"A PES E Case Study (National Service in SG)" and "My Life as a NSF clerk in Singapore" both felt like fluff pieces. Don't get me wrong. They both quite accurately stated what goes on in the lives of a PES E NSF, and that they did clear up some misconceptions that non PES E soldiers usually have.
Perhaps my issue with the two articles was that as a fellow PES E soldier, my experience ran parallel to theirs, but still very different, and I can hardly say I had a "better" life than the combatants.
I have Narcolepsy. It's a sleeping disorder that causes me to fall asleep at random times of the day. Before you go "oh how I wish I had that", keep in mind that I fall asleep standing, I fall asleep walking, I fall asleep with a fork in my mouth, I fall asleep into my food, I fall asleep into objects which leave me bruised, and I've even fallen asleep while bent over a railing. To top it off, I wake up every 2 hours at night and occasionally get sleep paralysis and facial cataplexy.
Guess where SAF posted me to? The security guard unit. That's right! That's a problem right there. How did a guy with a sleep disorder end up in a security unit, where part of my job scope included "being vigilant while on duty".
Next problem. My senior commanders did not know of my condition. So because my unit was hastily set up and proper rules and regulations were not set in place, we were perpetually under staffed and I had to partake in excessive shift and duty hours. I can say that because we (all they guys in my camp, regardless of PES status) were technically being over worked according to SAF policy (thanks PES E BMT for teaching me where to find that). Sure I got to go home more days that some of the stay in clerks. But much of that time was spent recovery from the weird ass hours we had to pull. So to read about how some clerks had alot of free time to surf the net while "off duty" is quite a sore spot.
The last article I read was about Private Ganesh Pillay Magindren. Particularly about the coroner blaming his direct superior for not being curious about his Schizophrenia. While I feel that some blame should be accorded to her, I can't expect much from her based on my experience with SAF on the whole regarding this issue. His office didn't even know about his condition because the file took too long to arrive. That's just bullshit. The superior was criticised for not being "even slightly curious". Thing is, she was. As far as she could tell without the damn file, he was lazy and unmotivated. And she didn't just punish him for not being up to par. She took an effort to talk to him and to try to help him. So she did do her job, but it was the system that failed to back her up.
The SAF now allows recruits to choose their vocation (or state their preference, whatever). But I feel that all the effort and resources going into this endeavour should go into fixing the existing system, particularly in the case of individual like myself and Private Ganesh Pillay Magindren. People with flat feet get special shoes, people with asthma get excuse running. How about people with Serious Medical conditions get their supervisors notified?
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