SINGAPORE — From next year, full-time national servicemen (NSFs) in combat support and combat service support units will be able to stay cool in the field as they don new load-bearing vests that also come with a better fit. 

The vest, which can dispel more heat and has two variants, caps a slew of improvements that the Army has made to soldiers’ equipment since last year.

Combat support units include Artillery and Signals, while combat service support units house vocations such as logisticians and transport operators.

The media received a preview of the improved equipment on Nov 20 at Selarang Camp in Changi. 

The “standard” variant of the vest, which will be issued next year, features a Velcro belly-band with multiple adjustable points to evenly distribute the load across a soldier’s body. 

This is an improvement from its forerunner, the integrated load-bearing vest issued to all units starting in 2009, which concentrated the load on a soldier’s shoulders.

The second “enhanced” variant was rolled out to NSFs in combat units, such as Guards and Commandos, early this year. Meant for more physically demanding missions, this variant uses a belly-band to transfer the load to the core of a soldier’s body and a yoke system to spread the weight across the soldier’s shoulders.

The standard variant has a body-armour carrier integrated with the vest, while the enhanced version comes with a detachable carrier that can be placed underneath the vest if soldiers face a ballistic threat.

Soldiers show the media how to use the Army's enhanced personal equipment at Selarang Camp on Nov 20, 2020. Photo: Ili Nadhirah Mansor/TODAY 

Lieutenant-Colonel (Lt-Col) Ho Chee Leong, head of the Centre of Excellence for Soldier Performance at the Singapore Armed Forces, said: “What this means is that the soldier does not need to be in the full configuration of the load-bearing system throughout the mission, and that leads to less heat strain.” 

Both vests, developed in 2016 and refined after feedback from soldiers, improve heat dissipation by 30 per cent, compared with the integrated load-bearing vest.

Aside from the vests, the improved load-bearing system includes a belt with pouches for grenades, rifle magazines (detachable receptacles holding gun cartridges) and canteens that store water. Recruits received this belt from July last year.

These pouches were previously built into the integrated load-bearing vest, adding weight to a soldier’s shoulders. As a belt, the load is transferred to the hips.

After Basic Military Training, recruits will receive either the standard or enhanced variant of the vest, depending on the unit they are assigned.  

Rounding off the various equipment improvements is a high-cut Army helmet issued to NSFs from October last year. It is 10 per cent lighter than its predecessor, and features padding — instead of netting — on the underside, so that it sits more comfortably on a soldier’s head.

Lt-Col Ho said the changes were part of a continuous review to ensure the equipment given to soldiers met the Army’s operational and training needs.  

“The suite of enhanced Army personal equipment provides our soldiers with better comfort, better fit and, more importantly, increased combat effectiveness.”