Confirmed: SAF ICT & IPPT to Resume Progressively; NSmen Have to Take Swab Tests

If your life’s goal is to go through 2020 without doing a swab test as you’ve been keeping yourself healthy and avoided going out, then SAF is here to burst your bubble if you’re an NSman.

Because IPPT and ICT will resume from 1 October 2020, and NSmen would need to go through a swab test.

SAF ICT & IPPT to Resume Progressively; NSmen Have to Take Swab Tests

In an update by MINDEF that’ll make some people happy and Dee Kosh sad, the defence ministry said that IPPT and ICT will progressively resume from 1 October 2020.

This is because the SAF must continue to maintain operational readiness despite the challenges imposed by COVID-19.

Reader Bao: I thought everyone, even the aggressors, needs to be isolated for 14—

But how do you ensure that the uncles would be safe in camp? After all, just yesterday, PM Lee did mention that there’s a COVID-19 risk in communal living like army camps.

“Clear” NSmen like how residents in dormitories are cleared—by doing a swab test on NSmen.

Other than the swab tests, there will be stringent safe management measures (SMMs) and health protocols. Maybe we’ll finally have an empty seat to put our fieldpack beside us in the 5-Ton lah I don’t know.

For IPPT, the Fitness Conditioning Centres (FCCs) will progressively reopen from 1 October 2020, too.

The FFCs were initially supposed to reopen this month.

All SAF NSmen whose IPPT windows close on or before 7 Feb 2021 will be granted a one-time waiver. If that’s not clear enough, it means if your birthday falls between now and 7 Feb 2020, you won’t need to go for IPPT, IPT or RT.

Here’s MINDEF’s announcement lest you think we’re imagining this good news—I mean, this piece of news:

In case you can’t read:

The SAF must continue to maintain operational readiness despite the challenges imposed by #COVID19, and will step up training tempo in the coming months. From October 2020, the SAF will progressively resume NS In-Camp Training (ICT). To ensure that NS activities resume safely, the SAF has put in place stringent safe management measures (SMMs) and health protocols, including the administration of swab tests for Operationally Ready National Servicemen (NSmen) returning for unit-level ICT, to prevent, detect and contain COVID-19 infections.

In line with the effort to resume NS activities, the SAF will also progressively reopen the Fitness Conditioning Centres (FCCs) for IPPT from 1 Oct 2020. IPPT will be conducted at a reduced capacity and group size, and in accordance with SMM to safeguard the health and well-being of FCC users. In view of the earlier FCC closure and gradual pace of reopening, all SAF NSmen whose IPPT windows close on or before 7 Feb 2021 will be granted a one-time waiver. They will be informed individually via SMS and a letter in September 2020.

The SAF will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation in Singapore and review the measures in place to keep our servicemen safe. We thank our NSmen for their continued contributions and commitment to keeping Singapore safe and secure during these challenging times.

If this is a little too chim, or you’re a wife and are wondering if your husband is going to do a swab test just for a physical test, here’s everything about serving NS in the army, simplified for you (also, please subscribe to our YouTube channel for more informative videos!):