why was our soldiers used as movers after NDP?

[denniskee]

I was angered when, after the NDP, walking from MBS towards Esplanade, our soldiers were tasked to remove all road blocks, ie those plastic red and white castle look alike blocks as well as those yellow metal blockage. It should have been outsourced to companies!! Atleast their employees get pay.

Not only were our soldiers were treated like Coolie, they were not given proper tools!!! Soldiers wearing 1/2 u, many wearing full smart 4 with berets all pushing the huge plastic red, white road blocks on the road across the bridge between MBS n Flyers, along the road from Esplanade to Flyers. The rest was carrying the yellow metal blockage!!

Since the roads are blocked, why cant vehicles be driven to where they blockages are & just load up? Else trolleys or pallet jacks could have been use!!! What is all this talks about modernized army?? What were the officers thinking when they were in meeting, planning?

It is long weekends & or Muslim friends still celebrating their new year & Citizens are celebrating ND!!! How can we treat our soldier as Coolie!!! This is simply outrageous!!!

 

[Rashkae]

Write to ST. Post here also no use

 

[kei1309]

I was angered when, after the NDP, walking from MBS towards Esplanade, our soldiers were tasked to remove all road blocks, ie those plastic red and white castle look alike blocks as well as those yellow metal blockage. It should have been outsourced to companies!! Atleast their employees get pay.

Not only were our soldiers were treated like Coolie, they were not given proper tools!!! Soldiers wearing 1/2 u, many wearing full smart 4 with berets all pushing the huge plastic red, white road blocks on the road across the bridge between MBS n Flyers, along the road from Esplanade to Flyers. The rest was carrying the yellow metal blockage!!

Since the roads are blocked, why cant vehicles be driven to where they blockages are & just load up? Else trolleys or pallet jacks could have been use!!! What is all this talks about modernized army?? What were the officers thinking when they were in meeting, planning?

It is long weekends & or Muslim friends still celebrating their new year & Citizens are celebrating ND!!! How can we treat our soldier as Coolie!!! This is simply outrageous!!!

wait...

this has been going on for years.

why did you only notice this now?

anyways, in an army unit, this kind of work is what they do back in camp. which is moving things around. don't tell me you've never experienced that?

i don't pity the soldiers having to do menial work like that. i see it as training in building strength and cohesion.

you should be glad that they have the strength to do all that. most soldiers these days are weak in strength and this shows that they have what it takes to complete a task.

i really pity future generations with senior citizens like you weakening an already weakening generation. there's nothing wrong with such menial tasks.

 

[Sion]

I was angered when, after the NDP, walking from MBS towards Esplanade, our soldiers were tasked to remove all road blocks, ie those plastic red and white castle look alike blocks as well as those yellow metal blockage. It should have been outsourced to companies!! Atleast their employees get pay.

Not only were our soldiers were treated like Coolie, they were not given proper tools!!! Soldiers wearing 1/2 u, many wearing full smart 4 with berets all pushing the huge plastic red, white road blocks on the road across the bridge between MBS n Flyers, along the road from Esplanade to Flyers. The rest was carrying the yellow metal blockage!!

Since the roads are blocked, why cant vehicles be driven to where they blockages are & just load up? Else trolleys or pallet jacks could have been use!!! What is all this talks about modernized army?? What were the officers thinking when they were in meeting, planning?

It is long weekends & or Muslim friends still celebrating their new year & Citizens are celebrating ND!!! How can we treat our soldier as Coolie!!! This is simply outrageous!!!

Our soldiers are People soldiers.

They are there to serve the people.

 

[Obelix]

Did you see the list of organization that forms up the NDP organizing committee?

The chairperson is usually holds the rank of a BG, who is an active Division Commander. He will muster his Division assets to form other sub-committees in the planning and running the NDP. Most probably, all the BG's merry men (from the Enchek to the Colonels within the Division will kenna arrow to assist the big boss). The whole process normally takes 9-10 months of sheer work and deep involvement.

It has been a norm since our first NDP that our NS boys to be the main manpower to put things in place for the event. Nothing to be shocked about.

 

[Octarine]

Should the soldiers have called for their maids instead?
If these soldiers feel to good to move some stuff around what would happen if they are really challenged? Also starting a discussion about 'Scope of Work'?

 

[kei1309]

Should the soldiers have called for their maids instead?
If these soldiers feel to good to move some stuff around what would happen if they are really challenged? Also starting a discussion about 'Scope of Work'?

i imagine that in a war, our men n green would rather call someone else to move obstacles rather than do it themselves, coming from TS' point of view

 

[diver-hloc]

I was angered when, after the NDP, walking from MBS towards Esplanade, our soldiers were tasked to remove all road blocks, ie those plastic red and white castle look alike blocks as well as those yellow metal blockage. It should have been outsourced to companies!! Atleast their employees get pay.

Not only were our soldiers were treated like Coolie, they were not given proper tools!!! Soldiers wearing 1/2 u, many wearing full smart 4 with berets all pushing the huge plastic red, white road blocks on the road across the bridge between MBS n Flyers, along the road from Esplanade to Flyers. The rest was carrying the yellow metal blockage!!

