By now, many Singaporeans would have heard of the unfortunate death of Aloysius Pang, a young local actor.

In a flash

It all happened within a span of 4 days, from the initial report of the training injury to his passing. It was so unreal to learn of this, especially that I used to watch the shows he acted in when I was a kid.

The timeless military safety debate

Furious discussions have been started in r/Singapore regarding the different permutations of scenarios that could caused this tragedy:

• Fellow soldier's and commander's fault for not ensuring proper safety before operating equipment
• Fellow soldier's and commander's fault for not getting the victim out of danger in due time
• Victim's negligence for failing to follow safety procedure

Of course, none of us know the actual situation on ground, but we all know that it just takes one person to be "out of sync" for accidents to occur.

Moving on

With this high profile fatality, I hope that a complete investigation will be done, in which systemic processes are thoroughly reviewed to uncover possible lapses that could have led to serious incidents, instead of re-emphasizing on the importance individual safety. Every military training related death is unacceptable and let's hope that this shall be the last.

YOLO

In light of recent training-related incidents, it just struck me how fragile and unpredictable our lives actually are.

Some people reflected on their lives and believed that they should put all fear and inhibition behind and do whatever they please before they leave this place.

While that attitude is reasonable or even encouraged, I don't think we should just go all YOLO it out in reaction to intense emotional happenings, but rather to live every day of our lives purposefully. Rest in peace, Aloysius Pang.