Main Stories, Top Story - Written on Thursday, June 19, 2008 9:45 - 21 Comments
National service, national responsibilities
There is a saying in my office: the job of the Military Medicine Institute is to prove that you don’t have what you say you have. It began as a joke, based on observations that we have made during our time in Basic Military Training. Unfortunately, it seems that the statement is truer by the day.
I told my colleagues the story of a recruit in my company in Pulau Tekong. He suffered from severe flat feet. The arches of his feet would collapse after running for too long, making him highly unsuitable as a frontline soldier.
He demonstrated that he had flat foot during his medical check-up. He even went to a private specialist to confirm his condition. But he was sent for PES A/B training. It took over a month before he was officially downgraded and posted out – in the interim, he was pulled out of training and spent his days sitting in the company office and running simple errands.
Fiction? I wish. It is merely just another case of irresponsibility.
The price we pay
Every time a recruit is declared ‘Out of Training/Course’ in BMT because of a pre-existing medical condition that could have been detected but was not, he would have to be sent for the next BMT recourse that caters to his actual PES status. All the money heretofore spent on him, from food to utility bills to ammunition, would effectively be wasted – and that money comes from taxpayers’ wallets.
Pre-enlistees, too, have to bear the cost of a medical misdiagnosis. My former company mate scrambled to have a private specialist to diagnose him with flat foot, after realizing that the doctors at the Central Manpower Base would send him for PES A/B BMT. Armed with this documentation, he proved to his superiors that he should be medically downgraded, and was declared OOT from the third day.
Had he not consulted his specialist, there is a very high chance that he would have suffered feet injuries before the MMI realized its mistake. But it is absurd that he had to pay a private specialist to perform a service that a military doctor could, and ought to, have done just as competently, and for free. Private specialists charge steep prices; should a pre-enlistee with a medical condition be unable to afford a specialist, and be wrongly classified during his preliminary medical check-up, he would be in for a spell of bad luck and trouble. And the SAF would then have to pay for his treatment.
Worse still is the effect on the recruits’ health. One of my colleagues has scoliosis, curvature of the spine, and was sent for PES C BMT. The simple act of carrying his military and civilian clothing and equipment to his bunk injured his spine, and he had to be excused from carrying heavy loads. It should have been a given, considering his back problem, but nothing in the SAF seems to exist unless it is officially documented in triplicate.
A few months later, he was ordered to wear a fully loaded Load Bearing Vest to the live-firing range for nearly the whole day, further aggravating his injury. He now has to perform personal physiotherapy every other hour, courtesy of several slipped discs, and can only sleep on a waterbed because regular ones would aggravate his condition. Here, the SAF has to spend time to process his injury report – his case stretches back to December 2007, and has yet to be resolved – and determine if he was eligible for compensation. A medical board is being convened to determine if he should be downgraded to PES E9L9, the lowest grading a serviceman may get before being discharged on medical grounds. The result: even more time and money spent to rectify something that could have been prevented.
Perhaps the most debilitating of all is the effect on the morale of affected servicemen. My colleague now bears a grudge against his former commanders, refusing to refer to them without using unprintable vulgarities. Every serviceman who had had to turn to a private specialist because the military doctors have failed in their job would lose his faith in the MMI, because of that failure, and would have judged it rightly. Left unchecked, the negative attitude that emerges from each lapse would extend to embrace the SAF in its death grip. Indeed, to the disaffected, ‘SAF’ is an acronym for four words. The first two is ‘serve and’, and the last is ‘off’. I will leave you to speculate what ‘F’ means.
Should his ennui be entrenched by future incidents, the serviceman would lose any incentive to do his best while serving his National Service liability. The efficiency of his unit would then be compromised in the area he is currently responsible for, be it logistics or clerical work. From a macro perspective, compounding the negative effects of each disappointed soldier, the overall effectiveness of the SAF would be further compromised – and therefore, its ability to defend Singapore.
