Ms He Ting Ru (Sengkang): Sir, the complex landscape of modern warfare makes it imperative that we not only equip our forces with physical prowess, but also invest in their mental and moral strength. True preparedness extends beyond physical weaponry. It involves cultivating a resilient and balanced force that can withstand the rigours of duty and adapt to adversity in the complex dimensions of a modern conflict.
Interventions that emphasise optimism, resilience, well-being and proportionate behaviour should be incorporated early to empower our servicemen and women to navigate the challenges of their duties with an approach to allow them to not only endure but thrive. With this in mind, the United States (US) Army developed the Global Assessment Tool (GAT) to measure psychosocial well-being of their soldiers in the domains of emotional, social, family and spiritual fitness.
The GAT is confidential and is an annual requirement for soldiers and is linked to the ArmyFit online training platform, which provides training based on the GAT results. It has been taken by over one million soldiers and researchers have found that it appears to be a sound psychometric measure of competencies as well as leadership and character traits that are essential to army life.
To bolster this, the US Army also has a 10-day Master Resilience Training Programme in the core competencies of self-awareness, self-regulation, optimism, mental agility, strength of character and connection. This enhances unit cohesion, decision-making and overall mission success, and provides skills that will undoubtedly be helpful beyond their time in the Armed Forces.
I would like to ask about the resilience training conducted by MINDEF, for example, under the SAF Centre of Excellence for Soldier Performance and whether an assessment tool has been added to assess the psychological fitness of our military personnel, like what we already do for physical fitness through the IPPT. Such assessments should not only be focusing on weaknesses or pathologies but instead, would also be focusing on identifying strengths that will increase resilience.
The Senior Minister of State for Defence (Mr Heng Chee How): Care for our servicemen also goes beyond ensuring their physical safety. Dr Wan Rizal and Ms He Ting Ru asked how MINDEF/SAF is looking at the mental wellness and well-being of our servicemen.
MINDEF/SAF has in place efforts to promote effective self-care, strengthen coping skills and better recognise potential mental health issues. All Regulars and NSFs also undergo psychological first-aid training to help them recognise distress signs, exercise self-care and support their peers.
We have also continued our practice of screening for mental health conditions before enlistment. Those with severe conditions that pose harm to themselves or others are deferred from NS until they are professionally assessed to have improved and no longer pose those risks. Those with mild or moderate conditions, but who have been assessed to be able to serve in selected vocations, will receive additional monitoring during NS.
Beyond pre-enlistment screening, we have increased our mental health support over the years, particularly during Basic Military Training (BMT). Care Hubs have been set up in the BMT centres since 2020 so that mental health professionals and medical doctors can work closely with Commanders to support NSFs during their transition to military life. Commanders interview NSFs regularly to identify potential problems and to render assistance. Those who are uncomfortable sharing their problems openly can call an anonymous 24-hour SAF counselling hotline. We have also doubled the number of full-time mental health professionals to 80 over the past decade and established a Mental Health Office for better synergy and delivery of care.
I note that Ms He Ting Ru has also mentioned the importance of soldier moral strengths as well as resilience and how these will affect the effectiveness of the fighting units and fighting morale. This is an important aspect and I can assure Ms He Ting Ru that through the use of appropriate instruments, not necessarily the ones that she particularly mentioned, we pick up signals of weakness, as well as discern strengths for better deployment and development of our servicemen for different vocations and for different levels of command. We certainly want to press on with all efforts to make the most of the contributions of our servicemen.
We understand also that Parliamentary Questions have been filed on this topic of mental health for our servicemen and we will give a more substantive reply at a subsequent Parliament Sitting.
We also continue to enhance the NS experience and improve administrative efficiency, so that our NSmen can focus on their NS duties.
The Senior Minister of State for Defence (Mr Zaqy Mohamad): Today, ACCORD continues to run a wide range of community outreach initiatives to reach out to pre-enlistees, youths, new citizens, Permanent Residents (PRs), NSmen, families and women. Some Members of Parliament such as Member He Ting Ru, Mr Zulkarnain Rahim and Mr Don Wee are also active members of ACCORD. The goal is to bring society together, to champion and to advocate for Singapore’s defence and for NS.
ACCORD initiated NS info-sharing sessions with pre-enlistees, including those who are new citizens and PRs, to better ease their transition into military life. ACCORD also initiated the NS Family Camp in partnership with SAFRA, where families built barshas with full camouflage on and even belted out familiar military tunes.
Supporting our NSmen in their professional development is another key tenet of ACCORD’s work. Last year, ACCORD signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with AETOS and Singapore Human Resource Institute. Under these MOUs, our NSmen enjoy concessionary rates for selected programmes to upskill, reskill and learn relevant security and Human Resource knowledge.
Ministry of Defence
29 February 2024
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=budget-2353
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 