To women and children, National Service is a passage to adulthood: a rite where men are made.
But to men, National Service’s kind of different:
It’s a vicious cycle of hard-fought ‘masculinity’… and indignant older men complaining about how the new generation has it easy.
“You know hor, Ah Boy,” Grandpa Tom would preach to his son Jerry. “Back when I was serving NS as an officer I had to serve for 3 years you know? And the pay was peanuts. Peanuts.“
“Baby,” Father Jerry would preach to his son Cheddar. “When I was serving NS in my time, I had to serve two and a half years. And my pay was shit. Shit.”
And now, it seems that the torch has been passed once again.
“You ah,” Cheddar rants at his two-month-old son Canola. “You better appreciate your army stint; they’re increasing the pay again. Hmph, I won’t be surprised if they cut the army training period to one and a half years; we sure had it tough.”
NSF & NSMen Pay To Increase Between $70 And $120 To Recognise Their ‘Contributions’
From 1 March 2020 onwards, full-time and operationally ready national servicemen (NSF and NSmen) across all ranks will be getting an increment of S$70 to S$120 in their NS allowance each month.
The announcement was made by Senior Minister of State for Defence Heng Chee How in Parliament on Monday (2 March 2020).
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According to Channel News Asia, the raise includes “increments in both rank and vocation allowance” components: all national servicemen will be entitled to a vocation allowance of at least S$50 a month, while those who are currently granted combat or operational allowance will receive up to $100 more.
An NSF holding the rank of Recruit or Trainee, for instance, will get S$630 a month, up from the current S$560.
A Singapore Armed Forces NSF Naval Diver, Singapore Police Force NSF Police Tactical Trooper, or Singapore Civil Defence Force firefighter with the rank of Corporal will be entitled to S$1,050, up from the current S$930.
The raise is reportedly a nod to the “contributions” to servicemen.
Other Measures To Improve The NS Experience
Additionally, Mr Heng also announced other measures to enhance every serviceman’s NS experience, as he stressed that the Singapore Armed Forces’ (SAF) “greatest asset” is its people.
The PreEnlistees Exercise Programme for National Service (PREP4NS) trial, for one, will be extended to ActiveSG gyms.
The programme was announced last October to prepare future servicemen for the physical demands of NS, and entails qualified personnel to a free one-year SAFRA EnergyOne gym membership.
MINDEF will also fully subsidise Electronic Pre-Release Employment Programme (E-PREP) course fees, instead of the up to 90 per cent subsidy that’s employed currently.
“NSFs devote two full years to serving the nation,” Mr Heng said. “It is therefore incumbent upon us as stewards of their time and talents to make sure that we support their aspirations.”
Improved eServices will also be introduced to accommodate the ever-growing presence of online transactions.
Amongst other things, MINDEF and the Ministry of Home Affairs will also launch the SAFRA Family Scheme and HomeTeamNS Family Scheme this year.
The family package allows for “significant cost savings” as servicemen no longer need to pay individual membership fees for each dependant.
Well, what can I say?
Why didn’t they implement such perks in my days??
