The Soldier
National Service requires all male Singaporean citizens and second-generation permanent residents who have reached the age of 18 to enrol in the military. They serve a two-year period as Full Time National Servicemen, either in the Singapore Armed Forces, Singapore Police Force, or the Singapore Civil Defence Force. When a conscript completes his full-time service, he is considered to be "operationally ready", and is thereafter known as an Operationally-Ready National Serviceman. National Servicemen are the equivalent of other militaries' reservists. As Singapore has a limited amount of manpower, and there was not enough resources to support a professionally trained army, Singapore has decided to train its own citizens into National Servicemen so when disaster strikes, Singapore citizens would be fully-prepared to take on any challenges.
I think that National Service should not be made a compulsory in Singapore as two and a half years in National Service means that I would go into university late and I would be spending two and a half years practically doing nothing. I do think that it is important to a certain extent as I feel that Singapore should be able to defend itself without relying on others, but on the other side, I also feel that there is not a need to waste such a long time in National Service as the world is much peaceful now.
I do not think that I have the same sense of patriotism for Singapore as the sense of patriotism presented in the poem, as I do not feel a sense of belonging to Singapore.
Hi I am Sebastian here. I disagree with you that National Service is a waste of time. Although Singapore may be regarded as peaceful now but we should not let our guards now and take things for granted. We are not doing nothing in National Service. We are actually training ourselves for times of need and also it trains us physically. If you really want to go university before NS, then you should work hard for oversea scholarships.
ReplyDeleteI think you have missed out the other half of the blog prompt. You should have explained whether you see patriotism in Singapore and whether you showcase patriotism either towards Hwa Chong or Singapore.
Hi, Yuet Tung here, I think that this post does shows us insightful details on the importance of national service. However, I believe that stating your real opinion will only earn you negative comments as the poem 'the soldier' was taught intended to teach students showcase patriotism towards Singapore.
ReplyDeleteBack to the topic, Firstly, besides defending the country, I believe that National Service was make compulsory for many other purposes (e.g. promote social cohesion), thus I think that this post may not only include how national service help in defending the country.
Also, I disagree with the point that National Service is a waste of time. I believe that we should prepare for the future although Singapore is peaceful now, and I think that it's impossible to 'practically doing nothing' in National service, because it actually have lots of benefits to the people as well as the country too! For example, one would surely be able to train himself physically and may also make new friends during the trainings. For the country, it could provide support when in time of need, and also providing social cohesion among Singaporeans.
I am leon ng from 2o2. I would not blame you even if you do not have a sense of belonging to Singapore because you have not stayed in Singapore for a long time. I do not think that it is possible to achieve such patriotism in such a short time. I also agree with the point stating that 2 years is wasted for National Service. All National Servicemen are not able to further their studies and their progress are hampered during that period of time. On the contrary, the girls are allowed to continue their studies without having to join NS and this certainly proves as a disadvantage to the males because they will be much older when they finish their studies and start working. However much I disagree with this, I still think that NS is pretty important, especially when it plays a role in training the able-bodied males to be readily prepared during war. Singapore is a small country with limited land area and resources. Hence, it is inevitable to train its citizens to be able to defend the nation. Otherwise, Singapore will be invaded easily. It is also not possible to rely on other countries to protect Singapore because after all, only our own army will fight bravely in order to defend their beloved nation.
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ReplyDeleteHi, I am Xingzhu (03). I disagree with your point that protecting Singapore is a waste of time. Although the world seems peaceful right now, you never know when there will be a next war. Thus, we must stay vigilant and be ready to protect our country. Also, there are many advantages of National Service that you never state. Good that you mentioned the definition and purpose of NS. Remember to follow the instructions of the blog prompt next time :)
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