Fact Sheet: Commitment to Defence Ambassadors Programme

The Commitment to Defence (C2D) Ambassadors Programme aims to strengthen National Education (NE) efforts, impart core national values to the younger generation and boost community support for defence. This was one of the recommendations made by the Committee to Strengthen National Service.

The C2D Ambassadors comprise volunteers who are SAF Veterans or Operationally Ready National Servicemen who have served with distinction during their time in the military, lived through significant historical events (e.g. 1964 racial riots), and/or participated in key military operations (e.g. Konfrontasi), and are passionate about imparting values through sharing of their personal experiences. The programme is run by Nexus from the Ministry of Defence, in partnership with the SAF Veterans League. To date, 61 volunteers have been appointed as C2D Ambassadors.

The C2D Ambassadors conduct engagement sessions with SAF personnel and students, where they would speak about significant historical events and past military operations, highlight important NE lessons, as well as share personal stories about their struggles, experiences and successes in the face of adversity.

Since the engagement sessions began in early 2015, the C2D Ambassadors have engaged more than 12,000 individuals. This includes over 4,400 students from 88 schools, and more than 8,200 SAF servicemen and women. Following these sessions, participants gave feedback that they appreciated the authenticity of the engagements – describing them as being “real and organic” – and said that the “experience is something that [they] cannot get from the Internet”. More importantly, they gained a better understanding of defence issues after attending the engagement sessions, and expressed higher commitment to the defence and security of Singapore.