Hey everyone, as the title implies I am a white guy going into NS in about a year, I was born and raised in SG but didnt go to a local school so I have no clue what to expect for NS cause they dont talk much about it in international schools.
My brother just finished his service a year ago and it was a big change for him from the international community. I was wondering if any of you had advice for me going in, I know my brother gave me the advice to learn some Malay because all of the marching commands are in Malay and he would frequently f**k it up.
Netizens responded:
1) prepare to get screamed at: it’s normal, but depends on which unit/company you go to. Most commanders are nice but from my experience, training schools like BMTC/SCS/OCS are generally very strict.
2) adjust early. Biggest shock to me was the part on waking up super early. I usually sleep at 10-12 and wake up 9-10am. Might want to also train up physically and acclimatise to Singapore. iLBV can really kill ya.
3) don’t really have to worry about learning malay commands. The locals screw up, hell even the Malays screw up sometimes. If you have Malays in your section, you can get them to teach you a bit but it’s very easy. Walk, left, right, forward. Those kind of stuff.
BMT is usually the period they give to adapt to military life, so they usually allow mistakes and punishes aren’t as harsh.