Originally posted by JJxJJ:

school re-opens tmr, and then graduate in early December.. great!

what level are you?

psle, o level, A level?

i seriously don't see why not hwa chong or kahkee stn lor.

from wad i am reading, Duchess and Watten seem to be just 2 small (private)residential road in Bukit Timah. and you are going to name this stn after this 2 pathways?

since its builld right outside hci, den call it hci lor. landmark wad.

if built outside njc, i don't mind calling it national stn. :) sounds grand right? 

Originally posted by skythewood:

if war is coming, guess who is the first people to know, the citizens or the government?

the government only declare war. look, in the Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon war, most of the civilian know that they will soon be engaged in some sort of war, before the war actually begins. people do notice things that happens around them.

Originally posted by Hellraiza:

Again, that is based on your assumption that the facility is a mock up of a typical urban setting in SINGAPORE........

If i knew enemy troops were dug into a HDB flat, why would i still send my infantry in. Suicide right. Just get mortar/arty to level the damn building. Again, i'm a rifleman, my knowledge of this kind of stuff is definitely very little, compared to the many armchair generals we have on this forum.

i get what u mean in ur first point. but it doesn't hurt to actually learn about how to do urban warfare in the singapore landscape. singapore is not inpregnable. in the long run, in a war of attrition, we would eventually be push back into singapore, due to resource/manpower shortages etc. we should be brushing up on urban defence back at home instead of urban warfare abroad.

and how do you intend to use ur mortar/ tank/ wadever? almost every inch of singapore is covered with these HDB flat, where soldiers lurks. and, how many flats can u level? there are so many out there. even piles of rubble may prove hazardous to you, where they will still serve as effective hiding places.

actually, it is kind of logical. in many of the modern urban wars, it is quite hard to take down a city full of hostile forces, not least one as urbanized as singapore. 

Originally posted by seotiblizzard:

The stuck toes arouses me.

toes... O.o |||

amused by how guilible ppl are.

haha. so cute

ha.

amusing.

Originally posted by Hellraiza:

That's based on the assumption that we use to train for actual ops in SINGAPORE.

You say jungle warfare redundant, i tell you we have murai to train for urban ops. Now you say facility not realistic. alamak....

do you see more 12 storey HDBs or do u see more 2 storey shophouses around.

if you are going to encamp in a concealed location, where would you choose, a HDB estates with rows and rows of corridors everywhere in all direction, or would you confine urself to low level buildings? obviously, if you value ur life, u would choose a site which offers the most cover and choices.

if you are an enemy artillery man, mortar, or tank, these tall HDBs are also going to the obstacle to block your view, affecting ur precision. you are also probably not likely to walk straight up to a possible enemy encampment, with each flat similar to a fort, with enemy troops behind walls, firing from an advantageous height.

also, ask urself, if u r an enemy soldier, would you dare to march down a road lined with HDBs, with every HDB having the probability of harboring enemy troops who may be already setting their sights on you as you march on.

nor is it possible to just send in bombers to bomb every flat in singapore. same logic apply to bombers. each of the HDB flats may be armed with handheld anti-aircraft missile, which is more than enough to take an unsuspecting plane out of the sky.

with so many flats in singapore, it would make it a hell of a job for any invader to flush out well defended troops encamping in HDBs.

 modern day urban combat is much more challenging than the past, with buildings getting taller, bigger and stronger.

murai is more suited for singapore of the 1980s.

Originally posted by skythewood:

 

salary hike will come, and i am sure that the minister's one will be the first to go up.

this is confirm one lah. it is the only thing in singapore which goes up and never comes down.

tell to either take up citizenship or get lost. no PR allowed.

Originally posted by motoway:

All types of vegetables kena?

 

Or only some? Sia la, what am I supposed to eat in China? T_T

nothing. bring your own food. even the air and water are toxic.

so may as well bring along your own water purifier and oxygen tank.

lol.

nowadays all the processed food all likethat one lah, can't be avoided. so, may to accept the fact that you would most probably die of cancer in the future.

