The true story occured during 1987, an army officer-to-be, Lawrence Leow, was training in Brunei when he had a heat stroke. The heat stroke got him stucked on a wheelchair, breathing through a hole in his neck. Today, he receives S$500 (US$330) a month as a compensation.
(Uncle Sun: I want you for Singapore army and you can’t fucking choose.)
Leow served the nation during his mandatory two-year military national service just as I did. (I’m completing it in 26 days by the way.) According to blog The FunkeeBlog, a US citizen in Kansas collecting unemployment benefits would receive more than him for his sacrifice for his country as a soldier.
The recent case of the Taiwan aircraft accident would probably make people rethink about serving the nation. When I first entered BMT, we went on to swear to the officers that “we will always support and defend the Constitution. We will preserve and protect the honour and independence of our country with our lives.” We would scream “with our lives” as loud as we can to emphasize on the self-sacrificing behavior. When reciting the SAF pledge or creed or whatever, I had a sudden thought, “would I really exchange my life for this?”
I’ll leave it to you to think about it. I shan’t reveal my answer but it isn’t a hard guess I suppose.
[via Mallr]
Tags: accident, national service, singapore