Mindef refutes post about NSF in wheelchair charged with disobeying order, insubordination and AWOL
The Ministry of Defence (Mindef) has refuted a post on Reddit about a full-time national serviceman (NSF) charged with disobedience of a general order, insubordination and being absent without official leave (AWOL).
Mindef posted on Facebook on Aug 29 at almost midnight that the ministry and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) have looked into "online remarks" made by someone who claimed to have had a dispute with his then-superior during his full-time national service, and faced charges that were eventually dropped.
"We have not found any record of such a case," said Mindef.
"We have reached out to the online account owner more than a day ago to seek further details so that we can perform more thorough investigations, but have yet to hear from him."
The post that the ministry was referring to was made by a Redditor named Top-Translator8359 in the /SingaporeRaw sub-Reddit on Aug 25.
The title of the post is "SAF court system saved me from injustice".
Below is the Reddit post in full:
ORDed a few days back. Now a civilian, so I can share my story without fear.
Months back, I was charged with disobedience of general order, insubordination and AWOL. But all charges were dropped. So gotta thank my defending officer (DO) and the court who just dropped my charges.
My vocation was ASA (admin supply assistant). Basically, I had a long-standing dispute with my ex-DXO (defence executive officer) superior.
He had crazy demands that I notify him of my location during camp, outside of camp when I am on MC and also let him check through my phone every week because he says if I get caught by MP (military police) command for porn, he will be questioned as well.
Seven months ago, while on my way to camp, I stepped on a drain cover which was loose and I fell in and badly injured myself. Even though I was wearing smart 4, the pants on my knees got torn by a sharp edge and my leg was stabbed as well. So got a big-ass deep cut.
Sent to hospital, went through surgery. Stayed in hospital for 10 days and after that got MC for additional three weeks. I was wheelchair bound & used crutches as well.
When I was on MC and at home, he'd ask me to send a selfie of myself outside my house with my unit number showing. Few times a day, I had to do it.
Not only that I was told to turn on live location on WhatsApp for 24 hours day and he also told me to turn on Google live location and he will check my location history after I get back to camp.
Twelve days into my MC, the DXO messaged me and told me I needed to book into camp to get my MC reviewed and authenticated by the camp MO.
At that point, still in wheelchair and crutches. For y'alls information, my camp is on a hill. If you miss the shuttle bus, it'd take at least 30 minutes to climb the hill since my unit was at HQ building. And he told me to be at the medical centre in one hour.
I told him it was physically impossible for me to do it. Told me to take taxi to camp. I told him I'm wheelchair-bound and I wouldn't be able to make it up the hill. He told me he was giving me a direct order and I was required to follow it.
At that instant, I told him no, I wouldn't be able to make it to camp and again sent him a picture of the MC from the hospital stating the period and also the memo from the doctor.
After that, I didn't receive any messages from him. I would only send him a selfie of myself in front of my house door via WhatsApp and he would just reply with the thumbs-up emoji.
After I got back to camp, the DXO didn't give me much work seeing the condition I was in and also stopped talking to me.
The week after I got back to camp, he and an officer (rank Lieutenant Colonel or LTC), called me into a private meeting room. They informed me that they were going to be referring me to regimentation and discipline department and also MP command for the charges:
Disobedience of general order. For refusing to come to camp for medical review when ordered
Insubordination. For telling the DXO I would not come to camp and I raised my voice at him over a phone call.
AWOL. Since I didn't come to camp, I was considered AWOL for those nine days.
I tried to explain to the LTC in that meeting room that I was wheelchair and crutches bound, how could it be expected for me to appear in camp and I had a valid MC? The LTC said we don't know whether your MC is real or forged. So the camp MO had to authenticate it. And since I didn't turn up, considered AWOL.
Realised there was no point speaking to the LTC, so I had to go up higher the chain. I brought my case to the CO (Colonel rank) of the HQ to plead my case with him. But it was pointless. He told me I should've followed the orders and I wouldn't be in this state where I am.
I went up higher the chain to meet the camp commander, but even then it was of no use. I was told the same thing. Should learn to deal with my consequences etc and face my summary trial.
Few weeks later, I went for my summary trial and my charges were read out to me. In total, if I accepted the charges I would've been sentenced to 3 weeks in DB. However, I didn't accept the charges and I wanted a general court-martial.
After that, I was assigned a court date and also a defending officer (DO). His rank is Major. I went to meet my DO and he questioned me in length, told me to provide screenshots of WhatsApp messages, location logs from my Google account, my original hospital MC & the doctor's memo from the hospital.
He himself was shocked because there was no basis for the case at all. My DO sent all the documents, my written testimony and basically, all my evidence over to the SAF legal services or prosecution side. I don't remember the actual term.
Close to two weeks after my DO sent all the information to the prosecution side, I was informed via my DO that all my charges got withdrawn after thorough investigation by I think MP command. There will be no court date and won't have to go through court martial. So I can return back to camp without any issues.
But I didn't want to return back to same unit. I urged my DO to help me get a change. Told me only I can do it to go to PCC (Psychological Care Centre), who will be able to force a change of unit. The camp MO was well aware of my history and I got a referral back to PCC.
At PCC, I completely broke down and told the psychiatrist MO (medical officer) that if I were in the same unit and under the same DXO, I would off myself. Explained my whole history and was given an immediate transfer to another unit in camp. Luckily, the new unit was way different. At least treated NSFs with a bit of decency. Not fully but didn't demand GPS location when I am at home on MC.
I spent my last remaining months recovering and feeling a sense of freedom in the new unit. Made some buddies in the unit and enjoyed.
But honestly, even though I suffered during the majority of NS from BMT (Basic Military Training) at Tekong to getting depressed, to being abused by a DXO, the SAF justice system saved me. My DO is one hell of a person, really went all out helping me and got rid of all the charges.
I know that NSFs will still continue to be abused, but there is a tiny amount of silver lining.
