I just finished reading the classic, "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque. The novel is about a young man, Paul, who enlists into the Germany Army during World War II and we experience the full spectrum of the horror that trench warfare brings to this young man of 20.
What NS means to me
The most striking quote from the novel is to me this:
It is not their way to protest what they already know.
My NS experience has largely been that. To accept it as the rite of passage and price to pay for being born male and a citizen in the Republic of Singapore. Privately and within platoon mates, one voices out the unfairness and injustice of it all: the ability of the State to decide what it wants you to do for two and a half-years plus change in the name of military defence.
Before I enlisted back in the late 80s, I had read "Red Storm Rising" (by Tom Clancy) prior to my enlistment into the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) not so many months after my 18th birthday. I was full of excitement and also some fear as to what to expect at the hands of the SAF. My elder brother who had enlisted some time before me had advised me to just keep my mouth shut and to listen to orders. This advice served me well because during my entire 2.5 years in full-time military service, I did not receive any personal disciplinary punishments other that platoon wide confinements and defaulter's parades. The occasional dressing down by instructors happened to me but I managed to avoid signing for extra duties in general.
But my experience in my 2.5 years of full-time national service in the SAF soured me on the ideals of duty, honour and country. The reality of military service is closer to "All Quiet on the Western Front" than "Red Storm Rising". It is of being powerless as a cog in the wheel of the SAF. It is not so much about protecting the country per se but more of protecting the status quo of our economic miracle that is Singapore Inc. It has less to do with protecting lives than protecting the money making miracle that is uniquely Singapore.
Some people might think, who are you who also enjoy the fruits of Singapore Inc complaining about conscription? It is because I have served my full obligations to the State and contribute my fair share of taxes, deprivations during NS and seeing NSmen die in my unit that I realise I need to voice out my observations as a reservist who has gone through the system.
Why do we serve?
One of the army songs we sing goes,
Have you ever wondered,
Why we must serve?
'Cos we love our land,
And want it to be free, to be free, yah!
But free from what? The whole idea behind military defence of having a full-time conscript army was that in the 60s and 70s, Britain's withdrawal of military forces would leave us open to communist forces seeking to overturn our fragile democracy and turn Singapore into a satellite of Communist China or Vietnam.
Fast forward to 2000s. Is this threat still relevant?
9-11 has made homeland security or protection against terrorism and low-intensity conflicts one of the threats that the SAF and Home Team need to address. But can this be done with a fully-professional military and home team security?
Are we thinking seriously enough about questioning whether the sacred cow of conscription can be slaughtered or at least modified to make it more equitable to the Singaporean male citizen?
It will take many more years before we can possibly evisage following what Taiwan is doing, to shorten conscription even more and to consider fully professionalising the SAF instead of relying on conscription.
In the meantime, be safe in NS.
Majullah Singapura.
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9 comments:
Citizen soldiers are more effective in wartime than professional soldiers for one reason and one reason only:
The citizen soldier wants the war to end quickly so that he could return back to his wife and/or family.
A citizen soldier has a life before and after soldiering. He was a somebody in the social strata, and he will be a somebody too when he finishes his soldiering. He was a somebody before the war, and should he survive the war, he will be a somebody too. He is resourceful and he survives anything because he soldiers so that he could live, not that he lives so that he could soldier.
With this latest epiphany, I have more respect for citizen soldiers than professional soldiers.
Professional soldiers are good for peacetime parades and for invading a country.
But you need a citizen soldier to defend your country because to him, he has more to lose than just his life and limbs.
Citizen soldier and proud of it,
Private Hansac.
The citizen soldier wants the war to end quickly so that he could return back to his wife and/or family
You think professional soldiers want the war to continue so they will have a higher chance of dying?!
A professional soldier does not depend on a war to be employed.
Hi Hansac
I think both professional and citizen soldiers both want to survive wars and not to be involved in actual combat. But I remember watching "Band of Brothers" where a German Officer asked the American Officer what will they do when there is no war. Probably the German Officer was a professional soldier whereas the American Officer was a citizen soldier.
A professional soldier is a career soldier. In peacetime, his monthly stipends depends on his soldiering: his ability to keep his bed straight, his uniform prim, his springy salute to his officers or superior officers, his lockstep movement in drills, his kissing up to the higher chain of command. Not true?
A professional soldier livelihood is therefore dependent on what keeps the war machine moving.
In peacetime, "peacekeepers" were sent to foreign countries and they like it! Because they get extra allowances, gets to move around with cocked handguns and rifles, and live the lives of expats.
No citizen soldier would want to leave their cushy chairs in an airconditioned office of their highly paid civilian jobs so that they can do high-risk patrolling duties in downtown Iraq.
I stayed as an army reserve in my country because I want to defend my country. No benefits in the army of my country motivate me to stay in the army reserve, not the allowance, not the perks, not even the camaraderie spirit (there was some but not much).
A professional soldier wants to charge up that hill so that he will have a chance with that Medal of Honor.
There are advantages/disadvantages to both citizen and professional soldiers, but I would rather have a citizen soldier as my foxhole mate.
Hi Hansac
Yes, operational tours of duty mean allowances and promotions for those professional soldiers. In terms of career advancement, I think kissing up to superiors happens in civilian careers too. :-)
It's great that you continue to serve in the reserves because you believe in defending your country.
I believe that for Singapore, we need to seriously consider converting our army into a fully volunteer force. Our navy and air force have majority of its personnel professional soldiers unlike the army which has majority conscripts.
Based on what I have experienced in NS, if given a choice, a large number of Singaporean men would rather not serve.
the song i sing when i lead my men during runs and route march goes:
Have you ever wondered?
Why we must serve?
Cause we have no choice
and lan lan we must serve we must serve ah!
Ordinary soldiers have no say over military policy. Wars are decided by the top brass (and politicians). Ordinary soldiers have but one duty: to obey.
In Singapore, although the grunts and lower level commanders are slaves, those who make the important decisions are regulars.
Peacekeepers are sent in under UN auspices. Are you suggesting professional soldiers somehow have a role in causing a need for these peacekeepers?
Although I would rather not be in the foxhole, if I had to be there I would want someone whose livelihood was soldiering, and who knew what he was doing (and presumably was good at it).
Would you trust a part-time doctor (40 days a year of training maximum) with your life?
And slavery also serves a political purpose. It's not totally military.
Err, Malaysians want to be conscripted?
That's like saying people in one country without capital punishment envy a country where people are executed efficiently and painlessly.
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