Post 1 of 4: Keeping the quality of discussion in DT above MND’s piss poor PR efforts
@Musashi_kenshin, if you have nothing of substance to talk about — maybe you might want to consider reading more, to explore the many reasons why Taiwanese troops are not motivated. Don’t just argue because you don’t like what is being said, especially when it provides important context to the nonsensical Taiwanese MND PR puff being put out.
It isn't because young people are pacifists, they just don't want a year or more of their lives taken away without a choice. Their - not unreasonable view - is that if they're doing public service, they should be given a generous salary to make them do it voluntarily. That's probably unaffordable, but there you are.
Q1: How are pacifists relevant to a conscript army?
Ans: A conscript if he does not serve goes to jail. A solider, be it in Finland, Israel, Singapore or Taiwan needs to know he is not cannon fodder. This can be done by giving him real military training, and it should not be easy to meet standards. The current stupid type of kindness by letting a conscript just watch war movies in camp instead of training, is what is being done in Taiwan.
1. In my prior posts, I tried to explain what it takes to train a conscript into a soldier, capable of conducting missions (see 3(b) below for a 3 min video, on the basic skills needed).
2. Never mind the fact that 800 bullets is not enough to be minimally competent. And 800 bullets does not automatically result in competence — it may but it also may not — it’s how you use scarce resources to become better. And to train a solider, you need to to invest resources to develop systems and processes — it’s not there in Taiwan. Let me repeat again the basic positions a Singapore infantry conscript is trained to shoot in:
(a) foxhole;
(b) kneeling & sitting;
(c) moving targets;
(d) standing;
(e) window;
(f) prone; &
(g) split level shooting (eg. ground floor to 3rd floor & third floor to ground floor).
3. But it seems Taiwan wants to only make cannon fodder because they don’t train their conscripts properly to even shoot. The Taiwanese conscript only shoots in prone position. If you shoot 800 bullets in prone position only, it’s a waste of bullets.
(a) People get hurt or die in realistic training because using explosives, bullets & driving with NVGs in the dark is dangerous. In Taiwan, their public wants zero deaths — a goal that can’t be achieved, if there is to be realism in training. And I have attended a military funeral for a training death in my unit — family, friends and platoon mates were all crying. The SAF does vehicle dismount and over turn drills because it’s something we do or it’s a real risk, we need to mitigate.
(b) Above is a 3 min video of a NSF being trained as a motorised infantry officer — 38 weeks of intense training, explained in 3 mins. In it, these NSFs use hand signals to guide vehicles, use encrypted signal sets (with blue force trackers), fire their vehicle mounted GPMGs at a live fire range, discharge their Terrex smoke grenades (which also means they need to reload them). They show what the Terrex thermal vision and thermal imaging sights can do in the dark to spot the enemy. They engage in map planning and also demonstrate a dismount drill to get into the fight. In the fight, these OCS cadets demonstrate command and control in the fog of war. They execute room clearing drills as they transition from jungle movement into urban ops and are also forced to carry stretchers into mud. Every solider is cross trained on every weapon in the video — that’s basic competence.
4. Realistic training for a conscript reserve unit is not hard to do; but it does require investment.
(a) By 2028, the realism in training will increase once facilities in Australia and SAFTI city, in Singapore, are built to SAF spec. It’s a multi-billion dollar investment.
(b) For myself, as a conscript, I have planned and executed combined arms heliborne and coastal hook exercises. In the reserves, I have taken part in military exercises, where UAVs provided over watch as my battalion moved to its objective after a coastal hook — that included deception ops.
(c) I am trained to operate at least 6 different weapons systems (including 2 types of anti-armour weapons) and have gone to a demolition range and ignited a claymore mine — something a Taiwanese conscript will never do.
5. Even then, I think the training we receive in Singapore lacks realism. Singapore conscripts don’t shoot enough compared to our Army Deployment Force (ADF), who have deployed to both Afghanistan and Iraq. The ADF shoots 10 times more than normal conscripts in the SAF — their shoot budget is fantastic — which is why they are the force of choice (just below the SOF), and they keep refreshing their training to keep the muscle memory.
6. Increasing realism is training is impt Ex Forging Sabre, & Ex Wallaby, are some illustrations of the SAF’s commitment.
