The picture in question: A young man dressed in army fatigues messaging on his mobile phone, while his maid walked behind him carrying his field pack(Facebook)
Facebook
A set of photos, which have been spreading across the Internet, have sparked a fair amount of debate on whether the latest generation of soldiers in Singapore have become too "soft" and "spoilt".
The photos, which were taken off Facebook, show a young man dressed in army fatigues messaging on his mobile phone, while his maid walked behind him carrying his field pack.
The maid appeared to be carrying the newer version of the field pack, which is larger and has more compartments compared to previous versions.
The poster also said that the photo was taken near Tanah Merah MRT.
The photos were also shared on online forums such as hardwarezone.com.sg, sparking debate on whether today's youth are too pampered.
Most were critical of the soldier, calling him 'spoilt' and 'overly pampered'. Some even felt that he was tarnishing the image of Singapore and its Armed Forces.'
A netizen said that it was important for the soldier to carry his own backpack, as the aim of an army stint is toughen up an individual by turning him from a boy to a man.
However there were also some who felt that the soldier should have been given the benefit of the doubt, saying that he might have had an injury and needed help with the backpack.
Another commenter also said that as the photographer had posted the photo without context publicly, he had caused an overly strong and undue public backlash.
An SAF spokesperson said that the SAF "takes a serious view of the conduct of its servicemen in public" and will investigate this matter, taking appropriate action if needed.