NS Deaths

SAF suspends physical training after two deaths in two days
By Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 12 June 2008 1715 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s Ministry of Defence has declared a three-day time-out (12-14 June) on all physical and endurance training activities in the army, navy and air force.

This follows the deaths of two servicemen within two days.

20-year-old Officer Cadet (OCT) Lam Jia Hao Clifton, a pilot trainee with the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), died on Wednesday, one-and-a-half hours after he collapsed while he was undergoing jungle orientation training in Brunei.

A day earlier, 20-year-old army recruit Andrew Cheah Wei Siong died after he fainted while taking part in a two-kilometre walk training activity on Pulau Tekong.

Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said the time-out will allow the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) to review and re-focus on training activities to ensure that proper procedures are in place before training resumes.

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It’s really sad that it requires 2 consecutive deaths to get them into gear, when several young men had already sacrificed their lives in a similar manner. No, it wasn’t because Singapore was engaged in battle either. Just because the other guys’ times of death were spaced out didn’t mean there was absolutely nothing wrong with the system. If you were wondering why some Singaporeans you came across mentioned about scrambling out of the country to save their boys, now you know they really meant it. Literally.

Though these deaths occur rarely, they still do happen, and I think it’s safe to assume that nobody wants to end up as that statistic.