Soldier alleges maltreatment

I, Lou Hsiao Wuen Benjamin S7539621Z of 1^st Commando Battalion HQ Company S4 Branch have the below mentioned incident to report.

This report has been submitted to the following:

Chief Commando Officer 1^st Commando Battalion (CCO)
Commanding Officer 1^st Commando Battalion (CO)
S4 / OC HQ Company 1^st Commando Battalion
S1 1^st Commando Battalion
DYS4 1^st Commando Battalion
HQ Company, Company Sergeant Major 1^st Commando Battalion
Colonel Ang – Psychiatrist (CMPB ) Singapore Armed Forces Psycho Medical Branch
SIB – Singapore Armed Forces Special Investigation Branch
Mr Ganesan - Counseller Singapore Armed Forces Counselling Centre
Dr Brian Yeo – Psychiatrist National University Hospital Neuroscience Department
Mr Low Thia Kiang - Member of Parliament for Hougang Constituency. (Workers Party)

 I was enlisted into the army (1^st Commando Battalion) on 18 January 1996. I had signed on before I was enlisted into the army. At that point and time, I was the only Regular soldier in an entire Company (intake of 241 soldiers). The following incident happened in April 1996 while I was a Recruit in 1^st Commando Battalion 2^nd Company Platoon 4, Section 1. 

April 1996, ATP (an annual range/marksmanship proficiency test) shoot at Pulau Tekong. The below mentioned happened only to me. It is not part of the Commando training and the rest of the 240 men were treated in humane and normal ways except for me, who had to undergo the following. I was singled out. 

For 15 days, I was deprived of sleep. No sleep at all. I was watched over by all the trainers and they ensured that I had totally no sleep. When training was over, the entire 240 men were allowed to bathe and rest and change into T-shirts and shorts and running shoes, but I for those 15 days had to wear my helmet, my camouflage uniform, my boots, SBO/webbing (6kgs) all filled with equipment , my rifle (4kgs) and my field pack (30kgs) filled with both my equipment and stones/rocks. Throughout the 15 days I went everywhere, did everything with everything mentioned above on. In short, everything mentioned above would have for the next 15 days be an integrated part of me.   

Every night at about 12.30 am, I was asked to take the entire Platoon’s boots into 6 duffel bags (aka Ali Baba bags) and was made to run carrying the entire load for 6 rounds about the soccer field. There were moments when I fell and asked to be let off, but I was besides being verbally abused, was pushed, kicked and punched/slapped by the instructors and made to carry on. After 6 rounds of dragging, I would be very tired. The entire 6 rounds took about 1½ hours. It would be about 2am then. I would then be asked to take my helmet (including everything mentioned above) and kneel down in front of the instructors. I would be forced to eat 14 nightsnack cakes and drink 6 litres of water. As we all know that it was not humanely possible to consume all, I promptly vomited after a couple of cakes and water. I was forced to vomit into my helmet and drink back my own vomit and I would then vomit again but this went on and on until I finished up all my vomit and the cakes and water. After which I would be asked to carry everything mentioned above again and run around the soccer field for 10 rounds. After the run, I would be asked to kneel in front of an instructor again but this time, I had to carry my field pack (30kg) overhead with my arms fully outstretched for 1 hour and listen to the instructor tell stories and talk nonsense. If my arms at anytime so much as bend my arms under the weight, which would be normal, I was pushed punched or kicked by the instructor(s) again. I would have fallen onto the ground, but had to promptly get up and continue with arms fully outstretched again, promptly. 

All these would usually stop at 5.30am. Every night at this time for the 15 days, I would be asked to complete a 3 foolscap paper long report on the platoon’s morale and I had to have 10 duplicates and that makes it some 30 pages in ½ hour which was quite impossible. I would most of the time be so tired by then that I would be drawing illegible patterns on the papers. Having constantly failed at some thing which could never be completed in the limited time, I would then face further punishment like pushups or ranger jumps. All these again in full battle order. (field pack on)  

 At about 6.20am – 6.30 am, I would then be made to join the rest for the normal training which included 5km run. The rest did their runs in T-shirts and shorts, but I was made to do it with everything on. Rifle, webbing and field pack included. It did tax my physical limits then but I had to not finish last because if I did, I would be in for more punishment. Some tried to run slowly to help me, but that didn’t help much as I was already very tired. And it became more painful as the days went on by.

Everyday, before lunch, at about 12pm, I would be whisked off to the SOC (standard obstacle course) ground/area and was made to clear the obstacle course 3 times with everything on. This is absurd because it was already quite difficult then to do it in just T-shirts and shorts, so imagine this. I fell many times from about 5 – 6 metres (it was an obstacle that resembled a high ramp ) but I was promptly kicked and beaten again and forced to complete it. If I looked like I was going to faint, I would be assigned 4 men to follow me through, but I was never given any rest. I still had to complete it.

During these 15 days, I did try to request to see a doctor, but I was denied medical treatment. They said that I was not really injured and that I wanted to skive. Being always watched over by one instructor at least round the clock, there was no way to secretly see a doctor then. All this while, I was suffering the physical attacks with cuts bruises and at times bleeding, but was never allowed to see a doctor in Pulau Tekong.

