One of a Kind (2nd Edition)

JUMPING IN WITH BOTH FEET

SIX

Jai Singh gravely disappointed his teacher, Miss Vaz, when she polled her class for her

students’ ambitions. The others mostly opted for careers as doctors, teachers, businessmen

and the usual fantasies that may or may not have been realistic, given their performance so far.

But to her horror Jai, her favourite, told her he wanted to be a soldier, whom she apparently

took to mean that he wanted go around killing people. The chance of a commission was too

good to refuse, so Jai got the application form. Being slightly under-aged he had to get his

father’s endorsement, which was flatly refused. But Jai’s elder brother told him he would sort

it out and when Jai returned home that night, the form was signed. He still did not know

whether his father had signed it or his brother had forged the signature but Jai was not about

to look a gift horse in the mouth. Besides, his cousin, then Lieutenant Naranjan Singh was

an FMC graduate in the SAF and Naranjan’s brother, Pritam was also applying. When Jai got

his commission he went to pay his respects to Miss Vaz, who quietly told him how proud

she was of him.

Victor Lam, whose father was an Assistant Superintendent in the Singapore Police Force, was

working in a bank in Batu Pahat but is sure it was not his father who sent him details of the

recruitment and is equally sure he did not read of it in any Singapore newspaper. Probably

some friend of his or a family member may have brought it to his attention knowing that he

had shown an interest in the services, though decidedly not in the Singapore Police Force.

A keen sportsman who had represented the Singapore Under-23s in rugby and both fit and

physically tough, he sailed through the selection process, dumped his Batu Pahat job and

without even letting his father know, arrived in Pasir Laba on 1

June, 1966.

Errol Neubronner probably had the most frivolous reason for joining the SAF. He had

happened to see a movie called

The Thin Grey Line

a short time before running into the

promotion brochure. He now recalls it as a story about life in West Point and was much

taken up with what officer candidates there went through. So he applied. What he got was

not life in West Point by any stretch of the imagination. Even so, with his easygoing, ever

smiling personality he actually enjoyed the SAFTI course, eventually retiring from service as

a Lieutenant-Colonel and now manages a successful IT company.

Thus, across the board, voluntary and involuntary responses merged into a congregation of

some 300 expectant, nervous and clueless military recruits who reported on Wednesday, 1

June, 1966 to Beach Road Camp, for the onward journey to Pasir Laba Camp. They were

dressed variously, carrying the stipulated authorised personal items in a bewildering variety

of carrier bags and looking, for all the world, like illegal immigrants who had been rounded

up by the authorities. As individuals, they sought adventure, a living wage, a desperate bid

to fend for their impoverished families, an escape from the squalor of their homes and

surroundings, insulation from some premature travail of life or a throw of the dice for fame

and fortune. Some would rather have not been there, but were trapped by their circumstances.

And some, having the wit to realise early enough that they were on the wrong track, would

vote with their feet in good time to escape the sweeping National Service net that MID

would shortly throw.