Singing in the rain

As I look back at my years as a conscript in the Lion City, one of the more memorable things I did in the army was learn how to "Sing in the Rain".

No, we are not talking about Gene Kelly's film nor the musical "Singing in the Rain" but rather the practice of singing military songs or tattoos on route marches or runs. While most runs would be halted by bad weather, i.e. rain if there is a risk of lighting, route marches sometimes continue if the rain is not too heavy and the likelihood of thunderstorm is low.

The army likes to make conscripts sing while marching. Perhaps it is to build espirt-de-corps among us. Perhaps it is to get our minds distracted from the fatigue and tiredness. Perhaps they have nothing to better to make us do. Whatever the reason, I learnt to sing many different types of songs while in the army when moving from point A to point B and especially when point A and point B are measured in kilometres instead of metres.

What are the songs that we sing? Well, there are bawdy songs, there are songs about love lost and about commandoes although I was never in a commando outfit, only in infantry, armour and back to infantry again as a signaller.

Believe it or not, we sang songs by Pat Boone, "Pearly Shells"

"Pearly shells from the ocean
Shining in the sun, covering the shore
When I see them, my heart tells me
That I love you
More than all the little pearly shells"

Another song that follows Pearly Shells include this one that I know not the title and my recollection of the lyrics may be somewhat unreliable :-)

"Oh hurry hurry home now
Hurry home to Singapura
In the mountains and the valleys
Hurry home to me

I know I know
You have to go
Please hurry back home
I miss you so."

We also sang the song from Vietnam war movies, "Purple Light"

"Purple light in the valley
That is where i want to be
With my three best companions
With my rifle and my buddy and me. "

The songs were taught to us by the instructors as well as sang by some of those who were in the National Cadet Corp or National Police Cadet Corps. These songs are etched indelibly in my mind as part of my national service experience as it reminded me of the time when I had to sing to get my mind off the physical exertions in the military.

Now that my daughter is on her way into my life, I will remember some of these songs and sing them to her as we move as a family from point A to point B. This time, we will start including Barney and other children's songs as well!

What were some of your songs you remembered in National Service?

To endure we dare, to excel we will, all the way

While my posts can sometimes be very negative about my experience as a conscript in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), I must credit the SAF to teaching me the meaning of the word, "endure".

How the Singapore Armed Forces teaches you to endure
During my basic military training in Pulau Tekong, the physical training instructors' favourite words were "endure". You had to endure push-up positions. You had to endure log PT positions. You had to endure and run through the Standard Obstacle Course (SOC) for the 2nd and sometimes third round.

You endured.

The endurance was about you accepting the limits of your physical tiredness and continuing to proceed even when you wanted to throw up and just pant and wheeze like a horse after passing the finishing line.

You endured.

The endurance was about you being insulted and called names like "gu niang" (hokkien for lady) and others CB and other less palatable names during the "tekan" week.

You endured.

The endurance was about completing 2.5 years of full-time National Service (NS) followed by 10 years of reservist involving 7 high key and 3 low key training. It was about putting up with the asinine SAF bureaucracy and having to put up with State interference with your life until you completed ALL your obligations to the State and was transferred into Mindef Reserve status.

I endured. And so did many of my brothers-in-arms who endured like the many of us.

In the film, "Starship Troopers", citizenship was only granted to those who took up Federal service akin to volunteering to serve in the armed forces. In Singapore, it is the reverse. Your $1,500 or $3,000 tax relief does not even cover the risk of you being maimed, injured or killed during training accidents. To add insult to injury, you have to buy your OWN insurance because the SAF only compensates you for loss of pay and maybe workman compensation if you die while serving the country.

What more do we citizens have to endure for our responsibilities while Singapore is being flooded with foreign immigrants who take the same share of public resources such as public transport, public roads and lights, safety and security provided by the very citizens under our conscription system?

Safra clubhouses just doesn't cut it.
Tax reliefs just doesn't cut it.
IPPT awards of $400/200/100 just doesn't cut it.

Since so many foreigners want to come to Singapore and work, why not create a foreign legion concept and grant citizenship for those who serve 5 or 10 years in the SAF? This will allow foreign talent to infuse the SAF with new vigour and energy and allow more talent to be redistributed back to the civilian sector and also reduce our reliance on reservists to be cannon fodder for Singapore Inc.

Since FT are so good, let's invite them to be part of the regular forces in the SAF.

Clearing your debt to the nation

You are born into debt!
When you are born as a male citizen in the Republic of Singapore, you are born into debt.

This debt stays with you quietly, it stays hidden in the background all the years in your life. It makes its subtle presence felt with NAPA tests and singing songs while jogging 4 rounds around the athletics track during the Junior College days until the day you turn 18, when the Ministry of Defence sends out a notice for you to report to the Central Manpower Base to be enlisted as a conscript in the Lion City.

All of you male citizens and male children of Singaporean citizens or Permanent Residents. You have been born into a debt that existed even as you were but an embryo in your mother's womb.

This debt can only be cleared in a few ways. Some young men escape their debt if they get out of the country before a certain age. Some escape lessen their debt because of some pre-existing medical condition that exempts them from serving out their debt to the nation. The rest of us pay off this debt slowly through seconds, minutes, hours, days and sometimes even with our lives!

The first 2.5 years (now 2 years) in National Service, usually in the Singapore Armed Forces, learning to defend the motherland. This is followed by the agonising 10 years of reservist where one is never fully allowed to be a civilian but instead continues to be enslaved into the annual service of the Singapore Armed Forces before finally, age catches up with you and you hit 40 years or have completed your 10 years of reservist training cycle where 7 high-key training sessions were clocked and 3 low-key sessions. After this, they give you a watch, a small medal and a worthless piece of certificate that tells you thank you and FO.

Clearing off this debt!
Just like your housing loan, your debt to the nation as a conscript or a full-time or reservist national servicemen in the Singapore Armed Forces is one of the longest debt you will take on. It is quite interesting that I find it took me 12+ years to clear my housing loan and 12+ years to also clear off my debt to the nation.

Was this good or bad debt? It is good for those who made use of the NS experience to learn lifeskills and how to work with people (both good and arseholes alike). It also helped me become healthier and fitter than I would have if left to my own devices. It is a bad debt for those who were still going through the assault course during BCTC at the ripe young age of 39, panting from sheer exhaustion. It is bad for those who never manage to survive and were taken from this world through accidents, illness or mishaps.

Housing debt vs NS debt
You get into a housing loan because you borrow money to pay for the roof over your head. At the end of the day, you get a home, fully-owned that can also be sold for money if you need to. What does clearing our NS debt get us NSmen? You get to share our lovely island of Singapura with the 1-2million immigrants while you take the bus and mrt. You get to feel alienated in your own country because of the influx of immigrants who do not speak English. You get to feel that your sacrifices made for male citizenship came to naught because the pathetic NS relief cannot compensate you for the 2 years of your youth which was taken from you where you could be making money, enjoying yourself or to do whatever you wanted.

You wonder what good is citizenship when the current administration hands out Permanent Residency permits as easily as flyers being distributed by immigrants along MRT station walkways? Besides the ability to travel to US visa-free, what good is a Singapore citizenship FOR THE 12 YEARS OF DEBT TO SINGAPURA?

I have cleared my debt to the nation.
I have done all that my country asked me in the military.
What will the country do for me?

Be safe during NS!