Wednesday, November 30, 2016

National Service needs to be reviewed

A taxi driver has 3 sons who have served national service. They are all not married. The eldest is over 30 years old.

He said that in Taiwan the compulsory military service is only 1 year.

I checked Google and found that Taiwan intends to stop military conscription and move to an all volunteer army. This change was supposed to be implemented in 2014 but had been delayed. After that, all males will spend only 4 months in boot camp for military training. That is all.

Taiwan faced the threat of involuntary "unification" with China. Yet, they considered that one year of compulsory military service is sufficient.

Singapore continues to require two years of compulsory military service. Including waiting time, the males are disrupted three years of their working career. They also have to spend one month each year on continuing training.

Many NS men said that they have little to do during their second year in full time NS. They just waste their time waiting to be discharged, or have to prepare for National Day Parade.

To make matters worse, our males have to compete with foreigners who do not have this obligation. It is like asking our males to compete with foreigners with their hands tied behind their back. The males in Taiwan do not have this kind of competition.

When will our government realize that this policy needs to be changed?

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