S'pore Army considers expanding pool of career soldiers by 15%

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Army is looking into expanding its pool of career soldiers by 15 per cent to allow such regular servicemen to play a bigger role in the training of conscript soldiers.

A high-level committee tasked to recommend measures to strengthen National Service has suggested this could enhance the effectiveness of such training, and allow more full-time National Servicemen to take on operational roles.

Members of the committee also suggested that tertiary institutes team up with the uniformed services to help students transition more smoothly into national service.

The Singapore Army currently employs both career and conscripted soldiers as instructors.



Going forward, the proportion of career soldiers has to be increased if they are to take on bigger training responsibilities.

The Committee to Strengthen National Service said this will enable intake after intake of conscripted soldiers to gain from the skills and experience of regular soldiers.

Second Minister for Defence Chan Chun Sing said: "You will be able to improve your training system at a much faster rate, because the lessons learnt can be incorporated into the next batch through the regular cadres."

It is also a way to free up full-time National Servicemen to do more operational duties.

More manpower to beef up the Army's regular core may come from several sources, such as retired soldiers or even women.

In addition, the Committee suggested that structured fitness programmes be introduced in polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education, in collaboration with the uniformed services.

The aim is to help students gear up for National Service in the best way possible. Many of them face challenges in getting fit before commencing the rite of passage for every Singaporean male.

Currently, about 40 per cent of tertiary students are able to meet minimum requirements under the National Physical Fitness assessment, compared to around 80 per cent in junior colleges.

National Service pre-enlistees who cannot achieve a minimum of a silver grade in the assessment will have to undergo an eight-week Physical Training Phase to improve their fitness, thereby lengthening their conscription.

The Committee also considered the option of allowing tertiary students take the assessment a year earlier.

Should students not meet the mark, they can opt to get in shape via the proposed fitness programmes.

Choo Keng Hui, Director of Student Development at the Singapore Polytechnic, said: "If you mandate, you make it compulsory, probably you won't get the student to come. So it must be a well-written programme that the student can see, "Look, you know, today I'm coming in to train my hamstring, and so on." Things like that. So I think that sort of structured programme need to be in place."

For those entering university some time after completing National Service, members of the Committee also suggested expanding the range of short-term contracts to allow them to continue working for the military during the transition phase, which may last several months.

This is to help them occupy their time more meaningfully, while waiting to become undergraduates.

Members of the Committee also suggested introducing ways to channel the energies of post-enlistees into meaningful causes, such as signing up for the volunteer youth corps announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during the 2013 National Day Rally.