Flexi-terms for SAF Volunteer Corps
Recruits can fit training around their commitments, drop out at any time
By Jermyn Chow Defence Correspondent, The Straits Times, 13 Oct 2014
Recruits can fit training around their commitments, drop out at any time
By Jermyn Chow Defence Correspondent, The Straits Times, 13 Oct 2014
Women, first-generation permanent residents and new citizens aged between 18 and 45, who are not liable for national service, will be able to sign up to serve from March next year.
The SAFVC will match their skills and job expertise to their military role. Details of the unit were announced last Friday by Colonel Mike Tan who will command the new set-up. It was created following a year-long review into how to boost support for national service.
Volunteers can choose to stay in camp and undergo a four-week course that will familiarise them with the military's modus operandi. If this does not fit around their commitments, they can also spread out their training sessions over several weekends.
They will have to serve just seven days a year, but can drop out at any time when they feel they can no longer serve - though they must give three months' notice.
Early plans for the new corps had specified up to 14 days of annual service and a minimum three-year enrolment.
However, Col Tan, who will also head a newly formed SAF Volunteers Affairs Department, said this more flexible arrangement does not "take away the seriousness of the commitment".
"You are not likely to give your best if you feel you are being tied down," he said.
"If the volunteer is not able to keep pace with training and found to be unable to follow the training, then maybe it's in everybody's interest to allow the volunteer to leave."
Volunteers will get to choose from 17 vocations during their stints. They include roles such as defence psychologists, medical trainers and airbase civil engineers, who can share their area of expertise with their military counterparts.
Volunteers will get to choose from 17 vocations during their stints. They include roles such as defence psychologists, medical trainers and airbase civil engineers, who can share their area of expertise with their military counterparts.
If one role does not work out, the volunteers will be able to switch to another.
Candidates will undergo pre-enlistment screening and face an interview panel headed by Col Tan, who is on the lookout for volunteers with the "correct motivations, mainly the desire to serve".
"It's an important commitment... I will want to make sure that the person is coming in with genuine intentions," said Col Tan.
Those who complete their training will wear one of four new ranks on their uniforms - SV1 to SV4.
They will also receive benefits, including an allowance or make-up pay during their in-camp stints.
Employers will be required to release staff for the voluntary stints, while volunteers who skip their call-ups will be penalised under military law.
Col Tan said: "The moment you put on a uniform and proclaim that you are ready to be deployed... we will expect you to uphold our ethos and our military professionalism. For any reason, if you are negligent in your duties... military discipline will be administered."
Defence analyst Ho Shu Huang backed the move not to impose a minimum term of service, saying similar volunteer schemes in other countries do not have one.
He said: "If people want to help, the SAF should not turn them away, but if they need to leave for whatever reason, the SAF should just allow them to."
About 100 to 150 volunteers are expected to be enlisted in three batches next year.
The volunteer corps was one of 30 recommendations made by the Committee to Strengthen National Service.
It is one of several schemes already in place for people who wish to volunteer or extend their services to the SAF.
More flexible obligations for volunteer corps
Changes include being able to switch roles midway, no minimum service period
By Xue Jianyue, TODAY, 13 Oct 2014
Changes include being able to switch roles midway, no minimum service period
By Xue Jianyue, TODAY, 13 Oct 2014
%2Blogo.jpg)
Not only can volunteers opt to switch roles midway through their stint, but there will also be no minimum period of service imposed on them — the SAF had previously set a three-year floor. The number of days they can expect to be called up each year has also been slashed by half to seven days.
In addition, the mandatory four-week training volunteers will have to undergo before they are deployed has been made more flexible: Recruits get to choose between attending modular courses on weekends and in-camp training.
Explaining these changes at a media briefing last Friday, the commander of the new SAF Volunteer Corps, Colonel Mike Tan, said the aim was to allow a wider pool to step forward and serve.
Despite these relaxations, the commitment expected of these volunteers has not changed, he stressed.
“The moment you put on your uniform and proclaim that you are ready to be deployed, we will expect you to uphold our ethos and military professionalism,” said Col Tan at Maju Camp, where the unit will be headquartered.
Similar to national servicemen, volunteers who are negligent in their duties or skip call-ups will be subject to disciplinary action, he added. Deferment requests will be considered under circumstances such as on compassionate grounds, examinations and having a new business or job.
