Alexis Ong: Getting a maid to carry your army pack is a big deal

“Juvenile delinquent is a contradiction in terms. ‘Delinquent’ means ‘failing in duty’. But duty is an adult virtue – indeed a juvenile becomes an adult when, and only when, he acquires a knowledge of duty and embraces it as dearer than the self-love he was born with.”

– “Starship Troopers” by Robert A. Heinlein (1959)

The quote above is a memo to the national serviceman who was recently photographed walking while texting on his phone, in uniform, with his maid carrying his army field pack.

According to some netizens, this kind of citizen journalism isn’t fair to the young man because it doesn’t offer any context that might explain why he, despite being in fatigues, chose to do something as blatantly stupid as this.

The “no context” defense is irrelevant.

He’s in the army, he’s in uniform and he’s an idiot for doing that in uniform.

Heinlein’s aforementioned book is a science fiction classic and mandatory reading at four out of five US military academies for a good reason.

He got it right when he describes military training as surgery -- surgery to augment one’s sense of duty to the whole, surgery to remove individualistic shortcomings, surgery to get rid of “babyish” characteristics in your average 18-year-old boy.

If this kid is the result of our local forces’ surgery, then in true military chain-of-command style, perhaps the person to blame is ultimately the surgeon.

In his defense, lots of netizens have piped up to say that the armyexperience today is quite different from decades past.

The army boys today have it easy, their mothers do their laundry on weekends, they’re shuttled back and forth between camp and home, serve shorter time and spend more time on their gadgets -- like our special friend in question -- than they should.

Therefore, having a maid carry one’s pack shouldn’t be a “big deal” -- one person suggested that this was analogous to dumping your pack in the car.

While I’ll never know what it is to go through the rigors of national service, I have a vested interest in the army’s public image and what it represents.

“What happened to a swift kick in the butt? I’m pretty sure you can’t get counseled for being stupid."

It is a big deal, because a soldier in uniform is beholden to an entirely different set of rules and regulations than civil society, whether serving routine physical prep for Basic Military Training or performing active duty in a war zone.

It may be true that our forces aren’t exactly designed to repel a full-fledged invasion, but it’s vital to maintain the image that they can. That's part of the job.

That being said, most army boys take pride in their status, and this green, unthinking un-soldier, is an exception to the rule.

It’s a small mercy that the recruit in question became so concerned with the fuss that he identified himself to his commanding officer.

The newspapers are now going to town with his “remorse” and subsequent counseling to “correct” his behavior. What happened to a swift kick in the butt? I’m pretty sure you can’t get counseled for being stupid, and isn’t a byproduct of national service to de-spoil the spoiled?

In a regular, non-military context, this guy would just be a jackass. Unfortunately for him, he’s in the army, which makes him a jackass, a terrible soldier, and a disgrace to what the army represents.

In Heinlein’s world, nobody would want this soldier in their platoon, and in the real world, no one would want him watching their back.

Also from Alexis Ong:

• The problem with Singapore men

• Get a room, we don't want to see you making out in public

• Singaporeans just don't give a damn
  
  • Would Singaporeans just learn how to behave?