My friend’s brother went for BMT and his fellow recruit father sent in a cringe worthy email to the commander which makes me feel that parents nowadays are way too protective. I mean cmon, your son is going to the army. Not going to secondary school camp. Please find the content of the email below.

“Guys, please see for info. Some of the listed; personally I have no issue but some are really not good – if you remember my points on realistic timing for recruits to meet and preserving their admin time.

Take some time to read and reflect. Thanks

A parent sent me via email. 39, I have replied and cc to u that u will follow up and get back to him.

For the rest, if the feedbacks are true and I believe some are, you guys will understand why I keeping harping on the same points over and over again. We need to enforce it on the ground.

To whom it may concern:

I am an extremely concerned parent with regards to my son’s training in BMTC Sch 3 under Ulysses Company and I have a few points to raise:

1. Demands of the commanders

I do understand that the recruits will undergo tough training in BMT but there has to be a limit in the demands of the commanders, not to the extend in which demands are irrational.

-I understand from my son that the commanders informed recruits that they are not allowed to walk on the ground floor of Ulysses company and they have to run around the ground floor to get things done. At times, the staircases or floors may be slippery because of rain or washing and this is a safety hazard and recruits might slip and fall if they are forced to run around on the ground floor of the company line. I wish to understand the reasoning for this.

-The commanders expect the recruits to scream and shout ALL THE TIME, from warm up exercises to marching daily to route marches. I heard that if the recruits do not shout loud enough, they get scolded and shouted at into the ears. I understand that singing songs together loudly will boost morale during route marches but in normal camp activities, why are the recruits always expected to shout at the top of their voices all the time? Do the commanders really expect our sons to lose their voices in camp? What is the rationale for this?

-I understand that Ulysses Company has a chant that sounds like that of the gang chant. What is BMTC School 3 teaching our sons to become? Future gangsters? I would not allow that.

2. Unreasonable treatment/Punishments

My son has feedback to me about certain issues that happened during camp.

First, my son has to squat down whenever he has to conduct field camp or route march force preparation sessions the night before and each session lasts about 30-45 minutes. My son is also expected to squat down after cycle of combat physical training warmups. I am concerned that squatting for prolonged period of time will cause harm and damage to the knees of the recruits.

Second, the commanders always threaten the recruits with “SOL” or “confinement”. I wish to have a clearer understanding of the guidelines in SAF. Are the recruits able to be punished with the abovementioned if their bunks are not completely sparkling clean? Similar for being late to fall-in? I also understand that commanders have been making recruits do more than 20 pushups for punishment and they purposely force them to restart from 0 to avoid exceeding the 20 pushups mark. Where is the ethics of the commanders?

Third, I heard commanders in Ulysses Company always purposely waste the admin time of the recruits by finding reasons to be unhappy with their performance or purposely dragging their time. A platoon has about 60+ people and it is unreasonable for them to be only released from parade square 15 mins before lights-out to wash up and sleep. Also, there have been instances where my son has to wake up earlier because there wasnt enough admin time the night before to pack up for the next day’s activities. My son also feedback that there were times where the recruits were not given 7 hours of uninterrupted rest, which clearly breached the criteria, and they WERE FORCED to say yes when the safety commander asked the recruits this question during safety briefing.

Fourth, my son’s company was forced to run down from the lecture theatre to the parade square and back 4-5 times because they were not fast enough and they were screamed into the ears by their seargants (Bryce Tan, Zul, Sune Aik, Irza). They were forced to run down the staircases and this is a safety concern. A company of 200 + people running down the staircase at the same time is very dangerous.

3. Reporting Sick

My son’s company recruits were forced to bear with their knee pains or ankle sprains and were scolded for being weak. There were instances whereby multiple recruits from the company fell sick and had diarrhea from eating the chicken pie at the cookhouse and the seargants just told them to keep quiet about the matter. Is Ulysses Company not concerned about the well-being of the recruits? Are the commanders trying to hide matters under the floor?

The training programme for the recruits is also concerning me. The recruits appear to have been given a strenous programme with not enough time for them to undergo muscle recovery before they are put through the same routines again. I wish to seek clarifications as to how the programme is being planned and why insufficient time and understanding is given to the recruits when they fall sick or get injured because the training programme is too intense.

