Commercial organisations are taking different approaches to showing their appreciation to national servicemen for their contributions to the country.

One of the higher profile ones is the offer of free rides on public buses and trains on Friday (Free bus, train rides for NSmen on June 30; June 20).

While it is a nice gesture, the men are required to wear their uniforms if they want to benefit from the NS50 Free Travel Day.

Given the time that would have to be spent washing, drying and putting the uniform away after that, many may decide not to take advantage of this benefit.

Also, many Singaporeans are getting fatter; their old uniforms may not fit even if they want to wear them.

Sadly, members of the Vigilante Corps, who were our NSmen in the earlier years, are excluded from the free rides.

Let's make things simpler.

Give all male Singaporeans above the age of 18 free rides on that day, regardless of whether or not they have served national service.

That way, this attempt to honour the contributions of NSmen would be appreciated by many more people.

Chee Chi Weng