Why National Service men should not be insured.

National Service men in Singapore, should not be insured. There is a better way.

The problem with the present proposed idea of insurance for the conscripted National Service men of Singapore (NSF) is that insurance provides Mindef with NO incentive to look after the safety of its recruits. I understand that, from January 2009, the option exists for NSFs to insure themselves for 100,000 dollars personal accident insurance for 12.80 dollars per month. They have to pay this themselves, out of their earnings which are to be raised 20 dollars (wow!) to cover the situation.

I find this situation troublingly dissatisfactory. If an NSF is insured and injured, maimed, or killed, Mindef is not going to compensate the family or victim. That means that Mindef will not suffer any loss if its servicemen suffer loss. This is an inherently unsafe situation. If the situation is, however, altered so that Mindef suffers loss each and every time a serviceman is injured, maimed or killed, then Mindef will do EVERYTHING IT CAN to ensure the safety of those servicemen. If, however, there is no loss to Mindef for harm to servicemen it may not be so careful with those servicemen's lives - because it will have no repercussions for them.

Every year there is a tragic toll on young National Servicemen (NSFs) who are injured, disabled or killed in the course of their duties. None of this suffering is necessary and none of it should occur. There are safe ways to conduct training and not so safe ways to conduct training. If training were conducted with the utmost safety in mind and the lives of the conscripts placed as the highest priority, I find it hard to imagine that there would be many casualties: the chances of such could be reduced to the point of rarity. Ideally, therefore, we need to create a situation in which Mindef is highly motivated to ensure the safety of its conscripts. There is one word for the way in which this would work: responsibility. Mindef must take responsibility for the safety, health and lives of its involuntary conscripts.

At first analysis, there are a few obvious ways to encourage a concern for the safety of recruits, of the highest order. Firstly, there must be repercussions to Mindef for every injury, loss or death. Secondly, there must be repercussions for the SENIOR STAFF of Mindef, for each such injury, loss or death. By having such accountability, the organization would take every step to ensure the safety of recruits that is possible.

This analysis leads to a conclusion: there should be NO insurance for NSF/National Servicemen. Instead, Mindef should be DIRECTLY financially responsible for the compensation of all recruits injured, maimed or killed. To make this work, the level of compensation needs to be high and punitive so that Mindef has a strong incentive to look after its recruits. Mindef should be responsible for all medical costs incurred by injuries sustained while recruits serve NS. Furthermore, there should be disability pensions to provide ongoing, lifelong compensation for any disabilities acquired in the course of duties. I know, for instance, a former American soldier who suffers from tinnitus (persistent ringing in the ears) from the sounds of heavy guns firing during a war. He receives a monthly disability allowance from the US government for this injury and shall do so for his entire life. That would be the kind of system which ensures responsibility on the part of Mindef. Not only that, but if a National Serviceman (NSF) dies while serving NS, there should be substantial compensation to the family of the deceased. I would suggest a sum equal to his ENTIRE LIFETIME EXPECTED EARNINGS based on his known academic attributes would be appropriate and fair.

These two measures would create a cost to Mindef for the loss of health or life of its recruits and thus a strong incentive for Mindef to look after its recruits.

There is another aspect. Mindef's and SAF's senior staff should have a performance element in their pay linked to the safety of their recruits. If a recruit dies, they should suffer financially, in a significant way. Similarly, if a recruit is injured. It should work both ways - being both a positive and negative incentive. By this I mean that if NO recruits are harmed or killed that year, there should be a large salary BONUS. This would strongly incentivize senior management to look after their charges.

Were all of these proposed changes to be implemented, we would soon see a fall in the number of NSFs injured, maimed or killed. We would also see a force of National Servicemen who are happier to serve, since they will be secure in the knowledge that their country will look after them, and their families, in the event that some harm should befall them. Presently, of course, this is not so. Presently, NSFs know that Mindef will not look after them and their families in the way that they should. This must change.

The other aspect about my proposal which should not be overlooked is that, in theory, it could cost relatively little. All that Mindef and the SAF (Singapore Armed Forces) needs to do to make this a cheap but effective initiative is to ensure the safety of their recruits. In doing so, senior management would then enjoy bonuses to reward them for having guarded the lives of their charges.

I think everyone would be happier with my proposed system. Let, Mindef, therefore, be the automatic insurer of all NS men.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

A debt of national gratitude.

The Singaporean nation has a debt of gratitude to any National Serviceman who is harmed while serving NS.

A case is presently in the courts concerning a serviceman who appears to have suffered a head injury while doing NS. Mindef (the Ministry of Defence) are claiming that it was not suffered on active duty since he was back at camp, at the time. In other words, they are seeking to weasel out of paying for his medical support.

The National Serviceman's situation is dire. Jeremy Tan Chia Whee's head injury has left him unable to move or speak and he is fully dependent on doctors and nurses for his needs. Despite this, Mindef, who had been paying 80% of his ward and meal charges (the amount of support for non-service related injuries) stopped paying any support in February 2007. Since then, his parents have had to find 133,000 dollars for his care.

His parents are suing Mindef for full support of his medical costs. I think their suit seems more than fair. Here is a young man, whose life was ruined, while an NS man. He appears to have fallen from a height and sustained a head injury that has severely damaged him. The least that Mindef can do is support is his costs of recovery (if he ever recovers).

It seems to me, that Mindef demands that the young men of Singapore sacrifice two years of their lives (plus 10 years on call), exposing them to risk of death and injury, yet, in return, Mindef is unwilling to bear the costs that result when things go wrong. What kind of values does this reveal? It appears that Mindef does not value the lives of its recruits as much as it values its "right" to expend their lives in its cause.

Jeremy Tan Chia Whee may never live a normal life, again. That he is in this position is the responsibility of Mindef. I think they should show an honourable response to this situation and pay for his full medical costs until such time as he recovers.

If Mindef are going to impose risk of death and injury on young men, they must, in return, be responsible for any and all medical costs incurred - even if they are for the duration of the lives of disabled ex-servicemen. This should not even be an issue that I have to write about - it should be an automatic response, in thanks for the sacrifices the servicemen have made.

Furthermore, if a serviceman dies on duty, the family of that serviceman should be compensated for their loss. After all, for some families the lost son may be the only means of support for his parents in their old age - with him gone, what will they do? There should be generous compensation in all such cases, so that one worry, at least, is not heaped on the family's sorrows: that of finance to replace the support of the lost son.

If service is to be compulsory, it should also come with generous support in the wake of anything untoward happening to a serviceman. That would, I think, be the moral stance.

There should be a collective national debt of gratitude to any serviceman who suffers loss, death or injury in service to his nation. Let us not forget to pay it, when the time comes.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)