PM Wong runs with SAF recruits and NS cadets, recalls how training helped him push limits

Military training is said to whip one into shape and maybe even form one’s character. Singapore PM Lawrence Wong, who went on a morning run with Singapore Armed Forces recruits yesterday, recalled how his own time as a cadet — more than 30 years ago — at the Pulau Tekong BMTC (basic military training centre) taught him to push the limits of physical and mental endurance.

Posting a series of photos from the BMTC, which he visited yesterday for the first time as Singapore prime minister, Wong wrote on X: “Not my usual commute to the office this morning. Instead, I visited the BMT centre at Pulau Tekong! It has been some time since my last visit. I wanted to get an update on BMT/NS training, and to engage our soldiers firsthand.”

Reminding people how important the military and the National Service were for the country, PM Wong wrote: “We enjoy peace and security in Singapore because of a strong and effective SAF and Home Team. The backbone of our defence and security is national service. Generations of Singaporeans have answered the call of duty, and every generation must continue to do so.”

Then he posted: “To the recruits of Raven, Mohawk, Scorpion companies —thank you for joining me and all the best for your graduation in two weeks’ time!”

A report on the visit published by The Straits Times quoted PM Wong as saying that “a lot has changed” in the National Service since his own cadet training in 1991, but that the “training standards are the same” in 2024.

PM Wong told the recruits, “You are still fighting-fit soldiers, and you’re all now doing your part to be part of an elite fighting force in the SAF.”

About how military training transformed one’s body and mind, the prime minister said, “It’s not just the physical fitness, it’s also the frame of mind, the discipline, the grit and the resilience and the determination to keep on pushing your limits.”

About himself, PM Wong said while he had not focused on staying very fit in school, BMT made him push his own limits, and going to Officer Cadet School took that further.

PM Wong was accompanied on the visit by Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, Senior Minister of State for Defence Zaqy Mohamad, and Chief of Army David Neo.