The price of every misdiagnosis and every act of negligence is in the currency of money, time, operational readiness, and blood. We, the people of Singapore, are the only people who can pay for it.
Duties and expectations
The military sees National Service through the paradigm of duty. The average citizen, however, sees it through the paradigm of compulsion. The SAF wants to instil a sense of loyalty in every serviceman, to have him understand that National Service is a duty imposed upon all male Singaporeans to provide for the common defence, because there are too few people to sustain an army of regular soldiers. But many Singaporeans simply see National Service as a mechanism that tears their sons, brothers, fathers, husbands and lovers away from them.
Neither side is wrong. But their perspectives are irreconcilable. The death of every serviceman attributed to a military lapse would heighten the tension between them, and eats away at the military’s core. The military, in turn, would want to play down the extent of any lapses, because it – and its political masters – have no desire to lose the public’s support, which was never significantly high to begin with. I would not be surprised if stories of cover-ups were to surface; after all, nobody, least of all a regular soldier, would want to lose face. Yet this is only a temporary solution at best. It does not at all resolve the situation.
What should be done is the recognition of responsibilities on both sides. The military must recognize that it is a public organization that is mostly staffed by people against their free will. This restriction of such a basic human right must be recompensed through a pledge of honour and professionalism, to develop each enlistee’s potential to the fullest.
In the event of a lapse, especially one so severe that it leads to death or injury, the SAF must spare no effort in investigating its cause and punishing the guilty, and it must be done as transparently as possible. The military must aim to minimise the cost of maintaining the SAF, especially the cost imposed by negligence and misdiagnoses. Nothing less will do, because the survival of the nation and the honour of the military rest on the SAF’s shoulders. It is the public’s duty to urge the government and the SAF to do so, to prevent bureaucratic inertia from suffocating the investigation, as it is the public that must bear the cost of military irresponsibility.
Recognising responsibilities
Civilians, in turn, ought to recognise that they must provide for and support the common defence. Pre-enlistees should realise that only they can defend their loved ones, because there are not and never will be enough regulars to do so for them. They should play their part by meeting the rigours of National Service – servicemen by doing their best, civilians by supporting them. The legal system assures us that anybody who chooses to renege on his national duty would be punished if caught. But it is education, public messages, and the attitude of the military towards servicemen that would influence what people truly think of National Service.
The ultimate objective of this exercise is to reduce the cost borne by the public caused by negligence and misdiagnoses. When the military recognises its responsibility and acts professionally, doctors would examine pre-enlistees more carefully, commanders would care more for their men, clerks would pay more attention to their work, and so on. The citizenry would support the military in its task, and take it to task when needed. This means less public money spent on recourses and resources, less time wasted for new postings, less blood spilt and hearts lost by trainees, and a lower chance that the SAF, should it be needed, would be found wanting.
In times of peace, sons bury their fathers. In times of war, fathers bury their sons.
Let us hope that it becomes so.
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The author wishes to remain anonymous.
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21 Comments
The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Daily SG: 19 Jun 2008
I just love the topic NS. To begin with and talking about responsibilities
, what about “White Horse”.
My humble (2 cents) opinion…the new Def ster (think its Ng eng hen) has to realise he got a lot of work he outta do…not just sit and let things run accordingly.
Cos tere’s so muich things in the army that is not running properly,or smoothly.
He cannot afford to just sit back and let those things run the way it used to,cos it will just “cause the whole spine to degenrate”….if you know what i mean.
I hurt (slipped a lower back disc) my back during NS days too….but couldn’t prove it.
Spent 6 years trying to build strength and rectify the problems….and almost $5,000 gone…
Kevin
sad, but true.
I kenna 39degree high fever on the first day of enlistment as a recruit. reported to medical centre at 10pm and was given ONE day attn C. booking out was impossible given the time, and i’d have to book back in the next day anyway so i just slept it off in the bunk. luckily it went away after the second night.
another friend suffering from severe back pain was accused of malingering and given a lecture by the MO. Went out for a scan and turned out he had a slipped disc.
