The Singaporean Army and Society: Perspectives from Major Robert E. Lee Jr., Green Berets, US Army

This was an interesting perspective offered by a major in the Green Berets. It was, of course, at odds with what the bitter, navel-gazing opposition in Singapore had to say.

Needless to say, it had offered an outsider's perspective.


"Major Lee had conducted training missions all over Asia: South Korea, Singapore, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, the Philippines... He judged cultures and political systems by what he saw of their armies, which wasn't a bad idea. At least it was ground truth rather than abstractions. Armies are usually accurate cultural barometers. America had among the best non-commissioned officer corps in history because the U.S. was the epitome of a mass middle-class society. Poorly led corrupt third world countries tend to have militaries in which weapons and other equipment were not maintained. Maintenance - a dull, unpleasant, and yet necessary task - is an indication of discipline, espirit de corps, and faith in the future, because you maintain only what you plan to use for the long term.

Lee, barely audible above the loud typhoon rain, spoke of each Asian army he had helped train, with the memory of it lingering in his eyes. He was most impressed with Singapore's. "They had a state-of-the-art shoot house. Whenever a soldier got hurt in training, there was an investigation and a detailed explanation given to the family. Life wasn't cheap there. It was valued. Officially, Singapore's a dictatorship, and people in Washington and New York disparage it. Unofficially, it's a civil society.

"Their non-commissioned officer corps is real good," he went on. "Singapore's a meritocracy; lots of future officers are identified out of the ranks in basic training. Chinese, Malays, Indians, they're all mixed together in units. I went there with the idea of Big Brother. But you just cross the border into Malaysia or especially Indonesia from Singapore, and you'll see hordes of beggars and people defecating in the streets and you'll realise why Singapore has those strict rules. You can walk into a movie theatre in Singapore without your feet sticking to the floor. Going into Malaysia and Indonesia puts things into perspective for me. After those countries, the Big Brotherisms don't bother you much. Anyway, the people in Singapore get around the rules. It's not as bad as people write about. You just have to be there."

Quote from "Imperial Grunts: On the Ground with the American Military, from Mongolia to the Philippines to Iraq and Beyond" by Robert D. Kaplan