Since the roads are blocked, why cant vehicles be driven to where they blockages are & just load up? Else trolleys or pallet jacks could have been use!!! What is all this talks about modernized army?? What were the officers thinking when they were in meeting, planning?

It is long weekends & or Muslim friends still celebrating their new year & Citizens are celebrating ND!!! How can we treat our soldier as Coolie!!! This is simply outrageous!!!

You have only notice this after 48 NDP ??

For your info....they are NOT treated as coolies and there is NOTHING outrageous about our NS boys doing such job... or do you think their Maids and FW should be doing their job and maybe even go to war for our soliders too ?? Clearing road blocks and cleaning up the area... including packing those gift bags and all the other thousands of small and unseen, behind the scenes jobs are also done by our boys... should we 'outsource' these jobs too ?? Are our 'strawberries' to weak and ill trained that even such jobs are too hard for them ?? :think:

 

[denniskee]

Not really, my time we move things that belongs to our unit, dont do such extras. Under war situations, I believe non of us will be so calculative as to what belongs to us n move those stuff. But peace time at least dont take our man as cost cutting means.

If moving those blockages if part of national service, why not include the cleaning of the marina bay area? My point is, where does it ends, at their convenience I suppose?

I believe things should have better planned for, like providing vehicles on site or trolleys or pallet jack.

 

[kei1309]

Not really, my time we move things that belongs to our unit, dont do such extras. Under war situations, I believe non of us will be so calculative as to what belongs to us n move those stuff. But peace time at least dont take our man as cost cutting means.

If moving those blockages if part of national service, why not include the cleaning of the marina bay area? My point is, where does it ends, at their convenience I suppose?

I believe things should have better planned for, like providing vehicles on site or trolleys or pallet jack.

do you think our foreign construction workers have such luxuries as well?

not comparing our NSFs and other regulars to construction workers, but it's a good starting point to show these kids how good they have it as well, compared to our hired labourers who get a pittance for all that hard work.

and i suppose you haven't done it as well.

because we've all gone through it. this event is our blood, sweat and tears. and i suppose that we, as citizens of Singapore aren't too weak and pampered to do such work.

also, this makes them take full ownership of the task that's been given to them, and not always rely on others to do everything. even if it's not your core duty, it trains you to be able to do other things, in addition to what you already have

 

[qystan]

They can always bring their maids.

 

[kandinsky]

What is all this talks about modernized army??

Limited to weaponry and intel maybe... A lot of what the army does (especially at the ground level) still boils down to painful, sweaty, coolie-like manual labour.

If not, we'd have machines like these (1, 2) to help us, instead of hundreds and thousands of men in a battalion spending tens of thousands of man-hours shovelling and filling sandbags manually...

 

[kei1309]

Limited to weaponry and intel maybe... A lot of what the army does (especially at the ground level) still boils down to painful, sweaty, coolie-like manual labour.

If not, we'd have machines like these (1, 2) to help us, instead of hundreds and thousands of men in a battalion spending tens of thousands of man-hours shovelling and filling sandbags manually...

Machines can fail.

That's why soldiers need to know how to do the basic drills and preparations

 

[betta01]

Dear TS:

There is nothing to be outraged about, anymore pampering of our future generation and all the boys will be too 'soft' to serve NS.

 

[Bukitimah]

While I am sure our boys would be proud to be participating in the National Day event, how they are being deployed and are they utilized effectively need to be reviewed. Don't just because they come in free they should be asked to do all sort of duties and defeat the purpose of national duties.

Every man should be accounted for just like if you have to contract out these jobs. Those on top of the ranking must also be there to show their support.

Just a side pointer. I understand it is very difficult to obtain NDP tickets. Is it because it is held in a restricted single location? Why don't we have it all over the island and you get to celebrate no matter where. Did we tried this before, I think we did.

 

[CasualBear]

I don't know which unit TS went, But I bet he had that easy. Ever heard of cny/ Xmas or Any Ph guard duty?

Nation celebrates But national defense never stops to ensure ur safety.

All the boys were doing the manual labor to ensure smooth traffic flow and security. Would u hire FT to protect our shores? Same logic. Our nsf / regulars r natural choice for these saikang.

 

[Kit]

Well, CMPB is called the Cebtral MANPOWER Base afterall.

Never in my life have I stopped thinking that NS, no matter how those people packaged it, is a reliable and constant source for cheap labour.

 

[DM101]

I find there's nothing wrong with such menial tasks

It is in fact good training - in real war you may need to move road blocks to make way for the PANZER tanks and columns :bsmilie:

 

[kei1309]

I find there's nothing wrong with such menial tasks

It is in fact good training - in real war you may need to move road blocks to make way for the PANZER tanks and columns :bsmilie:

that's for the Combat Engineers.

 

[ricohflex]

PRC soldiers were deployed to aid civilians after Lushan earthquake. Although they were moving stuff, can you call them coolies?
There is nothing demeaning about this.