Currently, soldiers who go absent without official leave can be punished with detention at the SAF Detention Barracks.
Applications for the inaugural batch of the SAF Volunteer Corps scheme— targeted at women, new citizens and first-generation permanent residents between the ages of 18 and 45 — open today, with training commencing in March next year. Volunteers can choose to serve in wide-ranging fields in the land, sea and air forces — from operational deployments, such as Auxiliary Security Trooper and Bridge Watchkeeper, to professional roles such as legal specialist staff and doctors — alongside regular soldiers in active units.
The SAF plans to recruit 100 to 150 such volunteers over a year through three recruitment drives.
Outlining the details of the training and deployment for these volunteers, the SAF said all trainees need to undergo two weeks of basic training on soldiering skills and knowledge, including physical training as well as learning to fire an SAR21 rifle and throw a grenade. They must also go through a field camp. In addition, they will be taught basic first aid.
In the second phase of training, which takes one week, volunteers will be prepared for the roles they will be deployed to. For example, a nurse will receive training at the SAF Medical Training Institute.
Those who take on roles that are more demanding will undergo an additional one-week advanced training. Auxiliary security troopers, for instance, will learn weapon handling, marksmanship, rules of engagement and Military Police Close Combat.
All training sessions can be continuous stay-in sessions or modular courses held over a series of weekends. Trainees will also be allowed to drop out if they are unable to take the rigour, said Col Tan. Volunteers who wish to leave the SAFVC can do so by informing the commander three months in advance.
But Col Tan said the motivations of applicants will be assessed through interviews. They must also fulfil prerequisites for the role they applied for and go through a medical screening.
Successful applicants will receive a letter of enlistment and an SAF card and will be required to take an oath of allegiance.
Among the service benefits they will get are meal and transport allowances, and 50 eMart credits — to purchase personal equipment — for every year of completed service.
Volunteers will also be given leeway to change their deployments. For example, an 18-year-old who is heading for undergraduate studies as a medical student can first serve as an auxiliary security trooper. Upon graduation, he could ask to be deployed as a medical officer, said Col Tan.
S'pore PRs plan to sign up to fulfil aspirations
By Jermyn Chow, The Straits Times, 13 Oct 2014
By Jermyn Chow, The Straits Times, 13 Oct 2014
AFTER hanging up his army boots a decade ago, Mr Calven Bland is thirsting for another spell in the military.
The New Zealand-born Singapore permanent resident (PR), who was a logistician with the New Zealand Army for 12 years before coming to Singapore in 2005, plans to sign up with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Volunteer Corps as a security trooper.
The 42-year-old, and others who are interested in getting a "stint" in the military, can sign up as military volunteers today.
Mr Bland, who is married to a Singaporean, said he is stepping up to be a volunteer as he admires the common bond that Singaporean males share as national servicemen.
"I get a little jealous when they have something common to talk about... after 10 years in Singapore, I would want to be part of the brotherhood," said the business development manager in a marine construction firm.
The father-to-be added: "If I expect my son to serve, as his father, I have to do something that is similar in nature... it's as close as I'm going to get to defending the country."
Vietnam-born PR Dao Tuan Son, 30, who has also been in Singapore for 10 years, said he wanted to go beyond the day-to-day acts of volunteerism to serve the country that has groomed him into what he is today.
The commercial analyst at General Electric Oil and Gas, who is also keen to sign up as a security trooper, said: "Everybody can donate but not everyone can be an SAF volunteer... it's a challenge that is well worth it."
While people like Mr Bland and Mr Son are stepping forward as volunteers to fulfil their personal aspirations, the SAF also benefits from the sharing of their expertise.
Major Alvin Phua, who heads the Air Force National Servicemen Branch in the Air Manpower Department, said volunteers with engineering expertise can act as consultants and share their industries' best practices to "improve work processes" in the air force.
Pharmacist and part-time polytechnic lecturer Jeremy Wong Weng Joon, 29, a Malaysia-born PR, said he is keen to sign up as a medical trainer.
Although he has yet to inform his employer about his intentions, he is confident that he will get the go-ahead. "If they support NSmen, why not volunteers?"