From The Straits Times
By Jermyn Chow
Published 6 Mar 2010A NEW career scheme to groom a new breed of soldiers, called military experts, has been well received by Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) personnel and job seekers.
Second Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen told Parliament that 95 per cent of SAF regulars - now in jobs such as engineering, maintenance, naval warfare and nursing - will switch to the new branch of service known as the Military Domain Experts Scheme (MDES), which kicks in next month. The servicemen will get to retire later and have opportunities along a structured career track aimed at furthering their studies or honing their specialist skills. Salaries are also benchmarked against similar jobs in the private sector.
Defence Ministry recruiters also received more applications for a dozen entry-level MDES fields of specialisation, such as in air force engineering, air operations and systems, and military intelligence.
Applications from fresh graduates, diploma holders and mid-career employees increased by 10 per cent between April and December last year, compared with that in the same period in 2008. All these applicants will go on the MDES when it starts.
Dr Ng was responding to Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman (Sembawang GRC), who asked about the new scheme. The MDES places the SAF among the few military forces in the world with a corps of specialists who are experts in their fields. Those who switch to any of the 12 MDES vocations will don one of eight new ranks on their uniforms: ME1 to ME8.
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