The fact that many SAF "Training" are not written and described
SPECIFICALLY. Many times they are not written or spelt out clearly.
Why? Think about it.
No, you're inferring that we have a "cowboy" army, & that's
incorrect. The lesson plans & TSR's are in place, available for
consultation.
I feel very sad that such an unfortunate incident occured,
however, i must admit i oso feel sad for the instructors - IMO they
are just some scap goats.
No, there's no scrapegoat. You can't blame it on individual
ignorance (only complacency, & that's a reach itself if they
weren't drunk &/or has gone through the course themselves
before), or rely alone on the safety officer present to judge
whether standards have been compromised.
You can fault the system breakdown or miscommunication about the
proper training recommendations but, please lah, that doesn't
excuse the actual sadistic behavior (dunking the poor fellow
repeatedly & stamping on a senior-officer's rank).
FYI, not all NS deaths are reported in news. I'm quite surprised
that they chose to let this case get so much focus. In fact, my
sister's ex-colleague's son died in NS just days after this
incident, but no such publicity.
They needn't be. MINDEF has several tiers of formal
investigative procedures; Teo Chee Hean mentioned them when he
spoke in Parliament about the 3 SAF deaths last year.
The most basic is the SIB investigation & internal Commission
of Inquiry, which took place for the BMTC recruit who collapsed
during IPPT. Next up is the Higher Board of Inquiry, which was
convened for the Ranger-course attendee who collapsed during the
5km run.
There's also an independent Committee of Inquiry (chaired by a
senior civil servant), which was done for the CST case. MINDEF is
completely out of this jurisdiction, & my own experience of it
- with my unit's M113 explosion from 1986 - was that the press
would have access to its report. Generally though, the full SIB
& COI details won't be made available to the public, beyond the
announcement of its results & whether any SOP has been
breached.
The CST case is big news cuz MINDEF also followed up by conveneing
a Higher Board of Inquiry plus a Coroner's Inquiry, as well as
cooperating with the Police with their own CID investigation.
some people actually believed that water torture (even in
training) means spraying water
Here's what TCH said in Parliament (just like what I tried to
point out to Gerdakan some time back):
"The Committee of Inquiry found that the trainers had not followed
the approved lesson plan for this training exercise.
According to the lesson plan, the trainees were only to be
doused with water with the intent of showering them. The
lesson plan specifically prohibits physical contact and manhandling
of trainees, and states categorically that instructors should never
force water treatment into the body. Submerging the head of a
trainee into water was not authorized.
"However, instead of being doused with water, 2SG Hu had his head
submerged in water four times. As a result he aspirated water, had
breathing difficulties and collapsed. He was treated promptly by a
medical orderly at the scene and evacuated to the Singapore General
Hospital, but despite the medical treatment he died.
Besides 2SG Hu, other trainees also had their heads
submerged in water. As a result 6 aspirated water and required
medical treatment. The Combat Survival Training had been
conducted in an unauthorized way.
This is an extremely serious lapse in the conduct of the training.
It should never have happened."
Hope this clarifies, as far as how extreme the specific drill was
supposed to be.
