generated enough clones to diminish its credibility as a source of reliable information. The irony of this all is that the original Temasek Review had copyright issues with Temasek Holdings’ Annual Report by the same name, and now has to face the dilution of identity by its namesake ‘sociopolitical’ bastard-child blogs. This is exactly the reason why PM Lee was concerned about the net becoming a free-for-all cowboy town, with a clueless sheriff and dozens of imposter Billy the Kids running amok. Secrecy, something which even the national paper is prone to keeping, in the form of withholding actual names to allow for verification is one reason why people succumb to sensational stories.  The fact that an anonymous death  report was sent by an anonymous relative via anonymous post/email, to a blog with an anonymous author, fails to prevent a piece of delicious tabloid tripe from spreading like wildfire.

Content matters, of course. A hoax has to be believable but not mundane enough to be ignored. If I were to plant a random forum with ‘Famous actress spotted with two guys at a bar!’, nobody would bat an eyelid. If, however, I change a single word to ‘Famous actress spotted lap-dancing two guys in a bar!’, now that’s news, but it can only work if people have a rough idea of which slutty celebrity this might be i.e you need a background history, or reputation. As for the NSF death case, there are three background facts: One, accidents like these CAN happen. Two: Specific accidents in the army HAVE happened in the past. Three: The SAF has a reputation of safety to maintain. Taken together, our natural human tendency is to develop sufficient interest in this to talk about it, whether we ultimately believe it to be true or not. Offline, it’s called gossip. Social media merely multiplies that effect, and by replicating itself through a wider network of busybodies than face-to-face chatter, things are bound to get skewed, and screwed, out of proportion.

Nothing captures attention like a hoax death, whether it involves evil dictators or singer/actors like Jon Bon Jovi and the classic ‘Paul McCartney is dead’ meme. Often these are the result of pranksters with no malicious intent to slurry the reputation of their targets other than send some gullible fans into premature mourning, since such rumours are easily dispelled. A phantom report of death from NS, however, seems designed not just to sensationalise, but specifically to get the ants in MINDEF’s pants. But you don’t even need the Internet to start the ball of ballyhoo rolling. In the past you could simply typewrite a letter, lodge it with the police and then proceed to rub your hands in glee.

In 1958, a spate of hoaxing got the media and affected targets in a frenzy, one involving the murder of a ‘poor girl’ by a gang. In the same year, Government Pensioner Mr A Khandiah of Cumberland Lane was ‘killed’ 5 times by hoaxers, before perishing FOR REAL after a botched operation, a cruel twist to the ‘Boy who cried Wolf’ perhaps.  On some occasions you may even bypass the media and telephone the undertaker straightaway impersonating as an Inspector, if you want to pull a really sick joke on a fellow naval officer.

So, how much distress has this fakery caused that the poster, or publisher, warrants a punishment? If the hoaxer had said ‘A military personnel has died’, people with loved ones in the army may worry a little. Saying ‘A 19-year old NS man has died during live-firing’ narrows the chances of the deceased being someone you know, but intensifies the tension. The most punishing hoax of all is one that falls  midway between being uselessly vague (Someone in the army has died) and the full reveal (Corporal So-and-so, 19 years old, in So-and-so Unit, was killed). In this instance, grisly details about how the bullet busted an eye socket and penetrated a skull was relayed, which sounds convincing until you realise how anyone can cite forensic evidence with such confidence just by watching CSI on cable.  Whatever the consequences, it’s not just the hoaxer/publisher who suffers ill-repute in this case. Such incidents give the authorities further justification for clamping down on bloggers because we’re not showing that we can be mature, discerning adults. By posting frivolous nonsense to generate publicity, this NS hoaxer is either shooting himself in the foot,  has a childish grudge against the army, or is an anti-tech ultra-conservative who wants to put an end to social media freedom forever.

Postscript: A 19-year-old youth has since been arrested for the offence of transmitting a false or fabricated message under Sec 45(b) of the Telecommunications Act, Cap 323. The Temasek Revealed site has also since disappeared without a trace, but like the proverbial hydra with its head cut off, another ‘Temasek Times’ has spawned, run by anonymous ‘freelance’ bloggers agan. Wonder if this site would be confused with TJC’s student newsletter Temasek Times instead. Be creative, people.

Filed under: 1930s, 1950s, 2011, 2012, Army, Bloggers, Fun and games, Funerals/Death, Police officers | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Heat Stroke as a SAF mobilisation codename

Posted on January 7, 2012 by gdy2shoez

From Random tweets in response to a SAF mobilisation exercise on 7 Jan 2012.

@Mr Brown: If SAF has units codenamed HEATSTROKE, what about units NASTY DIARRHEA, GIANT PILES and SKIN ALLERGY?

@Fake PM_Lee: SAF mobilisation code HEATSTROKE activated. All unit personnel must report to Medical Centre.

