COOL NEW LOOK FOR NCC LAND CADETS

Jasper Ng and Aditya Anand "feel great" about wearing their new pixelised uniform. "It really feels like we are in the Army!" said Jasper.

The two Secondary One students from Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) were among 3300 junior cadets in the Land division of the National Cadet Corps (NCC), who wore the new uniform for the first time at the 12th NCC Affirmation Ceremony, held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 14 Apr.

Minister of State for Defence and Education Lawrence Wong, who officiated at the ceremony, launched the new pixelised uniform at the biennial event, which officially welcomes Secondary One students as Junior Cadets to NCC.

Said 13-year-old Aditya: "The old uniform is like a mirror to the past that shows the history of NCC, but the new uniform shows the modern NCC. I like it (the new uniform) for that."

The pixelised uniform is one of several initiatives laid out in the NCC's five-year Transformation Master Plan. Rolled out in 2010, it provides a blueprint through which NCC programme can better cater to cadets aspirations.

Mr Wong said: "The NCC provides a wide range of opportunities and unique experiences for our students to build character, develop leadership and life skills, and most importantly, build and deepen their commitment towards our nation."

"Going forward, NCC will be working closely with the SAFTI Military Institute as well as with different SAF (Singapore Armed Forces) formations and units to develop and conduct leadership development programmes and workshops," he added.

Apart from the new uniform, cadets, like soldiers in the SAF, will also don formation badges for the first time to differentiate among those in the Land, Air and Sea divisions. Previously, cadets wore only their school tabs.

Other initiatives in the plan include the setting up of a Sense-Making, Analysis and Research Tool (SMART) Lab in Amoy Quee camp.

Equipped with simulation war games that the SAF uses, like Virtual Battlespace 2, the Lab is slated for completion in 2013.

The SAF collaborates with NCC on several fronts. Selected senior cadets visit some of the SAF's overseas exercises, like Exercise Thunder Warrior in New Zealand and Exercise Panzer Strike in Germany.

Locally, cadets learn more about soldiering life through the NCC-Singapore Combat Engineers camp, Officer Cadet School Experiential Camps as well as visits to the SAF's Murai Urban Training Facility. They also acquire military skills like Individual Field Craft and marksmanship training with the SAR-21 rifle.

These initiatives, and rebranding the corporate image of NCC with the tagline, Nurturing, Committed and Cool, is resonating with parents.

When asked why she encouraged her son, 13-year-old Almatin Shah Bin Adenan from St Gabriel's Secondary School to sign up for NCC, Mdm Lizah Bakar, who attended the ceremony with her husband, said: "Why not? It emphasises discipline, and prepares him for National Service!"