PARENTS ON SAFETY REVIEW:
'Trainers matter more than the training methods' Reacting to army review prompted by training death, parents call for 'sensible staff' who will follow procedures
By K.C. Vijayan
KEEP a close watch not just on the training methods in the army, but also on the supervisors who are there on the ground.
This, say parents, is key to ensuring that abuses like the one which resulted in the death of a 19-year-old soldier are not repeated.
Reflecting the views of several parents that The Straits Times spoke to yesterday, housewife Madam Yee Kem said that having 'sensible staff' was more critical than a system of procedures.
'While there are safety regulations, what I hope is for all the staff to follow them,' she said. Her 19-year-old son has been in the army for almost a year now.
Madam Yee, like many parents, have been concerned about training procedures in the armed forces after news that Second Sergeant Hu Enhuai had died after he had his head forced under water four times by his commando instructors.
That incident in August sparked a public discussion and resulted in a full review of the combat survival training course.
On Saturday, Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said at a press conference that unauthorised dunking sessions dated as far back as five years ago.
He added that the on-going review will look at training methods to ensure that they comply with lesson plans, the training of instructors, the auditing of training activities and the adequacy of medical support during training.
This was welcome relief for parents like Mr Rajendran Rajoo, whose 17-year-old son will start serving his national service next year.
He said frontline trainers from corporals to staff sergeants should be told clearly just what it is that they can and cannot do.
'These supervisors are in competition with one another and would therefore be tempted to raise the stakes by placing personal standards above camp standards,' he said.
'When they do this, casualties can result.'
While acknowledging that the review had helped draw greater attention to such incidents, he hoped that the lessons will not be be short-lived.
Part-time teacher Ng Oon Oon, 49, wanted more reassurances from the armed forces.
'I would like to see the training manuals for myself. It's very scary, and now the ministry has to do a lot of reassuring for parents like myself,' said the mother of a 19-year-old who is due to start serving national service next year.
Others like Member of Parliament Amy Khor lauded Mindef for coming back to the public so quickly on its investigations on its own accord.
'It shows they are very serious in reviewing safety procedures. But that this has been going on for five years suggests that either the national service men do not know what is unauthorised or
their 'chain of command' culture has not made them used to the idea of reporting such abuse,' she said.
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now parents r demanding to see the trg manuals?! security reasons aside, i hope this will never happen...
and i certainly hope tt putting in channels for reporting of abuse will not lead to the channels being abused themselves. the last thing we want is for our commanders and instructors to constantly be watching their backs and reminded and carrying the burden of the possibility of unjustified complaints being made against them.
