Tan Chiak Peng Vs Modern time Regulars

Short Ninja SG

In the old days when people sign on they were known as the tan chiak peng,mostly made up of not so highly educated people unlike today regular soldiers but it was their toughness and surival instinct that formed the backbone of the SAF.Today the SAF is a modern professional army with better equipment and service support therefore better morale to fight any kind of aggressor.I am sure all SAF soldiers would feel honored to die for SIngapore but apart from a few retired tan chiak peng who had seen real action in combat the rest of the lot including the elite,gung ho,garang warriors of the past and present have yet to be tested.During my time as a tan chiak peng some 20 over years ago pay wasnt that attractive even in the elite units but we were proud to be what we are and servivng amongst the best even though the defense budget was not as good as now and thus there were more cock up in everything from food ,traning to transportation,,,etc.I am curious to know what make people sign on these days is it the money,the adventure, dont know what esle to do as a civilian but I am sure getting killed in action is the last reason.

glock SG

I am sure that some sign up for the same reasons as u 20 years ago.

However, in many vocations now, one needs more technical skills & the professionals are in many of these vocations.

What is lacking in " modern " SAF are the tough as nails front line soldiers.
We have the thinking soldier ( but maybe think too much ) but not enough brawn to go with it. But also times have changed. We are mainly a conscipt army and people are more educated and will complain when traning gets tough & dangerous. But if are to depend on our conscript army, training better be tough & realistic, otherwise might as well not have one. Without real training, high morale, good equipment, we just become cannon fodder.
An example is the poor performance of Argentinian conscripts in the Falklands War.

Short Ninja SG

Thank you for that reply.I didnt even know this forum exist until 2 days ago stumbling into it while reading on oposition politics on some website.Completely lost touch with the army after migrating 15 years ago.Good to see some friends and people I used to know reaching the rank of Colonel and SWOs especially Goh Kee Nguan who is now BG and rather sad to read about the Commando dunking case although it happened some time back.Sure we need the training to be as realistic as possible but safety is still the top priority and some guidelines must be followed.Sometime in the early 80s the POW treatment thing was struck off when did it start again? I went through one myself and got a hairline fracture on a shin and a bad contusion in the knee (got kicked) got downgraded and then upgraded again within a year but it was all part of the training.We laughed in pain while some cried but nobody died that day.Soldiering is still a job if not a career for some so no matter how hot shot you might be you are never immune to prosecution,when things go awry nobody will give you a hand cuz they would be covering their own backside and leaving you out to dry.So be its ok to be on the ball but also be smart.