"SAF shelves boot camp plans for IPPT defaulters - The Straits Times Jun 13, 2015
The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has shelved boot camp plans for reservist servicemen who skip their mandatory military fitness test three times. Instead, it will review the way it deals with these offenders. The latest move comes amid recent efforts to get citizen soldiers to stay in shape, while making them more responsible for their own fitness.
The Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT), for example, has been made less of a chore for operationally ready national servicemen (NSmen) who have to juggle family and work commitments. A stripped- down fitness test started more than two months ago.
For now, those who skip the IPPT three times will have to pay a $100 fine or be thrown into detention barracks, the army's equivalent of prison. The latter punishment, though, is rarely meted out. Under a new three-strike rule, IPPT defaulters would have had to pay a monetary fine and gone through a five-day boot camp to get fit. Dubbed the In-Camp- Training (Physical Training), the fitness camp, a form of confinement, was to have started in the second half of this year.
Responding to queries from The Straits Times, the Defence Ministry did not explicitly say it was putting on hold the confinement of recalcitrant offenders. The army's assistant chief of general staff (training), Colonel Ng Ying Thong, would say only that as the SAF gives servicemen greater ownership of their fitness, it will also "review the disciplinary framework for IPPT defaulters".
ST understands that on the ground, unit commanders have told citizen soldiers that confinement is not likely to be imposed. Information on the disciplinary actions that IPPT defaulters face has also been removed from the ns.sg portal.
It is understood that the military top brass are still collating and studying the results of the revised IPPT to decide on more effective disciplinary actions. The most recent figures given in 2010 by the Ministry of Defence showed that the test is failed by half of the 116,000 NSmen who take it every year.
Col Ng had told ST earlier that only a small number of NSmen repeatedly skip their IPPT."
There were several headline news I was thinking of commenting BUT this ONE wins hands down!
Lessons for me are:
1. for a nation that wants to have a fit and healthy citizen army, this 'softening' of treatment of recalcitrant citizen-soldier is VERY WORRYING. It is a farce for an ex-citizen soldier to think that ONE can get away from IGNORING 'army' or the MinDef's order to attend the IPPT! It is even MORE ridiculous when the army or the MinDef has to THINK about how to deal with such blatant disobedience!! The treatment of such behaviours should have been VERY CLEAR and FIRM! Put on charge and punish the citizen solider with the military laws immediately! Period. No 'if or but' about this!;
2. granted there may be exceptions and these exceptions should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. If there are MORE than 10 similar 'exceptions', then perhaps the military laws or rules and regulations or standard operation procedures (SOP) WOULD need to consider these type of 'exceptions' as 'normal' and deal with them accordingly!
Yes we have a very hectic and busy work-life balance to manage. YET, if we want a citizen army and defence force, we MUST have citizen army or defence force that will obey orders and take their duties seriously!
3. for those who SIMPLY cannot be 'fit' to pass IPPT, something terribly wrong is happening with the person(s). This is especially so when the current IPPT has been tweaked to make it 'more flexible and supposedly easier' to pass! If grown men cannot even take PERSONAL responsibilities for this IPPT, I just wonder what chance do we have to fight a real BLOODY war that will definitely exert extreme hardship and demands on the citizen soldiers.
I hope this softening on citizen soldiers have NOTHING to do with electorate votes. If not, it would had been a very sad situation. A government that CANNOT be firm on certain fundamental values and norms that are absolutely inviolable, cannot be a very strong government.
Sure some will argue that modern warfare are so dependent on smart technologies that a couch potato can wield powerful weapons sitting in front of a computer console. For me, maintaining physical fitness and overall health is MORE than just operating a lethal weapon. Maybe the 'younger generation of voter-citizen soldiers' do not care to want to know?
The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has shelved boot camp plans for reservist servicemen who skip their mandatory military fitness test three times. Instead, it will review the way it deals with these offenders. The latest move comes amid recent efforts to get citizen soldiers to stay in shape, while making them more responsible for their own fitness.
The Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT), for example, has been made less of a chore for operationally ready national servicemen (NSmen) who have to juggle family and work commitments. A stripped- down fitness test started more than two months ago.
For now, those who skip the IPPT three times will have to pay a $100 fine or be thrown into detention barracks, the army's equivalent of prison. The latter punishment, though, is rarely meted out. Under a new three-strike rule, IPPT defaulters would have had to pay a monetary fine and gone through a five-day boot camp to get fit. Dubbed the In-Camp- Training (Physical Training), the fitness camp, a form of confinement, was to have started in the second half of this year.
Responding to queries from The Straits Times, the Defence Ministry did not explicitly say it was putting on hold the confinement of recalcitrant offenders. The army's assistant chief of general staff (training), Colonel Ng Ying Thong, would say only that as the SAF gives servicemen greater ownership of their fitness, it will also "review the disciplinary framework for IPPT defaulters".
ST understands that on the ground, unit commanders have told citizen soldiers that confinement is not likely to be imposed. Information on the disciplinary actions that IPPT defaulters face has also been removed from the ns.sg portal.
It is understood that the military top brass are still collating and studying the results of the revised IPPT to decide on more effective disciplinary actions. The most recent figures given in 2010 by the Ministry of Defence showed that the test is failed by half of the 116,000 NSmen who take it every year.
Col Ng had told ST earlier that only a small number of NSmen repeatedly skip their IPPT."
There were several headline news I was thinking of commenting BUT this ONE wins hands down!
Lessons for me are:
1. for a nation that wants to have a fit and healthy citizen army, this 'softening' of treatment of recalcitrant citizen-soldier is VERY WORRYING. It is a farce for an ex-citizen soldier to think that ONE can get away from IGNORING 'army' or the MinDef's order to attend the IPPT! It is even MORE ridiculous when the army or the MinDef has to THINK about how to deal with such blatant disobedience!! The treatment of such behaviours should have been VERY CLEAR and FIRM! Put on charge and punish the citizen solider with the military laws immediately! Period. No 'if or but' about this!;
2. granted there may be exceptions and these exceptions should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. If there are MORE than 10 similar 'exceptions', then perhaps the military laws or rules and regulations or standard operation procedures (SOP) WOULD need to consider these type of 'exceptions' as 'normal' and deal with them accordingly!
Yes we have a very hectic and busy work-life balance to manage. YET, if we want a citizen army and defence force, we MUST have citizen army or defence force that will obey orders and take their duties seriously!
3. for those who SIMPLY cannot be 'fit' to pass IPPT, something terribly wrong is happening with the person(s). This is especially so when the current IPPT has been tweaked to make it 'more flexible and supposedly easier' to pass! If grown men cannot even take PERSONAL responsibilities for this IPPT, I just wonder what chance do we have to fight a real BLOODY war that will definitely exert extreme hardship and demands on the citizen soldiers.
I hope this softening on citizen soldiers have NOTHING to do with electorate votes. If not, it would had been a very sad situation. A government that CANNOT be firm on certain fundamental values and norms that are absolutely inviolable, cannot be a very strong government.
Sure some will argue that modern warfare are so dependent on smart technologies that a couch potato can wield powerful weapons sitting in front of a computer console. For me, maintaining physical fitness and overall health is MORE than just operating a lethal weapon. Maybe the 'younger generation of voter-citizen soldiers' do not care to want to know?
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