Originally posted by skythewood:

it is illegal for nsmen to leave the country without informing their supervisor. of course they won't let you leave. if war comes to singapore, you think the rest of the countries will be peaceful? more likely than not, a world war would be in place, than run where?

why are we training jungle warfare instead of focusing on FIBUA? that is classified, but you are welcome to guess why.

you will know if your country is going to get involve in a war. the chain of events leading to a war are always the same in most countries. e.g. sanctions, embargoes, UN meetings, more enemy recon activities.

by then, there will be sufficient indicators for you to flee the country before being mobilise.

and my point about the low pay is that you have 2/3 of the entire standing army receiving lousy compensation in a high risk occupation. that sure help morale alot.

also, it doesn't help that the ministers are the one who will be dictating any policy (i.e. surrender, armistice), when they will surely not be fighting on the frontline risking their butts. they are the ones who earn millions and yet not have to risk their lives, unlike us common folks who are bottom on the evolutionary level, with our lives cheap as "peanut powder(cannot even qualify as peanuts )"

and do you think your rich folks, the millionaires and millionaires are really going to fight? you think they will be willing to send their sons and son-in-laws off to fight?

so, if singapore is involved in any major armed conflict, it would be a war fought by the commoners, and run by the elites.

and regarding Hellraiza's point about Murai Urban Training Facility as the solution to urban warfare, i think it is not good enough.

if i remember correctly, most of the buildings in the facility are low level shophouses, etc. the highest building is still very short as compared to the rest of the HDB lanscape of singapore. most of the strategic locations in singapore are no longer covered by these shop houses, but covered by 12 storey HDB flats, shopping complex and office towers. so, to be realistic, there should be more model HDB flats to be incorporated into the facility. fighting in high level HDB flats is way different from the low level shophouses.

i sort of agree with angel here, that it is quite pointless for SAF to defend singapore.

On morale: how do you expect soldiers on a $400/mnth pay to risk their lives for the ministers earning $4million dollar pay( $333, 333/ month, 833 times of a nsf's pay)risking their life for people who will sit in comfort in some underground bunker while the war rage on around them.

Warfare: though the SAF emphasize on forward defence strategy, which involves attacking Malaysia (it's the only country saf is capable to launch troops into anyway), making jungle warfare relevant.

but shouldn't be urban warfare the focus of our NS training? street fighting in HDBs, multi-storey carparks, office towers. that's what war would be like if we r fighting in singapore, or at least in JB. all the so called strategic locations are already by now fully exploited for civilian usage, incorporated into the urban landscape. Cities and towns are built on these locations, and these places are unlikely to be the jungles which we expected.

look at singapore, would any enemy go hid themselves in jungles and woods which are of no strategic importance here in singapore, when there's plenty of concrete jungles around them? it is much safer to hid behind the concrete walls of 12  stories HDB buildings, which offers real protection from bullets, than behind 1 story-tall trees in hot, mosquito-infested jungle.

if there's any strategic locations to seize in singapore, it would be the prime urban and financial centers of the country, not the relatively worthless plots of ulu forests.

and u think during wartime, who is so dumb as to stay in singapore. most singaporeans, rich or poor, are at the very least able to afford a plane ticket to Australia, Thailand. (on the assumption that these people value their lives over money). none of the womenfolks will stay behind, nor would their men allow them to stay behind to risk death. Tell me, wouldn't you send off your wives, daughters, and mothers off to a safer country before you set off for army, during a war? (under the Geneva convention, it is illegal to attack civilian aircrafts, so it is safe for them to exit the country)

to harrymushroom,

did you ever consider the scenario where the commander reject the MC, prevent foo from submitting the MC, before foo completes some of the activities of the day?

it is known that commanders have made men participate in war games, even though when their men are not fit (e.g. PES C, obviously-sprained ankle, high fever).

the old "assume chao keng until proven otherwise", where commander will make you participate even when you are really feeling unwell.

ur reserves are also included as part of SAF overall manpower wad. reducing the number of yr of full time NS doesn't mean that there will be a reduction in number of reserve forces.

do we really need such a big standing army? it is not as if all 60000 will be mobilise and sent off to the frontline within hours of any invasion.  i estimated that at best, there will be only thousands of men sent off as an immediate response to invasion. there are alot of logistical preparations which need to be done before you can send off that many troops. during that waiting time, there is ample time to summon up reservist forces.

so, there's no actual need to have such a large standing army. we are not like Malaysia, which has a large terrain to defend and garrison. this is not the case in singapore, where we can traverse the entire island within 40 minutes. 

furthermore, the bulk of the forces of our standing army lies in the army, the most "redundant" of the 3 arms of the SAF. the navy and the air force have an active presence 24/7, and if there's invasion, they would be literally the first line of defence. they are able to/ suppose to buy us time to mobilise our land forces.

so, why do you need to maintain such a large standing army? army as in land units.

if you reduce NS to 1 yr, and 1yr ++ for officers, , you will still have around 40000 troops available. and 40,000 is still quite large. in the iraq war, the US led coalition forces took 100,000 men to invade iraq, which is hundreds of time larger than singapore. singapore has a larger concentration of full time active troops than the US forces,( using the figure of 40000 men.)

in addition, when someone wants to launch an invasion, we would be blind if we are not able to notice enemy preparatory activities, and not respond in accordance to it.

in other words, we have more than ample time to summon our reserves, without requiring a large standing army to be garrison all of the time.

that's when the ECG test conducted are not comprehensive enough.