Most MOs seeing patients are NSFs too! Regular MOs seldom see patients.
MOs want to see real action before they will do anything lah…even outside doctors are prejudiced against you if you say you’re in the Army…i had a bad ingrown toenail once but had to wait for hours on end when i went for outpatient…just because i *happened* to be serving then.
In Singapore, you are guilty until proven innocent…
to those military commanders, anyone who is sick or unfit is equivalent to ‘geng’. very narrow minded of them. always try to scare recruit & their men by wanting to charge them or ask them to take extra duty. Advise to these servicemen, if you genuinely have health problem, go see specialies doctor and get certify. don’t worry about the rubbish these military people give you, just cc mindef & blog about it to give them pressure. I went thru this shit myself.
whoa relax man. LHL’s son already kena slap wrist…think for us will be thunderbolt… hahaha…blog about it lah. enough blog entries liao publish a book lor. im sure every soldier has a story..
CB,
Not all commanders are narrow-minded.. some of us place the welfare of our lads ahead of our own.
I always believed that having rank means having a responsibility towards your men, the ability to make sure they get the best welfare, and in return, everyone’s job gets done much faster because morale is improved.
Loyola, agreed.
Anyway, have anyone think about why is this happening? Why don’t we blame those who have malingered their way through NS that caused the MOs, commanders to be paranoid?
Of course, I believe that a sick man should not be made to serve his NS out of his physical capabilities. But I strongly condemn those who try to find an easy way out. It’s these people who are screwing up the system.
Pt to add though, my very own injury report took a year to be approved. From the first day I stepped into my unit, till days before I ORD.
All NSmen and Regulars should be given a full body check up every year. This is welfare at its minimum. Why do we have so many mo and medics for? Do some work lah! Are they send to battlefield to tend to the wounded every day? No War at all. So why cant a simple thing like a full body check cant be carried out? We have a biomedical hub right? Invest in out of patent generic drugs and medicine for use in our soldiers health checks to reduce mindef costs. X rays can be digital, no need to print out on film. Invest in some 2nd hand machines from hospital for use in x-ray and heart detecting devices. Stop spending money buying F15 and expensive toys. Without the man behind the wheels they are just toys. Keep a soldier healthy a day keeps the enemies away.
FG
It’s interesting to note the spectrum of reactions this post (clearly by a disaffected NSF, and mostly certainly not a MO judging by the length and sheer verbosity) has generated.
Yi Long rightly condemns malingerers (so-called CKB) whose indiscriminate reporting sick results in MOs taking a rather jaundiced view of all those seeking medical attention.
Fever guy however, seems to think we live in an era of socialized medicine. Welfare is most certainly not a “full body check-up” every year. Incidentally, what is a full body check up? I think it’s high time that the public at large should educate themselves on the limitations of medical investigations and “check-ups”. Our MOs and medics are stretched enough as is without having to conduct “full body check-ups” for 330,000 NSMen.
When one has decided not to be a soldier for whatever personal reason, he shall and should not be a soldier, even if he is conscripted by Law for the so-called defence and protection of his country. Should he be forced to be one, he shall be entitled to do whatever he can to evade it, fair and square.
Conscription in the first place violates Human(personal) Rights to the extreme. Any nation must be capable of engaging professional fighting men, if it cannot, then it should and shall not be a nation, pure and simple. No one can stop an unwilling soldier to point his weapon away from the enemy.
patriot.
Btw, I completed my NS in 1972 and may I say, it was done grudgingly and also just that I did not want to be charged and got my parents worried.
My only son on the other hand, liked his stint(NS) and completed his this year 2008 and I said well and good.
Do I want to protect my family, country and countrymen? The Answer is a definite Yes, if we are invaded but not otherwise.
Do I want to protect the Leadership? The Answer is a definite No. I have no love for them.
