June 12, 2008
SAF suspends physical training after 2 trainees died
Regular serviceman, Officer Cadet (OCT) Clifton Lam Jia Hao collapsed at about 5.45 pm on Wednesday and was given immediate first aid treatment by a doctor and a senior medic. He was pronounced dead at 7.20pm in the hospital.
View more photos
THE Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) on Thursday ordered a halt to all physical and endurance training activities for three days following the deaths of two young servicemen in training.
Until Saturday, the entire force of 300,000 active personnel and National Servicemen will not be on obstacle courses, route marches or doing any fitness tests. Physically demanding field training is also out.
THAT ‘DIE, DIE MUST DO’ MINDSET
Weekend • Today June 14, 2008
LEONG WEE KEAT
weekeat@mediacorp.com.sg
THE chorus of concern over training safety swells like a familiar refrain each time there are deaths, especially within a short period, in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF).
This time is no different and, even as the deaths of the two National Servicemen this week are being investigated, many have chipped in with suggestions to curb such unfortunate occurences.
For example, while the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) has portable life-saving equipment that can make a big difference, would setting up of a helicopter detachment at Pulau Tekong help speed up the evacuation of troops in emergencies?
After all, most Basic Military Training (BMT) is now carried out at Tekong. With every second a matter of life and death in a medical crisis, having to activate a helicopter based on the mainland could be costly.
Others have called for comprehensive cardiac screenings for all new recruits. But there is one aspect of a soldier that no medical specialist or equipment can get a handle on: His ego.
In an environment where awards are given out to the best trainee and best combat unit, “doing your best” becomes the overriding mantra. As a trainee — whether recruit or officer cadet — your psyche is different from that of a Reservist or National Serviceman.
You are driven to prove yourself — to others, your family — and you want to be the best. “Die, die must make it” was, and still is, a common refrain heard in the barracks corridors.
But not knowing when to quit can sometimes push people past their limits.
When I was a recruit undergoing BMT almost a decade ago, my right hand was infected and swelled to the size of a pig’s foot. I did not report sick for two days, even when I started running a fever.
In the end, I was hospitalised for two days. Discharged and given a Medical Certificate for a week, I was back at my company line two days later, much to the disbelief of my platoon commander. It could have been youthful pride, but I didn’t want to be called a “malingerer”. Also, I wanted to make the grade for OCS, or Officer Cadet School (for the record, I didn’t).
A friend who did get into OCS one night came down with a 40-degree high fever. He kept quiet about it, popped two Panadols and slept it off. I am sure we were not the last to tell ourselves to endure in silence.
Should the mantra of “doing your best” be adapted in the right circumstances to “doing your part”? If a serviceman pushes too hard, is there someone who could spot the signs? For many years now, the SAF has practiced a “Buddy System” where you look after your mate and vice versa. If your buddy fails you, there is still a instructor, or someone of a senior rank, on the look-out.
For many years, too, there has been only one section commander — usually holding the rank of third sergeant — attached to a section of about 10 recruits during BMT. :Could it be time to have more section commanders with a section?
After all, recruits are mostly conscripts pulled from a softer civilian life, and the first phase of NS is often the most demanding, physically and mentally. By necessity, training has to be realistic and gruelling. More guidance and attention could help.
Here is where instructors, whom trainees look up to as mentors, play a crucial role. But simply having more instructors is not enough, they need to know how to tread the line between motivating trainees without baiting them. Every generation of servicemen has its stories of nightmare instructors.
More could also be done, pre-enlistment, to prepare recruits. While Mindef sends out publicity material and recently launched a website for that purpose, not every recruit will read the material. More often than not, the young man’s perception of NS is gleaned from friends’ and relatives’ accounts.
Wouldn’t it be better if pre-enlistees were given talks in schools on what to expect? Other than the Army Open House, could there be more tours of training facilities for pre-enlistees?
Most importantly, even as the SAF reviews its procedures with a fine-tooth comb, personal responsibility needs to be at the forefront. Last year, Second Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said as much when he pointed to “greater decision-making by individual soldiers”, and as a result, “every individual has to take personal responsibility”.
