The thing about the SAF is this. We are trying to make the first
strike instead of the enemy.
We are not going to let the enemy hit us first before we attack.
We are going to attack when they are not even looking at us.
Some people can do this, some people can't.
When an army is make up of volunteers, it is much easier for
people to make the first move. Or when you are living in a
generation when people have to be physically tougher.
With the current generation, some people are not meant to be a
soldier in the first place. There is no motivation to do so. The
reason why US invade Iraq for the second time is mainly due to the
US population wanting more and more blood after 911.
The same as world war 2, after what Japan did to USA. Singapore
isn't going to fight a war anytime soon, nor are we really
pissing anyone off enough for a war to start.
Simply, forcing the current generation into a soldier mindset is
hard. Forcing them to become trained killers in even harder.
The older generation might be able to actually kill for their
defense, espically during the early years of singapore, with so
much chaos and etc.
The majority of a peaceful generation is not meant to be a
soldier. Marching drills, excerise and learning to use a gun
does not make one a soldier. The ability to take all of them,
with the urge to kill the enemy without mercy makes one a
soldier.
NS is basically a deterence force now. Don't force military
training into people who hated the idea of being a soldier. If
so, the motivation of those people to train will be very low,
and it may damage their loyalty to the country. A person who hated
NS will view this as the government trying to enslave the
people.
Most of the overseas singaporeans, who are not members in this
forums, said that the reason why the migrated to due to the
government's actions and etc. NS is one of the few reasons.
I don't think we should 'toughen' them up. Trying to 'toughen'
them up can make quite a number of people to hate NS even more.