My only son who was studying abroad had to return to fulfill his NS obligation after he turned 18. Today he is serving the nation but he is not proud of doing it and so are his fellow Singaporean NS mates.
He has an upcoming mission before his ORD and he dreads going for the outfield. It sadden me as a mother that I can’t do much let alone to console him as my son now belongs to the army.
The nation has progressed – progressed to the level that our rice bowl is in the position of being snatched and yet, when it comes to NS, we are still living in the dinosaur age.
Reality speaking, making these boys out in the open for days with very little sleep and a lot of walking, weight behind their backs does indeed help them to build their physic, but does it help them mentally? A person who is lack of sleep, drenched, in a dark environment, can’t focus, let alone to expect them to fight a war.
If truely there is a war, I can bet my last dollar that our FT will run away, all our head of the country, will escape and leaving these poor boys, ns ready men to fight. And it will be a finger pointing aftermath.
Not everyone is wired the same and have the same goal to fight for the nation. Like they cherry pick FT for our jobs, they should also cherry pick FT to serve NS. This is only fair.
I am pretty sure some of these boys are silently battling depression. In Singapore, the word depression is hardly heard and it may sound weird, sick that a person, a male, battling this disease, but it is reality.
Hopefully come the next GE, the message is stronger than before and our highly paid ministers understands the need to have a balance in life and not put our youth in front of a firing squad.
For now, I pray that my son goes through whatever journey NS has laid infront of him and he comes out a winner.
Sad Singaporean Mother