This extends not just to Full-time NSmen but also Reservists. Last month, my unit underwent our seventh in-camp training, which included a week-long exercise in Thailand. We were given safety briefings and reminders. Yet, a string of incidents occurred, unprecedented in our previous training sessions.
Two servicemen had to be flown back to Singapore with limb fractures. Other incidents included one man who injured his hand cutting tape, and one who injured his eye walking into a tree branch at night.
In short, training incidents affect even the most seasoned of servicemen — for any number of reasons, from complacency to poor judgment and bad luck.
I proclaim I have a vested interest in the safety of servicemen — I have three more years before my reservist unit stands down, and my younger brother is due to enlist in two years.
While the public will always ask if the SAF has the right procedures and processes in place, the best of these will not be enough if we don’t take on the onus of looking out for oneself and the man next to you.
Surely it is on the battlefield, and not the training ground, that one should lay down one’s life for loved ones and country.
[Comment: Any loss of life from war or training for war is sad. Safety precautions, and proper medical screening should be in place to detect and protect those for whom physical training could be fatal. And certainly gung-ho self-sacrifice in the face of clear medical incapacity is to be discouraged. And it is not just in the military. How many of us know colleagues who drag themselves to work even when they look like death warmed over?
But the spirit of "die, die must make it" is not wrong. In war, it is such spirit that ensures that the mission is accomplished. It is the responsibility of the trainers to inculcate in our citizen soldiers this spirit and value. It is the responsibility of the medical screening team to detect potentially fatal weaknesses. And it is the responsibility of the individual to be aware of his condition. Which is easier said than done.
However, that said, there are many other stories of inexplicable deaths. Young, relatively healthy individuals have died in their sleep. Or while exercising. Or while masturbating to internet porn while engaging in auto-asphyxiation while wearing his sister's undergarments.
These two deaths, while regrettable, were at least noble. Wasteful? Perhaps. Preventable? Hard to say.
In the list of possible causes of death in the military during peacetime, fatal or serious accidents due to poor maintenance, unsafe SOP, complacency, and carelessness rank as the worst because they should be preventable.
Deaths due to undetected, underlying medical conditions are unfortunate, but hard to prevent.]
SAF suspends physical training after 2 trainees died
Regular serviceman, Officer Cadet (OCT) Clifton Lam Jia Hao collapsed at about 5.45 pm on Wednesday and was given immediate first aid treatment by a doctor and a senior medic. He was pronounced dead at 7.20pm in the hospital.
View more photos
THE Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) on Thursday ordered a halt to all physical and endurance training activities for three days following the deaths of two young servicemen in training.
Until Saturday, the entire force of 300,000 active personnel and National Servicemen will not be on obstacle courses, route marches or doing any fitness tests. Physically demanding field training is also out.
THAT ‘DIE, DIE MUST DO’ MINDSET
Weekend • Today June 14, 2008
LEONG WEE KEAT
weekeat@mediacorp.com.sg
THE chorus of concern over training safety swells like a familiar refrain each time there are deaths, especially within a short period, in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF).
This time is no different and, even as the deaths of the two National Servicemen this week are being investigated, many have chipped in with suggestions to curb such unfortunate occurences.
For example, while the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) has portable life-saving equipment that can make a big difference, would setting up of a helicopter detachment at Pulau Tekong help speed up the evacuation of troops in emergencies?
After all, most Basic Military Training (BMT) is now carried out at Tekong. With every second a matter of life and death in a medical crisis, having to activate a helicopter based on the mainland could be costly.
Others have called for comprehensive cardiac screenings for all new recruits. But there is one aspect of a soldier that no medical specialist or equipment can get a handle on: His ego.
In an environment where awards are given out to the best trainee and best combat unit, “doing your best” becomes the overriding mantra. As a trainee — whether recruit or officer cadet — your psyche is different from that of a Reservist or National Serviceman.
You are driven to prove yourself — to others, your family — and you want to be the best. “Die, die must make it” was, and still is, a common refrain heard in the barracks corridors.
But not knowing when to quit can sometimes push people past their limits.
When I was a recruit undergoing BMT almost a decade ago, my right hand was infected and swelled to the size of a pig’s foot. I did not report sick for two days, even when I started running a fever.