@Fake STcom:SAF Open Mobilisation: Following codewords are being activated: COMMUNAL SHOWER, SHARED BUNK, SLOW STROKES, PRETTY MOUTH

BAD CODE

‘Heat stroke’ is just one of the many silly codenames crafted for open mobilisation units. I’m surprised not a single codename this year has been named after a predatory animal. You have a race event, a marine feature, a meaningless location and a life-threatening condition. I figured  that ever since the very first recall exercise in 1985, they would have run out of macho names by now, but apparently even for the inaugural mob there was little about the codenames selected which suggest swiftness and ferocity: SEA KING, FIRE FLY, RARE GEM and amazingly, BABY TOOTH. I mean, whatever happened to STEEL VIPER, THUNDER FOX, UNTAMED BEAST, IRON EAGLE, LIGHTNING FIST? The word ‘BABY’ should never appear anywhere in the armed forces, and as far as possible codenames should always resemble the names of legendary kungfu fighting stances rather than sounding like part of a dollhouse accessory catalogue, or animals in a petting zoo.

Here’s a wacky history of actual codenames used in the history of the open mob, with some attaining shocking levels of wussiness:

2009: BEET ROOT(SCDF): Could you think of any tougher vegetable than BEET ROOT? How about BRUSSEL SPROUT, or KANG KONG? They don’t even serve beet root in the canteens.

2008: ICED MILK: I never heard of anyone putting ice in milk. You also might as well call the unit BABY BIB, or DIAPER RASH. If you want to name a unit after a beverage, it should be an alcoholic one. Like FLAMING VODKA or DARK WHISKEY.

2008: CUTE PONY (SCDF): Only Brownies would use this. Even HANDSOME HORSE or SEA BISCUIT would have been acceptable. The use of ‘cute’ is as shocking as ‘baby’. Can you imagine the radio announcer going: ‘The following codewords have been activated. FLASH POINT. KILLER WHALE. DEPTH CHARGE….CUTE..PONY.”

2008: SHEER DELIGHT: This sounds like the name of a candy bar, or a sweet cocktail. And it also describes the emotion NSmen experience when they see the green man flashing on TV.

2007: PRIZE AWARD: This is just two related nouns joined together and doesn’t make any sense as a codeword. A prize IS an award and vice versa. It’s like RIFLE GUN, or GRENADE BOMB.

2007: LITTLE PANDA(Police and SCDF): Aww, baby animal names. Perhaps to tug at the enemy’s heart strings. Also see Tiny Koala below.

2006: FLYING HIPPO (SCDF): I suspect the reason for this codename is solely to immobilise the enemy by leaving them in stitches.

2006: FATAL SCORPION: This is an attempt to come up with a fierce name gone horribly wrong. It should be DEADLY SCORPION. You can only describe the scorpion’s STING as fatal, not the creature itself.

2004: SEA WEED: How umami. Probably from the same brain which gave you BARRIER REEF.

2003: GALLANT GOOSE (SCDF). Sounds more like a codename the RSAF would use, or the name of a restaurant that specialises in poultry. I can think of at least three birds of prey to replace goose. How about DARING FALCON, BRAVE OWL, or VALIANT HAWK?

2003: TINY KOALA. More suited for Australian boy scouts. KING KOALA would have sounded fine. Or better still, GRIZZLY BEAR.

2003: LONG MILLIPEDE. Seriously, of all creepy crawlies they had to choose this. How about MIGHTY CENTIPEDE? Or JUMPING SPIDER?

Filed under: 1980s, 2000s, 2012, Army, It Should Have Been.., Names | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Divers not men of steel

Posted on May 20, 2010 by gdy2shoez

From ‘Men of Steel’, 20 May 2010, My Point, ST Forum

I commend Monday’s report (‘Men of Steel’) about the Republic of Singapore Navy divers, but take issue with its headline.

…He (Dr Goh Keng Swee, Defence Minister, 1967) said: ‘The tempering of steel is a lengthy process and men of steel you must be; anything less has no place in the Singapore Artillery.’

Since then, the phrase ‘Men of Steel’ has, at least in the Singapore Armed Forces, been reserved solely for the designation of artillery officers and warrant officers, specialists and enlistees.

Will the real Man of Steel please stand up? Urm, I believe that’s Superman, not NSmen. Claiming a moniker that has not been officially bestowed upon an army unit, especially when it rightfully belongs to superheroes, is just self-indugent. I believe the departed Dr Goh intended it as a figure of speech, not a knighthood. This wins the ‘Buay Pai Seh’ award. Besides, would you want our NSmen to share the same title as these dudes?

Filed under: 2010, Army, It Should Have Been.., Politicians | Tagged: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

NSmen sleeping

Posted on February 17, 2010 by gdy2shoez

From ‘Such uNSightly slumber’ 1 Feb 1982 Letters to ST

I noticed a good number of them (National Service soldiers) sleeping (on SBS service 172, 181 and 193) in such a way as to present a bad image of the SAF.

Military policemen travelling in civilian clothes should check on these soldiers and book them for improper behavior, lest they further tarnish the image of the SAF

This is what you get for defending the nation. Damn ingrates.

Filed under: 1980s, Army, SBS Buses | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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