Medic A to another medic B: "eh, this curve correct shape right?"

Medic B :"I think so"

PES A.

wth... that's what i overheard during my med screening, about the other guy taking the test.

Originally posted by fudgester:

I gotta agree that the incoming batches are getting softer.

Changing lifestyles might be a factor. In the past kids used to spend their free time playing in the hot sun; now they do so in front of the computer in an air-conditioned environment.

Maybe not everyone is softer, but there is a general trend towards softness.

One thing is for sure..... training standards have dropped over the years.

That said, some enlistees do have medical problems which cannot be detected by standard means, and that has nothing to do with a softer lifestyle.

junk food and fast food may be the cause behind hidden health problems such as heart diseases. and very often, it is these very heart problems which are not easily detected in the medical screenings.

e.g. a blocked minor cardial vessel may not be detected in the resting ECG used in the medical screening. Resting ECG can only detect the more obvious abnormalities. to increase precision, stress ECG must be used to detect these "undetected" problems.

so i guess many people with genuine heart conditions slipped through the screenings, and exert themselves as if they are healthy individuals. so one fine day, they find themselves bursting a heart vessel and die. 

i think that are so many dummies out here who either failed their math or simply has poor logical reasoning skills.

Cutting NS to 1 yr does not decrease manpower. SAF is big becos of its reserves forces. even if you cut NS to 1 yr, these discharged nsf would still be liable for reservice duty, and they still compromise the bulk of the saf manpower.

and active reservice duty can also be cut to 30. cutting the duration of reservice also does not mean that it will compromise actuall manpower available in emergencies. right now, if there's a ourbreak of war in spore, and that we really face a shortage of manpower, those who are no longer ns-liable, over the age of 40 or 50 will still be called up. no, there is no argument against the cutting down of NS duration.

in addition, our nsf, ahd been for 41 yrs exploited as cheap labor. When the saf was found, it is understood that the country has financial constraints which prevents nsf from receiving normal salary , so people are contend to receive monetary compensation in the form of meagre allowance.

but now, singapore has entered the first world, and is the 2nd richest country in East Asia. but why are our nsf still receiving a lower wage than the avgeraghe bangla workers out on the streets? $350 a month, for a 24/7 job. i'm not sure if ang foreign labourer would even want that kind of job lah. somemore the "contract" period is 2 yrs, and no moonlighting is allowed. if you don't report to "work", you will get jailed for much longer than 2 yrs.

and why is it that 1 month isn't enough to train junior officers? (2nd LTA)

those officers are not very professional either, assuming what lee hongyi exposed during his NS stint is reflective of NS as a whole.

so why not delegate the regulars as the bulk of the pool of officers? if anyone want a career with the army, or to be an officer, then they should jolly well sign on and be a regular. after 2 months of BMT (those fit for OCS serve only, 9wks.) theres still 10 months left for training and ocs.

if you are really so concerned about having adequate time for ocs training, you can always extend NS for officers, to as long as it needs, while the others get to complete their NS in 1 yr.

there is no point in making our army boys to act as clowns to entertain the VIPs and the political bigwigs. it defeats the purpose of the army.

the army is there to defend the country, not to entertain the public, nor to be expoited as cheap labor to serve as "stage constructors" and "road marshals".

Andrew PKYap

Poh Ah Pak

Fantagf 

Originally posted by SPLIT SECOND:

yes the benefits of glossy screen far outweigh their negatives. Glossy has sharper, crisper and high contrast images.

i second that. no one really buy matted screens nowadays.

you think there will be a 4th case before the end of this yr?

Originally posted by whiskers:

It took 4 pages of discussion for someone to point this out... I think laymen reading the papers would not have realize it.. ANd they will have scored another success in fooling most Singaporeans.

never forget that those comments came from an MP who probably does not have to worry about the electticity bill.

Originally posted by mistyblue:

China milk got melamine .... China phone?

take the risk lor. all your phones are MIC anyway wad.

somemore, those china phones are made by the same manufacturers of the nokia, ES phones. if their phones got problem, ur nokia phones shd also kena.

jsut be yourself.

don't change ur personality just because someone doesn't agree with you.

it will be worse off for you if you really went ahead and change ur personality for the sake of others, just because others said so.

when you try to change yourself into someone whom you aren't really are, you will appear fake and put off others even more.

so, take the advice of others, find a new friend, move on.

it is perfectly fine to lose a friend. you can always make more in the future. that's the reason why there are 6 bn people on Earth.