Netizens express views on the passing of CFC Dave Lee and SAF’s safety record

The death of a 19-year-old full-time National Serviceman, Lee Han Xuan Dave, who was posthumously promoted to Corporal First-Class (CFC), has garnered members of the public's attention.

CFC Lee was a Guardsman from the 1st Battalion Singapore Guards prior to his passing away on Monday (30 April) at 5.32 pm at Changi General Hospital (CGH), where he was warded for 18 days since 18 April after showing signs of heat injury following an 8 kilometres fast march

The case was widely publicised on the internet and social media due to an alleged witness account from one of the soldiers at 1 Guards, claiming various objectable happenings prior and during the fast march. The original Facebook post has been removed on Monday night and the reddit post also had its content deleted. The account was reproduced by the aunt of CFC Lee and been shared over six thousand times.

Since the incident, The Singapore Army Facebook page has posted a couple of updates on the incident.

Some people who have been in Army took to the comments section to express their concern regarding the matter, telling stories of their own experience and suggesting things to do differently.

Wilson Toh wrote, 'Being in SAF for almost 35 years, I realized what the SAF is lack of, it's the emphasis of TRUST. For safety, for training fulfillment, for administration, for command and control, trust is never an anchoring pillar. And trust could only be made possible if all stakeholders willing to open their hearts to feel, open their eyes to see and observe, and lastly open their ears to hear and listen. Only with Trust among all ranks, fruitful achievement on safety, training, operation, command and control, leadership and etc will be realistic."

Patrick Ang wrote,

"Very often, when a soldier is tekan, they are told they can call the SAF hotline for feedback. However, that hotline will direct the complain back to the unit. The NSF who called will be called into the office to ask why they skip the rank system and go direct to the hotline. They will usually be given a hard time thereafter or be warned of being charge over insubordination.

SAF, clean up this mess of the hotline system first. Only then, it is truly considered a feedback session.
Let me cite a recent example. I was doing Reservist back in Jan/Feb. All the NS men had to do 24 hours shift without given a bunk bed, a proper place to rest etc. I called the SAF hotline and the following day, a warrant officer spoke to me stating that he has disseminated the info on no bunk bed and has said that there’s an allocated place for rest which in actual fact, nothing was said to us. I wasn’t the only one who reaffirm that such info wasn’t given to us. The CO, warrant officer on the other hand, “disappeared” for hours, perhaps resting in the comfort of the office/bunk without any disturbance.

Of course, I was warned about this direct feedback. But also said that “it is alright” to call the hotline.
Obviously, after the talk down to me, everything else is swept under the carpet. Fortunately, when we are finally allowed to go home after 24 hours, no one had any car accidents due to insufficient sleep. I can be reached via this Facebook account if you ever want to verify the above."

Andrew Ng wrote,

"Dear Sir, reviewing the safety management plan and training plan is not enough. As commanders in the force, we are taught to prioritise the safety of our men back in command school even after being posted to unit. We have also been told that as commanders, it’s our responsibilities to Ensure the lives of our men are not in danger as well as giving the benefit of doubt to our men before making a judgemental decision that the soldier is lying his way to get out of the training.

We were also being taught on the safety measures by the Trainers of heat injury symptoms and as commanders we ought to assess the situation carefully, if a decision can’t be made, we would follow the chain of command for a decision.The negligence of these commanders had caused a fellow soldier his life due to their disbeliefs to the soldier who is suffering from heat injury. These commanders are not worthy of being a commander in the force as they do not possess the skills and knowledge as well as not having the 8 core values and the creed that we had been saying

Everyday during the training period back in command school drilled into their head.They take things too lightly. Although they did not expect the situation to come at this stage, but still a life of a soldier is lost and it’s due to their negligence that caused it. For a country, we lost a soldier, but for their parents, they lost a Son.

Honestly speaking, I hope the teachings and trainings in the command school will be improvised before graduating them officially as a commander as well as implementing a workshop for safety measures to junior and senior commanders in every camp per month or per intake so that those who are commanders are aware of the safety measures and the welfare of everyone in the force. I hope every safety measures would be improvised and drilled into the commanders so that such incident would not happen again. I sincerely hope you will understand from my point of view.

To add on, I hope senior commanders would also keep a look out for their junior commanders be it NSF or regular’s safety. As I myself had to leave the force due to being unfit for service as I suffered from a permanent injury in my spine which I almost got paralysed from waist down due to the warrant officer’s negligence and no punishment has been given to him. I did not even receive his apology or him visiting me when I was hospitalised after the surgery, it has been years and I’m still feeling a lot of pain despite after undergoing surgery and having difficulty coping and adjusting to life.

I hope actions would be taken to these commanders who caused a fellow soldier life and a full explaination to the family who has lost their Son. Another thing to add on, I hope you would also change the 7 hours of uninterrupted rest to uninterrupted sleep as Commanders tend to abuse this by delaying the hours soldiers has to sleep by saying cleaning rifle is considered resting. Thank you and sorry for such a Long comment. I hope you would take these into considerations."

