Name Tags

Gordonator SG

i heard that soldiers in the past was issued red no.4 name tags if they are hokkien soldiers, orange name tags if they are chinese educated and green name tag if they are english educated.

any truth to that? perhaps anybody's father who have RODed can help? Smile

Neutrend SG

how long ago sia?

Gordonator SG

should be 30 years ago in the 70s or longer.

zanshin SG

not really too long ago, my bro in 1980s still have the green name tag with a small orange tab at the end........meaning he is english educated but can speak chinese as 2nd lang.......

those with total orange tags are the true "hokien pengs" or those from the chinese stream(chinese schools), they would be allocated coporals during BMt which have orange tags as well.

i cannot remember the colours but they have blue(for malay).

hahaha, i remember how my mother boil starch for my brothers uniform every weekend.

specfore SG

Yupp. ... correct. But the name tag was not to be worn with the no. 4, but rather with the old no. 3 (Temasek green). This was the old no. 3 where you can wear your formation badges (infantry... armour.. etc) and there were brass badges on the collar etc etc.
The name tag was a green plastic badge with your surname engraved in white on it. On one side of the badge there were colour bars. If it was orange, it meant that your 2nd language was mandarin. I can't remember what colour were for the other languages.

The no. 4 name badge was just a green velcro strip with your name in embroidered black, same as today.

Gordonator SG

anyone of u happened to have pics? i'm very interested in seeing them. Cool

specfore SG

Uhh.. you mean the old no. 3 temasek green uniform? There should be some photos in those SAF history books... I think. It was a more "kilat" no. 3 than the present one which was phased in midway thru' my NS. Not all NS men got the new no. 3 , whereas for the old no. 3, all NS men were issued at least one. As an NCO , we were issued 2 pairs. Same with officers, except they were issued in addition, a red belt and a cap instead of beret. This was the one where my mum had to spend hours starching for me to get the razor crease on the trousers and shirt sleeve. Then the joke was that I found out much later that my camp had a outside laundry contractor who would wash and starch your no. 3 for only a few bucks!

By the time I ROD'd, the old no. 3 was obsolete and "banned". I remember I was not issued a new no. 3 and when I received an award before I ROD'd, I had to wear a smart no. 4 only to receive it from the CIO at that time.

Anyway, photos of me and friends are in Singapore, and I am thousands of miles away from home right now. They need to be scanned also to post on the website. Don't think my elderly father can do this.