Have you ever wondered how old is the average BMT recruit? How many are new citizens? The article will explore a dataset of 3287 recruits from the 01/17 batch and present both facts as well as conjectures which I made. In the dataset, there are a total of 4534 profile photos of these recruits of which 3287 were tagged with unique NRIC numbers. I will be using these 3287 photos and NRIC numbers in the analysis.
Disclaimer
This data was obtained from a public source. BMTC Media Team posted these photos on Google Drive and shared the link on the official BMTC public Facebook page. I downloaded the entire dataset as a ZIP file in one single request. I did not use a script or perform any action which is illegal or against the Terms of Service in any way. This analysis is entirely my own idea, neither my employer nor MINDEF/BMTC is involved in any way. I am not responsible for any inaccuracies in the data.
Analysis
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As expected, majority of the BMTC recruits (born in 1998) went through the JC route and hence enlisted at age 19. A smaller number (born in 1996/1997) went through the Polytechnic route. Those born between 1992 and 1995 probably went through Sec 5/ITE followed by Polytechnic and thus enlisted later. A significant number of the older recruits born before 1994 are females who have probably completed their degree program and are on the officer's scheme. The outliers will be covered in the next section BMTC: Our life stories
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Most of us would know that NRIC numbers are issued from 0 onwards. Since Singapore has had about 40,000+ births or so every year in the 1990s, it makes sense for the numbers for 0, 1, 2, 3 to be relatively similar and for 4 to be less. 7 is issued to new citizens. 9 is issued to Singaporeans/PRs born overseas but have rights to be Singaporean/PRs. As we can see, the overwhelming majority of those serving NS are Singaporeans/PRs born in Singapore, only 223 are new citizen/PR converts and 48 who were born overseas.
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The NRIC check digit is generated using a weighted modulo 11 algorithm. Thus, this exercise shows that the algorithm generates check digits with a relatively good spread, perhaps with slight biases for G and Z.
BMTC: Our life stories
Disclaimer
The stories below are purely conjectures. Photos and full NRIC numbers are not posted to preserve their privacy. This section aims to illustrate how just a few pieces of data can actually be used to draw a surprisingly large number of conclusions.
REC Faiz (S9990XXXJ) was born overseas to Singaporean parents. He scored poorly in his O level exams and decided to work instead of going for further studies. He received his enlistment notice at age 18. He is one of the youngest recruits not only at A Coy Platoon 2, but throughout the entire BMTC.
At 29, this female recruit (S8812XXXZ) is by far the oldest recruit. The next oldest recruit is 27 and also female. Due to the positioning of her name tag, I cannot discern her surname, but lets call her REC Ng. REC Ng is a university graduate. Unfortunately she was retrenched last year amidst the recession. Unable to find a job for nearly a year, she bit the bullet and joined the SAF. While it is quite demeaning for her to transit from junior management into a recruit, at least she draws a comfortable $3,000+ per month.