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> You literally cannot use conscripts for anything of "operators and maintainers of the hi-tech death machines, sigint operatives, radar operators, tank crews,

> You literally cannot use conscripts for anything of "operators and maintainers of the hi-tech death machines, sigint operatives, radar operators, tank crews, missile forces, officers." First of all, most of them take at least a year to get up to speed, if not more, and they have to maintain their competence. You cannot just release a conscript after his year long stint, and call him up ten years later - the ten year old tech he was trained on will probably have been replaced, and even if not, he'd have forgotten most of his training. The Singapore military puts their men in the reserves after they're done with mandatory service, and calls them back for 10 years of reservist training or until they hit 40 [1]. > Oh, and officers by their very definition cannot be conscripts. Why do you say this? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservist#Singapore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservist#Singapore

arcticfox 10y ago
I don't think we can use the Singaporean army as an example of a proven effective fighting machine. And anecdotal, but my Singaporean friend showed me picture after picture on Facebook of his friends serving their terms...there were many, many well polished tanks.
- ValentineC 10y ago
  > I don't think we can use the Singaporean army as an example of a proven effective fighting machine. Perhaps not, and I would prefer for it to remain that way. It's mainly to serve as a deterrence for would-be aggressors, and also as a form of indoctrination. > my Singaporean friend showed me picture after picture on Facebook of his friends serving their terms...there were many, many well polished tanks. I don't know if there was any hidden meaning intended, but most photos on social media are intended to portray the military in a positive light. Cellphones with cameras are still prohibited in some places, and we have the military justice system for everything else.
- maus42 10y ago
  Concept of "reserve officer" in a context of conscript force is not limited to Singapore.

arcticfox 10y ago

I don't think we can use the Singaporean army as an example of a proven effective fighting machine. And anecdotal, but my Singaporean friend showed me picture after picture on Facebook of his friends serving their terms...there were many, many well polished tanks.

ValentineC 10y ago
> I don't think we can use the Singaporean army as an example of a proven effective fighting machine. Perhaps not, and I would prefer for it to remain that way. It's mainly to serve as a deterrence for would-be aggressors, and also as a form of indoctrination. > my Singaporean friend showed me picture after picture on Facebook of his friends serving their terms...there were many, many well polished tanks. I don't know if there was any hidden meaning intended, but most photos on social media are intended to portray the military in a positive light. Cellphones with cameras are still prohibited in some places, and we have the military justice system for everything else.
maus42 10y ago
Concept of "reserve officer" in a context of conscript force is not limited to Singapore.