Do they(Leadership) want us to protect them? The Answer is another definite No.
Why? The Answer; the Leadership is by virtue of Leadership to lead and protect us and they show it. They are presently engaging foreigners, the Gurkhas, to protect themselves. Why? Because they do not need us to protect them or because they(the Leaders) do not trust their own subjects? Please contribute your opinions!
Why do they(Leaders) used foreigners for personal(families) protections?
patriot.
Fellow Singaporeans;
please allow me one more question. Are Singaporeans incapable of protecting their leaders? Do contribute your opinions, I thank You!!
patriot.
yeah, its true. I was a platoon medic and I started the job with so much hope that i’ll actually help people. The whole medical system in the SAF is severely outdated with no actual enforcement and checks. I gotta really disgusted halfway and volunteered to keep going outfield cos when Im in the medical centre, even as much as I try to help my fellow colleagues, I am forced to cover-up and lie for the system. It’s sad how many cases of misdiagnosis that gets sent to us from other camps and its not just small cases like flat foot and stuff. A lot of them were serious things like drug allergies and most were hospitalised. I even got some cases of NSmen coming back 10 years after their service trying to get the saf to pay-up for training accidents and all i can do is to pass them back into the system. Allthough I gained the respect and friendship of many of my patients, it shouldnt be that work can only be done around the system. Some of my fellow medics even have to run the place from their own pockets to supply patients because of the system not working. It’s really sad.
Its really sad that my oath of Seek save and Serve has been thrown into the gutter and run over with. By the time I orded, me and all my friends are all disillusioned servicemen so its quite common to come across stories of medics that are just totally pissed off. Sometimes keep in mind that its not the medics or the mo that is bad but sometimes we’re just disillusioned. We dont and cant care anymore.
New Domain » Blog Archive » Nineteen
[...] a totally unrelated note, a good read about National Service of which we are all compelled to [...]
I’d just like to share my experience; At CMPB during the medical screening I told the medic (was that even a doctor?) about my various problems and he answered me with a “who teach you say that” (sic), pretty much calling me a liar.
About my obvious flat feet, he simply said that they had special shoes for those.
I ended up in PES B and my medical conditions all worked up at once and I had to go for a review. But my sergeant forgot to write down one of the conditions and the army doctor refused to hear anything about it because it wasn’t in the med review form thing, and his attitude could be pretty much summed up as “hurry up and fuck off”.
I figured out why five minutes after my interview with him ended, as he left the room, and the medical centre, with his bags packed.
He did, however, refer me to the physiotherapist who verified my problems and finally downgraded me; Except that I had to wait over a week for my appointment with the physiotherapist and longer on OOT before they let me go.
Oh, and those special shoes they had did fuck-all for me, what with all the marching in boots.
The whole experience left me extremely bitter and I moved out of the shithole of a country after finishing NS.
National responsibilities? We had a PC that forced our guys to go for outfield exercises despite one of our guys running a fever just for the sake of looking “garang”, according to him and was only sent back to the medical center AFTER being out in the field and looking for the medic whom brought the matter up to my PC.
I remember an incident where we came back from an exercise and the storeman forgot to indent our ration. Now, it was all good and well when a couple of AI officers brought their rations over to us so that we’ll have dinner while we’re cleaning arms/vehicles and my dear PC refused the other officers by saying, No, we don’t accept help from the AIs and lo-and-behold, no dinner for us while the rest of the company was having their dinner while cleaning arms.
National service? More like a load of bullshit.
“Are Singaporeans incapable of protecting their leaders?”
We Singaporeans only capable of protecting valuables not junks.
This is not merely an issue of incompetence or too much red tape. I do sincerely wonder about the competency of those in charge of assigning us our pes status. I was diagnosed with diabetic and severe lack of potassium in my body 2 days after i entered SPF and somehow they couldn’t detect any signs of that during my body checkup at CMPB
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