Quote of the Day: "Arbeit Macht Frei"

Trust in the SAF

The SAF has a serious problem with trust. The implicit assumption is that enlistees can't think and are unworthy and incapable of being entrusted with responsibility, as reflected by the lower pay and status. Then again, even Senior Specialists are not that highly regarded, to say nothing of Specialists. If you are a Third Sergeant, you are entrusted with the onerous burdens of conducing warmups for PT and being a station IC for IPPT, but you are not trusted to do (marginally) more important things, like conducting activities, leading WITS Teams or approving documents. Those are tasks fit only for Officers, as we all know that their (on the whole) higher educational level and 9 months in OCS have magically endowed them with wondrous skills, even if the real work is done by other people - most often poor, suffering NSF enlistees, the true unsung heroes (more than roadsweepers, who at least get paid for their effort, have a choice to quit and get copious tributes in Chinese moral education textbooks) - most of the time (as is the case of the latter 2 examples) while everything is done in the name of the Officers, giving them all the credit [Ed: You can substitute "regulars" for "officers" and the point would hold - perhaps even more firmly].

Then again, I don't blame them. Non-officer NSFs can't be trusted, and there are good reasons for this. You enslave them for at least 2 years and treat them with little respect, like they are sub-humans unworthy of dignity due to their lack of rank. You make them do things they don't want to do. They serve as your guinea pigs, scapegoats and whipping boys for regulars. And then to add insult to injury, you pay them peanuts. Perhaps the most damning factor, however, is the lack of trust in Non-officer NSFs. Trust is reciprocal and recursive - if it is not given it won't be returned, and if you don't try to trust someone in the first place, he will never try to earn the trust. It's just like how children won't love you if you don't love them back.

In contrast, let me cite an anecdote that was related to us. This Australian soldier was hyperventillating due to an acute allergic reaction brought on by drinking water that had been purified with iodine. Their medic specialist gave him 2 puffs of Salbutamol, gave him a shot of adrenaline and sent him straight to the hospital. In contrast, we aren't allowed to give patients any medicine except for 2 tablets of panadol - not even over-the-counter medicine, let alone Salbutamol, and SAF personnel on ambulance attachment are only supposed to observe, even if their medical qualifications are greater than that of the SCDF paramedics.


PACES, the computer system for medical record management, undoubtedly sounded like a good idea when it was first introduced in the middle of the last decade. However, I think it is responsible for the greatest complaint of the patients - the waiting time. Due to the slowness of the system (mostly due to network bottlenecks), it can take up to 3-4 hours for a patient to get his medicine and status slip from the time he sees the MO. Whereas under the old manual system, a patient could conceivably leave the medical centre with his medicine and status 3 minutes after seeing the MO. This problem has become particular evident recently, for our report sick rate since the start of the year has been of a magnitude unseen since BMT, and comparable to that of 46's (considering their PTP started less than a month ago, that's saying something). 42 must be doing really horrible things to them.

I have an inkling that when cellular phones first came out, the SAF banned them. Eventually however, it sucuumbed to the inevitable and now the SAF would collapse without them. I wonder what implications the growing crop of camera phones has for the SAF - they are the future, and I don't think everyone is going to change their phones just to use them in camp. Maybe they will accept the inevitable eventually.

I think the ORD mood is striking me. The past week I've been ditzy and easily amused, and have been in better humour than for a long time - maybe since my unit started whacking me last July. Or maybe 42 has finally driven me crazy.

It seems all the uniformed SAF women I see are warrant officers. I wonder where they are hidden when they are sergeants. Maybe it's to keep them away from deprived NSFs.

A friend went for his BMT recourse and was the only one there who found the food good. Coincidentally (or otherwise), he was also the only one from Armour. Hmm.

Our cookhouses are getting pseudo-Western pretentions again. One day we had what was billed as "Mulligatawny Soup". This turned out to be a hot-and-sour soup with potatoes and onions inside - a far cry from its description as a "Classic Anglo-Indian soup, the name of which means "pepper water," [which] should be richly endowed with meat and piquantly spiced." At the same meal, the "Chicken Chop with BBQ Sauce" was more a hunk of chicken than a chop.

One of the great mysteries of life - why, by the time I eat my breakfast at the cookhouse, there's only one option left, usually the poorer one - has been solved: One day I went there early, and saw that the SFI people were only serving one of the two choices of breakfast, probably to save manpower. So their laziness condemns most of us to eating the lousier breakfast.

