SINGAPORE: A man, nearly 40 and in his final few army reservist cycles, was caught off guard when he was lectured in public for grabbing a quick meal in his Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Long 4 pants.
Sharing his experience on r/askSingapore, he explained that his wife couldn’t cook that night, so he chose to get a quick dinner at the food court downstairs before returning home to help with parenting duties.
However, things took a turn when he ran into an ‘irate uncle’ who happened to be in the regular army.
“He marched up to me, demanded my name and rank, and when I politely reminded him that I wasn’t comfortable sharing and wasn’t obliged to do so, he pressed me about whether I was NSF or a reservist,” he recounted.
“He then lectured me about not having pride and eating dinner in my long 4. Trying to avoid trouble, I kept apologizing, but that seemed to embolden him.
He eventually threatened to charge me and said he’d make me ‘famous’ by posting a picture of me in my long 4 on social media.”
Perplexed by the regular’s strong reaction, he then asked other Singaporeans in the online community whether wearing Long 4 in public is truly a big deal, given that soldiers are often seen in it during overseas missions and relief efforts.
“Is it really that bad an offence to be in long 4?” he asked.
Feeling stretched thin as a parent of three, he added:
“I’m already running on empty and worried about my wife handling all three kids alone. What’s so wrong with grabbing a quick dinner in my Long 4 at the coffee shop under my block?
Could I actually get fined for this?”
“This uncalled-for encounter really ruined my day… If I get fined, that’s a few tins of milk gone. Really unlucky. What would you all do in this situation?”
“He will get in more trouble than you for posting uniformed personnel on social media to find trouble.”
In the comments section, one regular army personnel clarified that wearing Long 4 in public isn’t illegal. He explained that this situation changed when dengue became a major concern in Singapore.
During that period, as part of the measures to combat dengue clusters, it became common for servicemen to wear Long 4 even when they were out of camp.
This practice became familiar to the public, and over time, most military camps ceased to enforce the rule requiring Smart 4 to be worn in public.
Consequently, wearing Long 4 outside of camp has become more normalized and accepted.
He added, “That regular already seems suspicious as the last thing another serviceman would want to do is to post pics of other servicemen, be it NSF/NSMen or regular to social media, SAF likes to keep this kind of things internal, and threatening another serviceman is a big no nowadays, so good job on standing your ground against him.”
“If this type of thing happens again, where possible get their name and unit, then report to SAF hotline, they will take action against the unit.
Also if booking out in long 4, just make sure it looks nice ah, but best is to always keep a set of civis on you so u can change, makes things easier.”
Other users also jumped into the discussion to ease the man’s worries, urging him to ignore the empty threats of the irate regular.
One user said, “Just ignore the regular. If really is regular, he will get in more trouble than you for posting uniformed personnel on social media to find trouble.”
Another commented, “Not an issue. I see regulars having lunch in long 4 at kopitiams. Dengue has became a thing and long 4 is permitted. You should charge him instead.”
A third user shared, “Nothing wrong bro, u wont get charged dont worry. I just completed my reservist, i booked in/out everyday with long 4.
There was even a period, few years back, where our reservist trainer enforced us to wear long 4 to booked in/out due to the camp being in dengue red zone.”
Featured image by Depositphotos