In the end, I was hospitalised for two days. Discharged and given a Medical Certificate for a week, I was back at my company line two days later, much to the disbelief of my platoon commander. It could have been youthful pride, but I didn’t want to be called a “malingerer”. Also, I wanted to make the grade for OCS, or Officer Cadet School (for the record, I didn’t).
A friend who did get into OCS one night came down with a 40-degree high fever. He kept quiet about it, popped two Panadols and slept it off. I am sure we were not the last to tell ourselves to endure in silence.
Should the mantra of “doing your best” be adapted in the right circumstances to “doing your part”? If a serviceman pushes too hard, is there someone who could spot the signs? For many years now, the SAF has practiced a “Buddy System” where you look after your mate and vice versa. If your buddy fails you, there is still a instructor, or someone of a senior rank, on the look-out.
For many years, too, there has been only one section commander — usually holding the rank of third sergeant — attached to a section of about 10 recruits during BMT. :Could it be time to have more section commanders with a section?
After all, recruits are mostly conscripts pulled from a softer civilian life, and the first phase of NS is often the most demanding, physically and mentally. By necessity, training has to be realistic and gruelling. More guidance and attention could help.
Here is where instructors, whom trainees look up to as mentors, play a crucial role. But simply having more instructors is not enough, they need to know how to tread the line between motivating trainees without baiting them. Every generation of servicemen has its stories of nightmare instructors.
More could also be done, pre-enlistment, to prepare recruits. While Mindef sends out publicity material and recently launched a website for that purpose, not every recruit will read the material. More often than not, the young man’s perception of NS is gleaned from friends’ and relatives’ accounts.
Wouldn’t it be better if pre-enlistees were given talks in schools on what to expect? Other than the Army Open House, could there be more tours of training facilities for pre-enlistees?
Most importantly, even as the SAF reviews its procedures with a fine-tooth comb, personal responsibility needs to be at the forefront. Last year, Second Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said as much when he pointed to “greater decision-making by individual soldiers”, and as a result, “every individual has to take personal responsibility”.
This extends not just to Full-time NSmen but also Reservists. Last month, my unit underwent our seventh in-camp training, which included a week-long exercise in Thailand. We were given safety briefings and reminders. Yet, a string of incidents occurred, unprecedented in our previous training sessions.
Two servicemen had to be flown back to Singapore with limb fractures. Other incidents included one man who injured his hand cutting tape, and one who injured his eye walking into a tree branch at night.
In short, training incidents affect even the most seasoned of servicemen — for any number of reasons, from complacency to poor judgment and bad luck.
I proclaim I have a vested interest in the safety of servicemen — I have three more years before my reservist unit stands down, and my younger brother is due to enlist in two years.
While the public will always ask if the SAF has the right procedures and processes in place, the best of these will not be enough if we don’t take on the onus of looking out for oneself and the man next to you.
Surely it is on the battlefield, and not the training ground, that one should lay down one’s life for loved ones and country.
[Comment: Any loss of life from war or training for war is sad. Safety precautions, and proper medical screening should be in place to detect and protect those for whom physical training could be fatal. And certainly gung-ho self-sacrifice in the face of clear medical incapacity is to be discouraged. And it is not just in the military. How many of us know colleagues who drag themselves to work even when they look like death warmed over?
But the spirit of "die, die must make it" is not wrong. In war, it is such spirit that ensures that the mission is accomplished. It is the responsibility of the trainers to inculcate in our citizen soldiers this spirit and value. It is the responsibility of the medical screening team to detect potentially fatal weaknesses. And it is the responsibility of the individual to be aware of his condition. Which is easier said than done.
However, that said, there are many other stories of inexplicable deaths. Young, relatively healthy individuals have died in their sleep. Or while exercising. Or while masturbating to internet porn while engaging in auto-asphyxiation while wearing his sister's undergarments.
These two deaths, while regrettable, were at least noble. Wasteful? Perhaps. Preventable? Hard to say.
In the list of possible causes of death in the military during peacetime, fatal or serious accidents due to poor maintenance, unsafe SOP, complacency, and carelessness rank as the worst because they should be preventable.
Deaths due to undetected, underlying medical conditions are unfortunate, but hard to prevent.]
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