Think all the Lao Jiao ("Old bird" directly translated in Hokkien, meaning "the experienced"/old-timers) must be laughing when they read this.. I bet in another 10 year's time, very probable I'll be mocking at my blog too.. that's if it still exists.
Early at 9 am, my BSM delivered a unspecified sms. Kockanathan (expressing "blur" in Malay) I called my man and advised them as I thought so, to report directly to the manning unit. Not until ZZ called did I confirm my folly. Oh dear. Aiya, first time mobilisation. Moreover, the initial sms didn't provide clear instructions.
From my understanding, mobilisation or recall manning, is an operation which is used to test the readiness of the nation's servicemen in times of war. Works pretty much like those fire-drills we used to have in schools. Well, no doubt war is unlikely given the nation's involvement in United Nations and excellant peace-making international relationships, it's still essential to prepare to deal with the unexpected.
As mentioned by Republic Poly's principal over a radio telecast, "national service takes precedence over all others". It's due to this your life's organised-activites would have to be disrupted, by law when the nation needs you even in peace-time. Ironic isn't it.
All my plans for a morning jog, haircut, breakfast and starting some work on my project went into puff all because of today's mob. Won't go into details. Nothing much that we do not know that has to be related here.
What is more crucial to discuss about is how mobilisation could have otherwised been conducted. Is it necessary for the activated personnel to report personally to designated venues? Prior to answering the "why" question, let us look at the objective of doing so. Physical reporting evident the pressence of your unit's strength in times of war outbreak. On this, I suggest the Immigration Department could provide its assistance as all residents travelling offshore have to register with them. In additional, active servicemen has to notify the Mindef on their overseas trips. Failure to comply with this requirement is a chargeable offence under the SAF law. A run through of the system can reveal whether the servicemen is physically present mainland.
With the above sustained, online attendence could be put into practice. I mean applying the analogy of online banking. Notwithstanding ignorant person who giveaway their passwords, security dockets to their spouses or even friends, security could be assured with personal logging in. This could be further improved with requirements of webcamming to capture physical pressence and internet firewalls to detect and deter the occurrence of any pre-recorded or mishandled live-conferencing.
Next would be the issue of whether is it necessary for the servicemen to report in their FBO? The underlying reason is to enable physical inspection of the FBO, which is important to ensure that serviceman is equipped with basic tools deemed essential by Mindef. There's an alternative to the current practice - Despatching audit teams assigned to go to the different parts of the area to conduct random physical checks, with prior notified periods appointed definitely (like how they conduct AAI now.
Further to the above, ZZ highlighted possible high transport costs may arise. I think this can be achieved by revising financial budgets which might be bursting on dispensible expenditures when certain old equipments could be used. Such as.. amendments to the uniform per say.
Of course, all the above with fail in the event when there's power failure and the benefit of doubt given to the servicemen's accessibility to the internet/computer with webcams. On the other hand, the current waiting-for-incoorporative late-comers (for most unit) under unfavourable weather and cost of transport (as many take a cab) pose disadvantages too.
I think, not really a problem la.. power failure could be reduced by back up system. Forget about 3G man... let's improvised an efficient and effective system for mobilisation and move on to be 10G servicemen! (Even cellphones have improved from 2.5 megapixels to 8 now!). Not criticising our curent is not good enough coz we see there's an improvement with all this sms-notification, call centre (which kinda ain't functioning well sometimes), but there's room for improvement. Eh, don't think the US army has this yet. Perhaps if we introduced something pioneer, we could be in the lead!
Early at 9 am, my BSM delivered a unspecified sms. Kockanathan (expressing "blur" in Malay) I called my man and advised them as I thought so, to report directly to the manning unit. Not until ZZ called did I confirm my folly. Oh dear. Aiya, first time mobilisation. Moreover, the initial sms didn't provide clear instructions.
From my understanding, mobilisation or recall manning, is an operation which is used to test the readiness of the nation's servicemen in times of war. Works pretty much like those fire-drills we used to have in schools. Well, no doubt war is unlikely given the nation's involvement in United Nations and excellant peace-making international relationships, it's still essential to prepare to deal with the unexpected.
As mentioned by Republic Poly's principal over a radio telecast, "national service takes precedence over all others". It's due to this your life's organised-activites would have to be disrupted, by law when the nation needs you even in peace-time. Ironic isn't it.
All my plans for a morning jog, haircut, breakfast and starting some work on my project went into puff all because of today's mob. Won't go into details. Nothing much that we do not know that has to be related here.
What is more crucial to discuss about is how mobilisation could have otherwised been conducted. Is it necessary for the activated personnel to report personally to designated venues? Prior to answering the "why" question, let us look at the objective of doing so. Physical reporting evident the pressence of your unit's strength in times of war outbreak. On this, I suggest the Immigration Department could provide its assistance as all residents travelling offshore have to register with them. In additional, active servicemen has to notify the Mindef on their overseas trips. Failure to comply with this requirement is a chargeable offence under the SAF law. A run through of the system can reveal whether the servicemen is physically present mainland.
With the above sustained, online attendence could be put into practice. I mean applying the analogy of online banking. Notwithstanding ignorant person who giveaway their passwords, security dockets to their spouses or even friends, security could be assured with personal logging in. This could be further improved with requirements of webcamming to capture physical pressence and internet firewalls to detect and deter the occurrence of any pre-recorded or mishandled live-conferencing.
Next would be the issue of whether is it necessary for the servicemen to report in their FBO? The underlying reason is to enable physical inspection of the FBO, which is important to ensure that serviceman is equipped with basic tools deemed essential by Mindef. There's an alternative to the current practice - Despatching audit teams assigned to go to the different parts of the area to conduct random physical checks, with prior notified periods appointed definitely (like how they conduct AAI now.
Further to the above, ZZ highlighted possible high transport costs may arise. I think this can be achieved by revising financial budgets which might be bursting on dispensible expenditures when certain old equipments could be used. Such as.. amendments to the uniform per say.
Of course, all the above with fail in the event when there's power failure and the benefit of doubt given to the servicemen's accessibility to the internet/computer with webcams. On the other hand, the current waiting-for-incoorporative late-comers (for most unit) under unfavourable weather and cost of transport (as many take a cab) pose disadvantages too.
I think, not really a problem la.. power failure could be reduced by back up system. Forget about 3G man... let's improvised an efficient and effective system for mobilisation and move on to be 10G servicemen! (Even cellphones have improved from 2.5 megapixels to 8 now!). Not criticising our curent is not good enough coz we see there's an improvement with all this sms-notification, call centre (which kinda ain't functioning well sometimes), but there's room for improvement. Eh, don't think the US army has this yet. Perhaps if we introduced something pioneer, we could be in the lead!
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