350 / 409
EPILOGUE
334
SIXTEEN
to comply with concerns such as taut bed-sheets, razor sharp creases on uniforms, spit-shined
boots and ruler-straight dressing on the parade ground. Superiors were no longer preaching
to the congregation. The congregation, in fact, would gladly have burned down the church, as
it were. But ‘military bull’ extended beyond being sticklers for literally squaring things away.
Over time, with an uncritical audience of lesser-educated Volunteer and career enlistees, the
military had accumulated much questionable lore as tradecraft. With National Service, in the
course of training, instructors would often stray into the military equivalent of old wives tales
with highly educated and often mature trainees who were neither intimidated, gullible nor
forgiving. Mere legislated authority could not long withstand the assault of skepticism. The
outcome was invariably a resort to the prerogative of rank and the imposition of punitive
measures to restore bruised egos, thus adding to the simmering discontent.
One of the developments of National Service was a hugely misguided attempt at social
engineering within the SAF. In 1968, MID ruled that the Officers’ Mess should cease to exist
as such and should be an All Ranks’ Club, since National Service should be seen as egalitarian.
The idea also incorporated the concept that officers should take their meals in a common
dining hall and should queue with the men to get their food. The impact was quite disastrous.
It served immediately to deny the officers and the NCOs a respite from the troops they were
with the whole day, a chance to relax with their colleagues and a place for private interaction.
On the other hand, the troops were not thrilled with the arrangement of having to relax
under the eye of their superiors either. No one minded very much the idea of a common
dining hall compared with the previous practice of officers being served their meals in the
Officers’ Mess, usually requiring them to make a monthly contribution for an enhanced meal.
With National Service officers in the Officers’ Mess asking for additional funds for food was
unacceptable. And, the regulars appreciated the value of being seen not to have extra perks
especially when it came to food. However, as with the All Ranks Club, the idea of queuing
up with the men in the dining hall was mutually awkward, if entirely appropriate in the field.
In the latter case, it had also become a practice anyway for commanders and instructors to
eat only after the troops had been fed. The revolutionary arrangements lasted longer than
they should have because they had to be gradually chipped away until the Officers’ and the
NCO (Warrant Officers and Specialists) Messes were reintroduced. In due course, special
tables were reserved for Officers and Senior NCOs in the dining halls and a variety of
arrangements adopted for them to be served.
On the whole, the First Batch officers, as the pioneer Platoon Commanders of National
Servicemen, including those assigned to the respective support arms and services when
they graduated from the specialist courses, found their roles challenging. They had signed
up for a career in a regular army and nothing in their training had prepared them for the
dynamics of commanding conscripts. During the initial years, several ran into problems
not only with enlisted men, but also National Service officers. There were instances of
serious insubordination and even mass Absence Without Leave (AWOL) and MINDEF,