Gordon Ho-Mura wrote, "Having served 2.5 years of NS full time and another 10 years of NSmen, sometimes I see safety measures are just say say only but never enforced or improved on. For example, having enough sleep before a training or outfield exercise. Having to wake up at 3/4 am to draw arms and move out. In order to have have 7 hours of sleep, one has to sleep at 9/10 pm which in today's age, hardly anyone is able to sleep that early. And in the field, one get even lesser sleep due to outdoor environment, doing guard duties, doing area defense at 6 am etc. So hopefully Mindef can also look into this because having enough sleep is important to our health."

Lim King Loong wrote,

"I have retired from SAF for 20 years after spending 26 years as a regular. I would say that the safety regulations today is much more stringent than my time, and yet people die during training. It pains me that a young life has lost and a family lost their son. To me, only 2 things can contribute to this training related death. 1, Lapses in the training/command channel. 2, undetected/unknown medical condition.

Let the COI to do the necessary and get to the roots cause. If there is negligence than held the people responsible. Meanwhile at this moment let us extend our deepest condolences to the family and may PTE Lee RIP."

Victor Ng wrote, "Apparently getting me almost killed wasn’t enough. A life must be lost. Any recognition isn’t enough to be done for the family hurt by selfish superiors. I was almost dead because of Army activation during my medical leave. My PS told me to participate despite my medical condition at the moment causing me to had a shortness of breath attack which I couldn’t breath for minutes. My CSM told my medic not to bring me to medical center and threatened to charge me for participating. Now this time a life is lost and what army is going to do better be transparent and ensure they are carried out." adding that the Army should do some things differently.

Leonard Ng Choon Hwee wrote, "Well. Perhaps another thing to also change is "7 hours of uninterrupted REST".
I've met superiors who abuse that by saying that "cleaning rifle is also considered resting" and we proceed to waste precious sleep time before high-key training by cleaning rifle. Change that directive to "7 hours of uninterrupted sleep", it's a more accurate depiction of what the soldiers need."

Chan Crystal wrote, "Thank you SAF for the acknowledgement of your soldiers, but also please be transparent in revealing the true details of his cause of death and if needed, punish the relevant perpetrators."

Ho Chun Shen Kevin wrote, "One life lost is one too many. Especially during peacetime training. What good does it do to have so many regulations in place but it doesn't translate to actions on ground."

Toh Chie Kuan wrote, "Perhaps, medic should be given more power over safety officer and instructors who are not medically trained during peace-time operation."

Neil TaeYang Caffery wrote, "Everytime when some stuff like this happens, all this bullshit & crap comes out. All the beret, tab or  'achievement' can eat? I am sure the family wants none of that. Now they lost a son that they have fed for 20 years and when they become old, who will care for them? Crap like personnel in the SAF cannot sue by outsiders is going to come out again."

Ng Qun Feng wrote, "What's the point of being a CFC or awarded with Guards and RECON tab after your death? In the end, the conclusion will be no conclusion. SAF will cover their own backside."

Rebecca Aw wrote, "If not for the courageous whistle blower who gave an account of what took place, will SAF convenes an independent COI? BG Siew, talk is cheap! Was there any personnel held responsible when Pte Dominique Sarron Lee Rui Feng, 3SG Tan Mou Sheng, LCP Muhammad Fahrurrazi Bin Salim died during training? And what the use of promoting Dave Lee to CFC... May as well promote to BG!!! Don’t cost SAF anything to confer the rank right? As thought his parents will be happy with his promotion! Nothing SAF do, can lessen the pain of his parent."

Brandon Chan wrote, "You guys realise that there's a deeper underlying issue? No matter how many safety regulations the army adopts, training death does not seem to stop."

Derrick Goh wrote, "So if commanders are found to have not followed SOPs, will they just get a slap on the wrist? Like the officer who used too much tear gas in Dominic’s incident."

Darryl Kiasu Goh wrote, "There better be concrete actions taken. Nothing but the harshest punishments for the culprits. NS is not a game, people's lives are at stake here!! Please, no more wayang, no more backroom dealings. Acknowledge that you guys have problems which need to fixed asap. How many more lives need to taken before the thick skin people wake up their idea?"

Annabel Sim wrote, "Whats the point of such send off? Can you return the boy to his parents? If the leak info online is true, public demand army to do something about how things are handled in the army. Whats with all the tekan in training and assuming soldiers keng being sick. Do something about this SAF!"

Terrus Tok wrote, "I dare the COI to be transparent and conduct the investigation differently. Interview all the men in Dave’s company who were there that fateful day, and not just the few. Gather the truth and bring justice to the deceased! He could have been alive if not for the lapse of medical aid not given to him immediately by the medics. And also the inadequate first aid knowledge of ranking officers around him at that time. The respect needed to recognise a fellow man, a parent’s Son is at the stake in your hands!"

Qiu Ying Chee wrote, "How can I send my son to NS without fear? No need good food or living condition but at least please look after their safety during NS training. I hope SAF can do something to assure all parents that our boys are in good hands and our boys can complete their NS and come home safely. No man should be left behind. Hope it won't happen again."

Nicholas Schuester wrote, "Every time the SAF kills someone's son they copy and paste the same template. Thoughts and prayers, deepest condolences, time of grief. Accountability and realistic training. COI, review, safety timeout, ensure it never happens again. Has it occurred to any of them that after so many times, people just simply stop listening? Look at the responses and experiences that people reveal about the SAF all the time. This organization is a big fucking taxpayer-funded joke."

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