Are our NSmen/NSF mentally stable?

The recent incident where a full-time national serviceman (NSF) in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) went AWOL with his SAR21 should not surprise anyone who has served their 2 to 2.5 years of full-time National Service (NS) as well as those who are or have completed their 10 (previously 13) years of reservist in the SAF.

A typical NSF
A typical NSF is aged from 18 to 21. He is a young, healthy and fit male at the prime of his life and imprisoned by the State to forcibly serve in the country's defence force (or police or civil defence) against his wishes for two full years. In order for the State and its residents to be secure, he must be sacrificed in terms of his liberty and in terms of being turned into a potential killing machine by the State.

Control over arms and ammunition is (mostly) tight
The State's control is strong. In the SAF, you have to credit them with enforcing very strict weapons handling and accountability practices. You sign out for your personal weapon. You are responsible to keep it clean and in good working condition. You are subject to inspection for weapon cleanliness and serviceability. During reservist, you either lock your weapon up when you are in the bunk or ask a buddy to look after it or carry it with you when you go to the toilet.

Control over ammunition is equally strong. Rounds are issued also on an individual basis and unused rounds are also accounted for.

What was reported
In this case, it has been established that Corporal Dave Teo had been issued with his SAR21 plus rounds for guard duty. This is common as virtually all NSF would have done guard duties as part of his NS experience. What is uncommon is how he managed to walk out of the camp with his weapon and rounds. What is more critical is WHY he walked out of the camp with his weapon and rounds because he was only 1 month away from his ROD or run-out-date where he would have completed his 2 years of full-time national service.

What we want to know
Based on available information, the key question we should be asking is what was his state of mental health when he decided to AWOL with his weapon. One of the areas which our national service system is weak is in being able to manage people who are undergoing mental problems. The Singaporean culture also sees mental illness as a stigma and to admit that you were classified non-combat fit because of mental illness is not exactly the most shining item on your future curriculum vitae. Typically, the regulars I encountered could not give a sh** about the mental state of their conscripts except maybe during rifle range / live-firing and grenade throwing as there have been incidents of recruits shooting their platoon commanders in the past before.

Therefore, the question is did CPL Teo show any signs of depression, mental illness or other symptoms that may trigger us to consider if he should be placed on guard duty. Knowing how guard duties are assigned, in general, you either get it as part of a rotation or you sign for it because it is a punishment, i.e. extra duties. If he were already depressed because of break-up with his girlfriend plus being punished with extra duties, this is indeed a potentially risky combination as this incident may have borne it out.

Broken-hearted during reservist
I remember one of our guys in the platoon broke up with his girlfriend (or more accurately got dumped by his girlfriend) prior to his reservist in-camp training. Fortunately, by then the platoon was in our third or fourth year in the training cycle and the men knew each other reasonably well. This fact was disclosed to the sergeants and platoon commander and we informally told his bunk mates to keep an eye on him and we made an effort to just say "hi" or "ho seh boh?" occasionally when we met him face-to-face.

This was especially important during rifle range when he had access to both his M16 and the 5.56mm rounds. Nothing happened as we keep a close eye on him and he was by then in his late 20s and considerably more mature than a young NSF at 20.

The greatest threat potentially is within
Having served the State as an unwilling conscript in the SAF for 2.5 years and 10 years of reservist. I believe the greatest threat of a Virginia Tech Cho like incident could come from within. While I hope and pray that it will never happen, it stands to reason that given the cocktail of young NSF with mental problems e.g. depression, coupled with their exposure to media to Virgina Tech style or Columbine style killings plus access to weapons and many rounds, if we do not maintain a close watch on the mental health of our soldiers, we could experience our own Virginia Tech style incident. So far, the CISCO auxiliary police force plus the Singapore Police Force has seen incidents where staff committed suicide using their service revolvers.

Our increasing population density, high-paced lifestyle and increasing stress levels on Singaporeans are already giving the population more and more instances of suicides and mental health issues. Let's hope that even as we impose conscription on our own citizens while welcoming foreigners to our shores, we do not self-create even more tragedies of our own making by neglecting the very citizen-soldiers that serve the nation's defence where our economy is based.