3719N 2633E: Reservist IPPT - The elephant in the room II

Is a continuation of blog post about the IPPT [Link]

Let's take a look at some modern day real conscripts that actually go to fight real war ...

IDF reservist ah pui (fatty) tankee

Bear in mind the bulk of our combat force - 300,000 NSmen to be exact, are Part-Time conscripts. Down here we call them Operationally Ready NSmen a.k.a Conscript, a.k.a part-time soldier.

Now there is nothing special about sinkies, just like every citizen soldiers around the world, we come in all shapes and sizes, tall and short, fat and thin, scholar and farmer, rich man son and poor man son, straight and not so straight, etc...

Sure we would love to have ALL our NSman keep fighting fit from 18 to 48. Anyway what is the meaning of fighting fit?

Me think modern day soldiering defers quite differently from days of yore like say for example, Conan the barbarian, or from the Gladiator circa 1AD. Where one actually need to do 99% of the fighting in close quarters exerting brute force wielding a sword or x-calibre, up close and very personal as you slash and drive the knife into the flash and guts of your enemy, one after another, until you kill them all or you kena kill or you drop dead from exhaustion, whichever comes first.

In modern day combat, granted one is trained in the rudiments of bayonet fighting but most of the time, battles are of short duration, high intensity fire fight is more of a norm, and the bulk of such action will most likely be encountered by the infantry rifle companies. In modern army, crew served weapon systems make up a large part of the combat support arms. So modern day soldiering is really about physical fitness + skill at arms.

In the days of yore if you happen to see Conan the barbarian, he will tell you that he demand 70% or more of his soldiers to be very physically strong and those not so are trained and deployed as maybe archers and ... catapult crew. Nowadays in the modern day order of battle, crew served weapon systems are utilized even more extensively compared to Conan's time.

Of course, i say again, in an ideal situation all of our soldiers should be physically very fit base on a set of test. We have our set of test, the IDF also got a set of test, the US Army also got their own set of test and so does the Aussie forces. But are they so obsessed about this IPPT test so much so that they validate their soldiering worthiness base solely on it alone?

Like the above chubby IDF tankee, looking at his "pattern" i think he can barely pass the IDF's version of IPPT i.e. Push-up, Sit-Up and 2km run, do you think he stand a chance passing our SAF current IPPT?

IDF reservist chao ah beng reporting for In-Camp-Training

These are real world conscripts living in their part of the world which really demand that they go fight real wars. Do they look any different from us sinkies? Sama sama leh.

Remember soldiering is about physical fitness and skill at arms, more so today than before. I would rather go to battle with my ah pui gunner in my MBT even though he may barely pass his IPPT but working as a tank crew in our NSF days and knowing his skill at arms of laying the smooth bore 120mm unto the target lasing the distant, ID'ing through the thermal imager that it is indeed an enemy tank in the fog and dust cloud and other tanks and IFV are also moving in around the vicinity after countless drills in the armour training centre tank simulator differentiating between friendlies or foe, instinctively call out the target in well rehearse after rehearse drills and exercises during our full-time NSF conscript days. Do you want to lose a tank crew just because he cannot pass his IPPT? Make him go for RTs and RTs and sapping his self esteem just because he has aged and put on a few pounds and becoming a full time father and worker also a part time conscript MBT gunner, a damn good gunner and make him fuck the SAF and make him tu lan about defending this country. All because of a freaking IPPT test !

Conscripts come in all shapes and sizes, it is their life style which they are fully entitled to lead (thank you and fuck you) and also their genes that some will revert to "fatty" status post full-time national service. What do you want!? Ass hole!

Lean and fit 20 year old doing full-time national service

What do you want? What do you want from me? Oh, BMI = 27.3

Calm down. In recent times and barring very real geopolitical ramifications around our Asia Pacific region. There is ever so slightly a chance that the 300,000 of us, fit and not so fit, skinny chow ah beng and ah pui fattie tankee and did i mention my PC was a Jack Black look-a-like which i have grown to live and let live from NSF days to reservist ICTs over those years... might be activated when some big cuntries go ballistic, touch wood.

My PC look like this, but he knows his job.

Freaking hell, my PC was a Jack Black look-a-like, don't laugh, really its all about life style and genes lah, even more so now after we MR eons ago. But he knows his job. After all those years of working together as a platoon, growing fat together KNN, growing old together. i don't care he pass his IPPT or not.

Speaking about my PC, in the beginning of our NSF (Full-time) he strike me as - "What the ..." (face palm). Only very late into our reservist i began to see him differently. The thing is that he is consistently the same i.e. since NSF to reserves, rather, i have changed. His "philosophy" of doing the bare minimum and generally try to have a good time for himself and his kakis make me see the light of day and that is when i learnt to live and let live LOL. When you compared him with other more garang PCs you like - wah lao eh , but actually he is quite street smart which i only appreciate later, nearing the end of our reservist. Different people, different character but still get the job done. The last i heard, he is doing well in his family business, he knows when to "switch on" and when to "switch off" in life ;-)