Sometimes, I wondered how much longer I could have held on. I was then only a recruit with only 2 months in the army.

Before every meal, without fail, I had to do either (my choice) 150 pushups or 150 jumping jacks/ranger jumps all in full battle order with helmet, boots, uniform, webbing, rifle, field pack and boots.plus some rocks and stones added to make my entire load heavier.

Upon finishing, I would have my food poured on to the ground, sometimes, it landed in the sand/mud and I was made to lie down on my front and eat up the food like a dog without using my hands, just my mouth. All these went on for 15 days and not once in these 15 days was I humanely treated. There were occasional times when I was deprived of water and the thirst got pretty unbearable. (This didn’t happen very often though.)

Once, I was made to strip off all my clothes leaving myself stark naked and I had to make myself wet (spray water on myself ) and roll in the sand till I was covered all with sand. Then I had to leopard crawl 600m to and fro down the 300m rifle range (like a worm crawl with every bit of the body in contact with the grass and thorns) while I was constantly subjected to kicks either in the head, face, ribs or given blows by a helmet on various parts of the body. Again I was denied medical treatment.

Whenever the entire 240 men marched from one place to another (usually an average distance of 4 – 6 km in twos, a line of about 100m, imagine the length) I would have to, in full battle order, run around the entire 100m of marching men from end to front and back to end again. This denoted once. I was then allowed to march for 1 minute (rest) and then I had to do it all over again. I estimated I had to run some 58 times on average around the men before we reached our destination. If I fell due to my muscles giving up, I would be beaten again and forced to carry on. Whenever the men rested upon reaching the destination, I was made to kneel on the sand with my field pack overhead arms outstretched again. I might have probably knelt for hours in a row.

Whenever I had to urinate, I would never be allowed to go to the toilet and I was told to piss in my own pants. Imagine wearing a pissed stained slacks for 15 days. I was not given a chance to bathe or change whatsoever same everything from Day 1 all through to Day 15. Well, I was allowed to go to the toilet to shit though, but how often could I say that I wanted to shit?

I was also once tied up in various stress positions, blindfolded and left in one corner of the field where there were many "lion head ants" as we call them the kind that had real big pincers with heads larger than their bodies and was bitten all over. Mind you, this is not part of the Commando training. It happened only to me. Recruits are not subjected to such torture.

It seems that all this time, they were punishing me for my repeated smoking and they claimed that I was encouraging the men to smoke, destroying the discipline.

The trainers played psychological games to the extreme. Knowing that I was mentally and physically weakened to the extreme, add that to the point that I was not a trained soldier but a recruit with 2 months in the army, they constantly and consistently challenged me to end my life if I couldn’t take the torture/stress. They suggested that I could jump from the 4^th storey, or I could try to drown myself at the sea, or even easier when we were having life firing and our rifles were loaded with life rounds, I could always shoot myself to end it all there and then. They pointed to a hole above one training shed in Tekong and said that another recruit some years back had shot himself committing suicide then in the exact shed. I was told that I could do the same. It was through sheer determination that I held on. Sometimes I would never know and like all the rest of the men, they never knew what made me hold on. But had I shot myself then, I would have died and no one might have known the truth because recruits do not dare complain. If they told the truth, the trainers might just say that the cause of death was due to me not being able to take training stress but the truth being more than that.

On another occasion, I was standing in full battle order in front of 2SG Tan Puay Kim when he jumped off his bench and gave me a flying kick to the chest throwing me off my feet. This, was committed in the presence of my entire platoon.

At another time, I was in full battle order and had a pretty heavy "broad jump mat" added over my shoulders and had my hands tied, and was told to hold on to a toggle rope attached to a Land Rover. The vehicle moved slowly and I was ordered to run following the vehicle. When I fell and let go of the rope, I was forcefully dragged along the ground by instructors for some distances before they let me go.

Even after the 15 days when we returned to mainland Singapore, back in 1^st Commando Battalion, I was not spared. For a couple of days, 2LT Tan Puay Teck would have me awaken every 2 hours starting at 11pm and was told to go to the toilet and drench myself in water and stand facing the wall in "attention" position and listen to him blabber more unrelated bullshit and small talk for about an hour, before I was allowed to go back to sleep all wet. 2 hours later, the entire harrasment episode would be repeated till the next morning.

Another point I would like to bring up is that I was confined in camp for 4 entire months! They always seemed to find a way to get me confined and I was not allowed to go out, to make calls or to even see the outside world for 4 whole months! Through out that period, I had only 2 book outs. My BMT 1^st book out and the Chinese New Year book out. Respite the confinements, I never did sign any official punishment or extra duty books or whatsoever to state that I was punished. It was all verbal instructions and being a recruit, I did not dare to question the orders any further. Was it to prevent me from complaining or to prevent people from seeing my injuries?

Both my parents did not even know I signed on till sometime later. Moreover both my parents are divorced and I have a very free rein on my own life. That is why no one queried when I did not return home for months in a row. And I guess the instructors were aware of this point.

Therefore, I would like to bring the incident to the attention to my superiors and the related authorities and hope that a full investigation would be carried out to authenticate my report. The above was written to the best of my knowledge.