The Singapore male melting pot

 I'm now over a third into my NS journey, which is depressing to think about when I see friends constantly finishing their two years before me. With the amount of free time I have to sit in my bunk and stare at the ceiling, I've been able to reflect upon the past 7/8 months of my life. 

*Disclaimer* I'm not saying any of the observations made below are unlike me or what I do, just things I've noticed =)

The army is an almost entirely male organisation, and it is what I imagine a boys school would be a little bit like. Nothing but a swarm of horny, egotistical and arrogant young men. Now that is an exaggeration but not necessarily to the degree one would hope. 

Horny.

Any relatively young woman that sets foot into an army camp will receive attention similar to that of a diamond dropped in front of burglars. They enter a frenzy of oogling, whispering and pointing, leading to one person daring another to ask for her contact details or making a crude comment about her figure. I feel terrible for the women who have chosen to sign on to the army, the feeling that hundreds of men are watching you and talking about you daily must be extremely uncomfortable. 

Tiktok is a firm favourite of your average army man, you’ll find most Singaporeans scrolling through endless videos or photos of Chinese, Korean and Japanese girls but interestingly have no interest in ‘white’ girls. They’ll then proceed to tell you how life isn’t fair because the girls they want all want white guys and white girls want white guys.

Egos.

Humans are competitive by nature and the army does an excellent job of encouraging people to better themselves with incentives for different physical and technical accomplishments. There are annual bonuses for reaching different standards in the IPPT (Individual Physical Proficiency Test) and different combat shoots. However, when you're in tough training and someone's ego is getting in the way of you being able to get two hours on your phone before bed or 30 minutes, that's where tempers flare and shit can go haywire. As with any classroom or social circle, there are always people who naturally assume leadership roles and take charge. In the army, many of these people express interest and end up in Sergeant or Officer school. This is where the most intense training perhaps in the army takes place, and you can imagine the combination of tough, intense training in the hot sun with mud all over your wet uniform with one stubborn fucker refusing to listen to others weighing you all down. The army is a melting pot of different educational, financial and social backgrounds and so people won't necessarily click instantaneously. I've been in many a male friend group in my life, many of which had arguments on the daily about the smallest things, simply because refuse to admit that they're wrong. I believe it is 80% of males' intuition to be a stubborn asshole and refuse to compromise. As someone who can often be an arrogant asshole, I know it definitely overcomplicates the most simple tasks. I also witnessed first hand during my basic training that people with an ego definitely get threatened by foreigners or international students and instantly try to shun them. Instead of being open to learning about one another’s cultures they choose to shut them out and try to get their cliques to do the same.

Arrogance.

Ties closely into the egotistical trait but I’m look more at the power-hungry side of the army. When handing 18-21 year olds the ability to make the lives of fellow army men hell you often see it happen. When Sergeants and Officers reminisce about their training, you understand why now that they’re in a position of power they become keen to inflict some of the same sort of ‘training’ upon their subordinates. It creates a vicious cycle of new cadets who come in telling themselves they’ll be different from their commanders and end up being no different. I’ve seen first hand commanders who enjoy fucking with people and those who have no interest in it whatsoever, however the latter is not the majority. They use the injustice they’ve suffered as grounds to justify what they’re now doing. 

I’m an arrogant guy, sometimes when I hear my commanders tell me to do something during a mission or training, I’ll argue with them or unwillingly follow their orders. Sometimes I might be right, and there’s always a way to respectfully challenge those above you in the hierarchy. In school it’s easier to avoid taking back to your teacher because of the simple fact that they’re probably much older than you, but in the army your commander could be younger than you. It’s hard to give that same level of respect. I can’t help but feel bad honestly for my sergeants because I know i can be an absolute pain to work with, but I also know there are scenarios where I’m helping them out if they’ve forgotten or overlooked something. Finding the right balance of helpful to overbearing asshole is difficult. 

Everyone has varying degrees of an ego and arrogance, it just depends whether they’re willing to own up to it and realise it might be detrimental to those around them. Toxic masculinity definitely runs rampant in the army, I mean what do you expect from a bunch of young adults who are still learning and maturing (one of the supposed benefits of NS).

The army angels

I’d also like to shoutout the soldier who doesn’t care that he’s in the army and doesn’t really care about anything that happens. At every army boy’s core they want to finish NS and move on with their lives. Some people are just better able to care less about the things that are now their ‘life’ and coast through it all. They’re the student in class that just wants to graduate and doesn’t really care about how they do. It’s an entirely reasonable approach, but just one I can’t find myself taking, I’m just not built like that. These guys are sometimes the best to talk to because they offer perspective on everything that is happening. They’re very likely just as capable as everyone else but just don’t have any interest in the army and can keep to themselves. 

Conclusion

The army like anywhere else is filled with arrogance, egos and yes horniness, however it’s just slightly more concentrated. It makes for conflict, but you also end up forming bonds with these people that will last a lifetime. The experiences you’ll have and memories you’ll make are unique for sure. It’s a wild ride that I’m lucky to have another year and two months of. Fuck...I can’t wait for Uni.