New ability tests expand pool of NSFs eligible for certain roles

Lance Corporal Lau Kah Onn, 21, had multiple kneecap dislocations in his teens while playing basketball in secondary school.

A history of injuries like his previously meant a blanket exemption from serving as a transport operator in national service, his current role at the Singapore Armed Forces' Transport Hub West.

But Lance Cpl Lau, who enlisted in May last year, is among a group of full-time national servicemen with certain limb conditions and past sports injuries who can now serve as transport operators.

This initiative is part of the SAF's push in recent years to deploy more soldiers in more meaningful roles, while maintaining safety and operational effectiveness. This is being achieved by doing away with a binary mode of medically classifying soldiers as combat-fit or non-combat-fit, starting with transport operators in April last year.

To ensure the soldiers' safety and capacity to serve, trained SAF physiotherapists will evaluate their strength, range of motion and stability on a case-by-case basis.

This is done through ability tests - called functional assessments - that replicate the physical movements that servicemen need for specific roles, such as clambering on and off trucks for transport operators.

The exercises used in the assessment for transport operators were developed by the Headquarters Army Medical Services, in consultation with physiotherapists and occupational therapists from Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Upon passing the assessment, Lance Cpl Lau attended the same training as other transport operators who did not need the assessment and have been given the same duties. He said he has no symptoms lingering from his injuries, other than the occasional stiffness, which does not affect his work.

Brigadier-General David Neo, Chief of Army, said in an interview last Wednesday that the army will extend such functional assessments to other vocations and redesign new jobs.

Since introducing the assessments, the SAF has boosted its selection pool of potential transport operators by 7 per cent.

Senior Minister of State for Defence Heng Chee How said the increase is significant as the number of babies in Singapore "is actually not going up at any fast rate".

"We are now able to look at the requirements of different jobs and say that it may be doable even though by the original PES system, you would not have been allowed to do so," he added, after visiting the Basic Military Training Centre School V at Kranji Camp II yesterday. PES refers to the Physical Employment Standards system.

"But what is equally important is when you speak to the soldiers themselves, they really appreciate it because if I have to spend two years with you, I want my time to count for something that is functionally and operationally required."

Lance Cpl Lau has taken on his role with gusto, getting himself certified to drive eight types of vehicles, including large lorries and ambulances - more than double the three vehicle types that a typical transport operator can manage.

And there is a personal connection that drives him. He said: "Besides me, my late grandfather was the only one in the family who could drive a (heavy) vehicle, which somehow... makes me feel more connected to him."