"Just try and do the best in the vocation they decide to put me
in."
Bravo then. I don't think racial prejudice's that relevant in the
SAF anymore, even as I realize you'll probably be a 1st-generation,
local-born enlistee from your family. But your peers are part of
the current 3G crop, so if anything it's their parents' batches
(those who served in the mid '70's to early '80s) that faced most
mistrust over their own forefathers' chauvinist/communist ties. I
dare say you'll lagi confirm pass if if you've gone thru the local
education.
I'm sure they still do discreet background checking for sensitive
vocations, but IMHO it's not really very different from those in
the civilian world (eg. SIA). Screening & blacklisting,
however, are different things & I'm fairly certain there's no
bureaucratic leviathan overseeing this area. The SAF, even NSF
itself, is just too multi-layered a system.
If the CDO take you on, then good luck. I'm not sure they conduct
BMTs seasonally (every 3 months) like Tekong, though - so what if
your enlistment timing is all "wrong" for them?
The bulk of combat units are also filled by mono-intake people, so
on paper a Telong/SBMT "outsider" can only be posted in via 2 ways:
relevant vocation-training by the pertinent formation (inc. after
going thru OCS or SISPEC) or more general vocation-training by
service formations. It won't be as if you can, say, aim for 3rd
Guards on your initial reporting day, unless you've signed on or
something. Instead, your only input resources - as far as
influencing your hoped-for posting goes - are during the PC
interviews, & of course your course results, which'll entail
your DIs' feedback.
With the latter, I actually had 1st-hand experience after being
attached to Arty Training Cadre, due to my extra half-year. My
recruit battery had a few pai kia's, inc. 2 gangsters (inc. one
bodily tattooed who came under my section) whom the instructors
were informally told to mix together with care. I dunno if the word
came down from ISD or whatever, but they turned out to be normal
peng.
What's more didactic was that my BC, & indirectly my CO,
depended heavily on the DIs' recommendations on who to retain as
gunners after BMT. I have to confess that not all of us were 100%
honorable in our judgement calls, even as we reached no consensus
on whether posting out (to storemen-type appointments) represents a
"reward" & retaining an underachiever is a "punishment". But
generally we tried to be fair, & every evaluation was
performance-rated with no racial shenanigans.
I dunno if the Tekong BMT culture is similar & here's guessing
these are gonna be the overall nature of appraisals you'll go
through, & it'll be the same with the follow-ons at SISPEC or
OCS.