Blanket Party in the Singapore Armed Forces?

The article above hints at what may have been a case of "blanket party" in the Singapore Armed Forces. Given the terse and very unhelpful news article that does not possibly shed much light on this incident, one can only rely on guesswork and conjecture since the state of reporting in our 151st ranked main stream media is nothing short of appalling.

This article found in hardwarezone current affairs forum linking to a blog ahgonghippo seems to be a more fleshed out article found in the subscribers' section of the Straits Times online.

Without prejudice, this is my take given 2.5 years in full-time National Service as well as 10 years of regular reservist in-camp training of a mindef-reserve NSman.

What is a blanket party?
It is nothing like any party you would like to attend. This refers to a practice found in the army or even Police and Civil defence units where a group of people gang up to bash or assault someone. The blanket comes in as a means to mask the attackers' identities through restricting the sight of the victim. It also serves as a means to subdue the victim and allow the attackers free rein to "hamtum" or assault the victim.

It is about a group kicking the ass of usually one individual.

Call it bullying, call it fighting, call it whatever you want.

The main point is you do NOT want to be the victim.

Why do blanket parties occur?
Normally, people do not go around assaulting others for no rhyme or reason. But then again, if Steven Gerrard's Liverpool can be charged with assault and affray, why can't 18-20 year old NSFs lapse into violence in a place where they are trained in controlled violence against enemies of the State?

The victim may have made the attackers unhappy for one reason or another. During my NS days, we would talk (only talk) about doing a "blanket party" for xx platoon mate because he was the one who "sabo" the platoon being late for fall-in, not doing his duties and making the commanders take it out through group punishment.

The army is known for using peer pressure tactics to enforce discipline and bond the group or unit being trained together. Of course, the negative outcome of such peer pressure of punishing all for one person infractions is the risk of blanket parties. I remember being in push-up position while waiting for late-comers of my platoon who were slow to fall-in by the appointed time. This is meant to get the group pissed off with the late-comer who would feel the wrath of peer pressure and conform by not being late again.

It could be a case of grievances between two parties and one party decided to use group dynamics to play in his favour of having a blanket party against his enemy.

Whatever the case, it's sad to see young people get hurt during NS whether it's the fault of the SAF or not. During my own NS experiences, I have never encountered a real case although the occasional pushing, shoving and heated exchanges did occur. Fighting among soldiers is a chargeable offence that could land one into the SAF detention barracks and most soldiers I was with were smart enough to know that.

Have you ever experienced a blanket party or witnessed one?

Share your experiences in the comments section.

Be safe in NS.