It's not anything new; I went thru the experience while at NUS
between '89 & '92. The "arrangement" mentioned earlier is
informally termed - I dunno about official terminology - as "being
in an IHL unit" (Institute of Higher Learning). One implication is
that the relevant CO must design his ICT schedule around the local
vasities' term holidays, nominally March-June back then, for the
1st 4 years or so of the training cycle (until the relevant NSmen
presumably graduate).
There's why I suggested in a previous thread that you could
technically end up doing 2 ICTs in a calendar year, with one being
a "make-up" one. The window of opportunity is already limited with
the IHL thing, then there's also IHL exams & national holidays
like CNY & Hari Raya. A March ICT could thus be pushed forward
to April or May, but be counted as the previous SAF
workyear's.
Dunno about RT; it was a different regimen then. Also, all of us
were still quite young/fit to pass the IPPT during the ICTs.
As for mob manning, it's not any more inconvenient compared to out
in the working world. I stayed in the hostel, without a personal TV
or table phone but I carried a pager - in other words, roughly
same-same with the non-office workers out there - & I recall my
unit even particularly "arrowing" the IHL students to be Area I/C's
too! (We could claim cab fares with a silent mob activation.) The
word on the streets was - is? - that mobilization recalls tended to
happen on weekends, so it's really not much difference with the
rest of the NSmen.
What I can vividly remember, however, was being part of a
contingent to perform for this SAF Tattoo event. It "counted" as
one ICT; we ended up burning 9 consecutive weekends in parade
rehearsals. That means booking in at 7:30 on Sundays (latter-ly
Saturdays too), hanging around the camp until 15:30 before being
transported to the National Stadium, & not booking out until
23:45 or later. Luckily, I was largely vacationing as a NUS student
then, but it was super-siong for the other NSmen, having to
sacrifice their weekends time & again after a long workweek ...
& being "imprisoned" in camp for half the time - with the
canteen unopened, only training-shed concrete for naps, no proper
bathrooms for washing up or showers, & no gradual winding-down
after each parade "high" prior to the new workweek.
The numbness & disgruntedness boiled over into a memorable
argument during the final sending in of rifles - partly cuz the IHL
men were to out-process a day earlier (start of new school term),
but some also jumped queue in desiring to catch the last bus/MRT,
& others wanting to return home to catch a soccer-tournament
telecast. In the end, the SI cell people didn't even stamp my
participation stint into my reservist booklet for that call-up.