My son came to tell me that Ulysses Company is an enhanced and leadership batch. I also wish to understand how these recruits are selected. My son and some of his friends have no intention of going command school but are being forced to undergo the same training and being forced to agree to whatever the commanders and OC sir says in camp.

To end off, I am extremely concerned about my son’s well being in camp and I seek an investigation and explanation to certain routines in Ulysses Company-BMTC school 3. I also expect that the recruits will not be threatened by their commanders because their parents send feedback emails to the management.

I look forward to a favourable reply

Thanks,
Patrick”

Wee

“This was what happened :

1. Some time in November last year, I came home around noon after night shift, and I went to sleep. My domestic helper was alone at home with me. I woke up in the evening, and proceeded to prepare to go out as I had an appointment an hour later. My whole family was overseas, since two days prior to this event.

2. My FDW came into the master bedroom toilet to clean the toilet. The door was slightly ajar when I was changing in the bedroom, but she could not see me change. I have a CCTV with audio in the master bedroom which can see the master bedroom door and the toilet door.

3. I went into the toilet to shave, leaving the toilet door almost closed as she was behind the door and while washing my shaver, accidentally splashed some water onto her and she let out a shreik (“Ooi!”). I was wondering why she overreacted to the water. I was in the toilet for less than a minute, and as I came out of the toilet, the CCTV captured her telling me loudly “Bye Bye Sir!”.

4. I proceeded out of the house for my appointment and came home at 9pm.

5. When I came home, she was tearing and told me she wanted to go back to the agency, and handed me a note with a local number. She had told me previously that she wanted to call home, so I was surprised that the note had a local number on it. It seems that the number belonged to a counsellor which the maid agency engaged.

6. Not understanding what was happening, I dialled that number and handed the phone to her. She spoke in her national language which I did not understand. When she passed the phone back to me, I asked the counsellor what was wrong with the FDW and she said the FDW was home sick.

7. Within minutes after hanging up the phone with the counsellor, the manager from the maid agency where I engaged the FDW from called me. She told me that the maid had thrown a note out of the kitchen yard(I stayed low floor) requesting for Police help. The maid alleged that I had molested her and attempted rape(all told to me by maid agency). The manager suggest I bring her to the Police station, and so I did.

8. At the station, I told the Police officer what happened, and I insisted that their suggestion for me to bring the maid home first then bring the maid to the agency the next morning cannot work, as the maid has alleged those offences of me, and I cannot be in the same house alone with the maid. I made a report to disclaim liability.

9. When I told the IO that I had CCTVs at home, I was told to go home and bring the footages to them, which I did. However, in my haste and fluster, I did not make a copy of the memory cards that I gave the Police. I eventually left the station in the wee hours the next morning, and called my wife later in the day to tell her what happened.

10. Subsequently, I was invited to view the footages with the Police, where the following were observed between the time I left home and the time I came home:

i) She said “Bye Bye Sir!” to me as I was leaving the master bedroom.

ii) She was humming away as she was doing housework in my absence.

iii) She spoke with an unidentified female at the door for about 20 minutes, and ended the conversation lightheartedly with “Thank you! Bye Bye!”

11. My main door and metal grill uses electronic locks, she could leave the house anytime at the press of a button, but she cannot re-enter as her fingerprint is not registered. I stay in a condo with security guards at the entrance.

12. In the months that followed, I was asked if I am willing to go for a polygraph, which I agreed and went.

13. Some eight months after the event, the IO asked when can I go to the station with my wife so that he can “provide some updates” to us. He then informed me that they are satisfied that an offence has been committed and they are charging me for two counts of Outrage of Modesty.

14. I was placed in the lockup while my wife acted as the bailor for me.

15. I was charged in court two days later and I have since engaged a law firm to handle my case. The case has gone through two mentions.

16. I had worked in a statutory board for more than 20 years, and now because of this case, I am suspended with half pay, until the case is over. I did not commit those alleged offences, and my wife totally believe I did not. When she saw the charge sheets, she said the actions described therein were not my normal action(wife knows best!).

Flustered”