Quora Answer: How Does National Service Enlistment Work?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “How does the NS enlistment work?  What are the chances to get in for SAF, SCDF and SPF?”

Where you end up is determined by the Central Posting Command, as it was called in my time.  Here are some general guidelines, since posting policy is secret.  Your posting is determined by two main factors: your and your family history; and the results of your pre-enlistment check-up.

If you are an only son, it is extremely unlikely that you will be posted to the Commandos, as a fighter pilot, or anything particularly dangerous.  If members of your family are politically compromised, such as having past association or sympathies with any subversive group, such the Malayan Communist Party then, or been arrested, surveilled or questioned by any intelligence service, you will not end up anywhere that gives you weapons training, or knowledge of doctrine.  If members of your family, especially parents and siblings, are non-Singaporeans, and from certain non-ally nations such as China, Malaysia, Indonesia, or Yemen, for example, you will not end up anywhere that gives you weapons training, or knowledge of doctrine as well.

If your family is considered to have a strong association with any religious group, such that your allegiance to the state might be compromised, it is the same as above, exemption, or detention for the period of National Service.  This is normally taken by others to mean Muslims and Islam, but it applies to the Falungong movement, for example, the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and certain groups of the Christian Evangelical Right.  Jehovah’s Witnesses are the only group detained for the duration of National Service because of their refusal to pledge allegiance to the state.  Until recently, madrasah students were exempt from National Service.  Now, it is extremely unlikely that a madrasah student will be anywhere but the SCDF.  Until recently, Malays who qualified for Commandos ended up in Guards.  Guards units have a lower security clearance.  Those who converted to Islam had their security clearance downgraded.  This is not necessarily permanent.  The practical reason is that many converts had this bad habit of being religiously zealous, and this worries the establishment.

Your health, your PES status, determines whether you get a combat posting, not your fitness.  The system can make you fit, but it cannot do anything about colour blindness, flat feet, or other inherent conditions.  Having a history of depression, anxiety, or any form of neurosis, if considered chronic, will downgrade your status.

Your security clearance changes with time.  It can be upgraded, or downgraded.  This clearance mechanism only ends when you can no longer be possibly activated.  It does not end when you ORD or ROD.  Whether you have a criminal record, a prior conviction, or even a police warning prior to enlistment affects your security clearance, and your posting.  Whether an immediate family member has this, may also affect you.  This is not always significant.  The service record of immediate family members may affect your posting.  

You will have an indication of your posting based on your intake.  In my time, you knew whether you were viewed as potential officer or NCO material based on your batch.  In those days, all officers, whether SAF, SPF or SCDF, were recruited from BMT, before undergoing their respective OCS.  If you had a skill before enlistment, the system will find a place for you.

The better your grades, the higher you will likely end up.  Some of the people with the highest security clearances started out in the SAF, but were sent to MHA instead.  These were postings that made us integral to the policymaking process, and many signed on from there.