Daily Lessons from Life 27 March 2011 - National serviceman needs maid to carry his backpack

"National serviceman needs maid to carry his backpack - AsiaOne Sun, Mar 27, 2011

A national serviceman was photographed SMSing away, while his maid walked behind him carrying his field pack.

The photo was first pointed out on citizen journalism website STOMP.

The image was taken off Facebook with the caption 'Why we need foreign talents in Singapore!’ according to the contributor.

The STOMP contributor also mentioned that it was taken near Tanah Merah MRT.

The full pack the maid was carrying looks to be the newer pixelised camo one, and this is bigger and has more compartments compared to older variations."

To those uninitiated, 'National Serviceman' meant Singapore boy of age 18 going to the defense forces - be in army, air force or navy.

Lessons for me are:

1. it is the sign of time really. He is just a boy. It is quite obvious that the maid carried his school bag when he was much younger and maybe during his ITE or JC days. So, it is quite naturally for him to let the maid carried his back pack since she was there. Also, he was attending to SMSing - a task the maid probably could not do for him. Besides, the backpack did not 'looked' heavy as the maid's back was not straining from the photo taken;

2. will he be fit for combat without his maid as some readers postulated? Well, he may not be combat fit to start with. If he is combat fit, I am sure he will be fit for combat as in the camp, it is unlikely that his maid will be around to do this or that for him. So, let him be as he is outside the camp afterall. :-);

3. it is totally conceivable that he will be carrying his backpack anytime and anywhere after this 'photo leak'. This is especially so if he realized the picture was not quite right and that he, the young soldier, should have carried the backpack himself. He simply needs to be more aware and tell himself he is no longer a student but a soldier. One of the best in the world! One of the 3G Digital Fighters! (Which, ironically, he is as he was SMSing!!)

I think it is jut an anomaly that Singaporeans need not worried too much that our solders have gone too soft. In a digital war, finger power is good enough. Muscles are not required.