National Service in Singapore

Do you know that every Singaporean son is a trained soldier, or a policeman or a member of the civil defence? Yes! All male citizens of Singapore and non first generation permanent residents who have reached the age of 18 will need to serve National Service. Most of them will serve for at least 22 or 24 months in the Singapore Armed Forces, Singapore Police Force or Singapore Civil Defence Force.

Recruits completed boot camp (photo from: http://kementah.blogspot.sg)

I am a national serviceman too! And national service does not stop after we had served for two years. Those who had completed their 2-year national service are considered as “operational ready” serviceman, or simply “reservists”, who are liable to called up for duty in the next 10 years or till the age of 40 or 50.Singapore is a small country and it is just not feasible to maintain a sizable active military force and therefore adopted conscription.

For males conscripted to the military force, they will undergo boot camp training to transform them from boys to men, from civilians to soldiers. Others will be trained as policemen or firefighters in the respective training institutes. Over the years, many people are very interested in how these boys undergo boot camp and the stories of their experiences in training. Many movies were made to tell these stories, recently #1 box office show was “Ah Boys to Men” and sequel “Ah Boys to Men 2”, tell stories of several boys who underwent boot camp and transformed into trained soldiers. It’s a entertaining and informative show, bringing you laughter and a glimpse of the interesting life as a recruit.

Transformation of the Singapore soldiers (Latest to the left) -- http://randomworksofterence.blogspot.sg

For myself, I feel that national service is important to us, not only protecting our own country, but also allow us to toughen ourselves, and know that we can do far more than we thought we could. It does play an important part in our daily life, the way of doing things, the discipline instilled in us plays a part in every thing we do. It’s also a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us! Who will actually plan a jungle outing, sleeping in tents that are half submerged in muddy water? Who will go for tough training to torture our selves and eventually build up our physical and mental strength?

The transformation is indeed obvious. Laid back boys who just like to slack around underwent National Service and turned themselves into responsible and proactive men. Violent and arrogant teenagers changed over two years to become calm and humble students. That might be one of the reasons that Singapore is successful and maintain low crime rate.

It’s a common sight in Singapore, you can see people in military uniforms on MRTs or along the streets and you know that they are doing their part to serve the Nation!