We now have Company PT on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The Unit Fitness Program (UFP) has been moved to Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Whee. Time to collapse from exhaustion. Luckily I'm starting to clear my off and leave...

Recently I've put this Singtel 2004 Calendar on my table in the medical centre, and marked each day from January 1st to June 11th with a number (days till June 12th). Now, not only do people vandalise my calendar, they keep moving it from its location. I've a good mind to nail it to the table.

I think a lot of the stupid things we are made to do can be explained thus - the people who make us do them think that we are as free as they are.


Misc Matters

It seems that Singaporean judges always like to use vitriol laden, emotionally charged language. Eg "You are a monster". I've come across many other examples, but they do not readily come to mind. I find that very unhealthy as self-righteous moralism is no way to dispense Justice - which is supposed to be blind, fair, just and impartial, after all - as it probably leads to unnecessarily harsh sentences being dispensed.

China is being hypocritical again. They've trotted out the "interference in our internal affairs" line again which, oddly enough, doesn't seem to have been used recently, and called on the USA to "stop interfering in Hong Kong's Internal Affairs" after a spokesman said the USA supported moves towards democracy there. Right. Meanwhile, China gets to interfere in Taiwan's Internal Affairs flagrantly and shamelessly, even making not-so-veiled threats of war and as for Tibet, well, it's much worse than mere "interference".

The Nokia DKU-5 cable is ridiculously overpriced. I saw it at $88 at one shop, and that's apparently one of the cheaper quotations. I wonder how they think they can charge so much for a simple cable.

The music that NUH plays to callers being put on hold is now Chinese New Year music. Argh!

I've finally seen the books authored by Fabio! After hearing about them for so long but not seeing them, I'd thought they were apocryphal, but one day in EMF bookstore I saw his familiar pectorals splashed across a book cover.

No anti-dandruff shampoo I've used has ever worked, but Selsun, a selenium sulphide suspension, is working miracles. I heartily recommend it.


Quotes:

[On booking out dockets] What do you put in remarks? [Someone: 'Post Out'] [Me: 'Good riddance'] They're actually very nice people. [Me: Then what did they do to deserve a place like 42?] That's what they were saying during posting.

[On someone attempting to commit suicide by drinking a bottle of muscle rub] Next time ask him to kill someone first... Kill the people who are torturing him.

It's good to have a horse... I can ride it to camp... but nowhere to park... I can let it walk home, then when I need it I can whistle and it will come, like Gandalf (It would be good, but there's, Gandalf did)

rifle stringe (sling)

You mean your camera got phone meh (phone, camera)

Braised pork chop in haninanese sauce (hainanese)

If you ask me my unit - SIW lah. [Someone: School of Infantry Weapons?] Soldier in Wonderland.

[On the price of being in the Premier Combined Arms Division] They are fuckers. My reports are never ending.

If Gabriel pass IPPT, I'll treat the whole medical centre Crystal Jade. [Someone: The Taka one] If Gabriel get a silver for IPPT, I'll treat the whole medical centre anything they want. [Me: If I get Gold, you'll treat the whole of Sungei Gedong] If Gabriel get gold, I'll treat the whole of Sungei Gedong anything. One bao4 yu2 [Ed: Abalone] each. (passes, centre to, gets, centre to, gets, Gedong to)

[On asking questions of TCS Artistes] You are sex kitten. I always fantasise you going around my bed naked (?)

[On asking questions of Fiona Xie] I'm a big fan of your breasts

[On asking questions of TCS Artistes] How do you keep your breasts so big?

[On my good humour] Gabriel, are you getting married or something?

[On SCDF people] The other day we saw them being knocked down at the gate. [Someone: Are you sure they weren't saying Friday prayers?] Jee bye! [Someone: Kannina!]

[Me on someone: Effeminate does not mean gay] He's not like Andrew Gan.

[On me not getting an understudy] After you ORD, 42's morale will go down, then they will have to be decommissioned as a unit... No one to book referrals.

[On a regular] See? Gey Kiang [Ed: Hokkien for 'trying to be too smart'], go and upgrade. Now cannot pass [IPPT], want to downgrade.

[On sggirls.com] I normally go for 'swimsuit' and 'laundry' (lingerie)