Cost of a National Service army

Many people have the impression that a National Service army is less costly than a professional army.

I think that they may be mistaken.

It does cost a lot of money to train a full time NS army for 2 years (maybe it is slightly shorter now by a few months), and to keep them trained during the years when they are called up regularly for reservist duty.

While the full time NS men receive only a modest allowance (which some people described as a slave salary), the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) need a large number of full time soldiers to do the training. This can be quite costly.

The advantage of the NS system is that it produces a large army of trained reservists, that are combat ready in times of hostility.

But some experts say that modern day warfare does not require a large manpower of soldiers to serve as "cannon fodder".

Modern war are fought and won with precision hardware, such as fighter planes, missiles, long range artillery. They are handled better by full time professional soldiers who accumulate skills through regular practice and years of experience.

There is also the question of the loyalty of conscripted soldiers, who may feel that they are disadvantaged in competing for good jobs against foreigners, especially if their employers prefer to employ foreigners who are not disrupted every year to receive reservist training.

There is a large cost to the conscripts in the time that they have to spend on full time training and reservist training, for which they are not adequately or fairly compensated. They are urged to do it for the "sake of the country", but they see their sacrifice being enjoyed by foreigners who do not have to contribute to the sacrifice. This cost is ignored.

I am in favor of a strong military defense. Our national service strategy had worked well for us in the first few decades of our independence, but is probably not suitable in recent years. It is time for us to review the strategy, and examine the true cost and effective of the various options to secure our national defense.

Tan Kin Lian

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