In secondary school, 15-year-old Yugaraj Karthik got an opportunity to fly in a Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) Fokker 50 fighter plane as part of his National Cadet Corps (NCC) duties.
Needless to say, he was thrilled to be in the air. Looking out of the window, he saw the vistas on the ground, and decided that his future lay in aviation.
Now aged 24, he is a lieutenant, and has achieved his dream of becoming a fighter pilot.
On Aug 14, LTA Yugaraj received the SAF Merit Scholarship at the Istana.
The award is one among seven categories of scholarships awarded by the Ministry of Defence. This time there were 97 recipients.
Introduced in 1983, the SAF Merit Scholarship is awarded to individuals who have excelled academically and who possess dynamic leadership qualities. To date, there have been 556 SAF Merit Scholarship recipients.
LTA Yugaraj told tabla! that he has always craved challenges despite coming from a conservative family.
His father is a storekeeper and his mother a housewife. LTA Yugaraj has an elder sister.
He initially wanted to take up commercial aviation but thought it lacked a deeper purpose.
“Joining NCC in secondary school exposed me to RSAF’s team excellence and professionalism, sparking my interest,” he said.
“I researched the RSAF’s mission and found that it resonated deeply with me,” added LTA Yugaraj, who “studied diligently and prepared well” to get through RSAF’s stringent hiring process.
He enlisted in April 2018 and from December 2018 to February 2019, he was at the officer cadet school’s (OCS) air wing. He then completed a year of basic training as a fighter pilot in Australia and a stint in Canada, where he qualified as a fighter pilot.
LTA Yugaraj described receiving his RSAF pilot wings as “something that will stay with me for a long time”.
The SAF Merit Scholarship gives LTA Yugaraj the opportunity to study mechanical engineering at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom from this month.
Similarly, Officer Cadet Rahul Kumar Singh will do a degree in economics and management at Oxford University from next month on an SAF scholarship – second only to the President’s scholarship.
The midshipman enlisted for Basic Military Training in January and the officer cadet course in March.
“As a student, I was focused on my studies and not physically fit,” said OCT Singh.
“But after enlisting, I set aside time to improve myself. Now I am enjoying the fruit of my labour and looking ahead to a long-term career in RSAF.”
With the support from his lawyer dad and housewife mum, teachers and mentors in the Navy, OCT Singh is assured that he has made the right choice in his field of study.
“Economics deals with how we try to maximise the use of resources to create the best outcome for an organisation,” he explained.
“I am interested in policy and diplomacy work. I hope to do something related to intelligence in the future.
“If we coordinate intelligence across the Singapore Navy, we can be even more effective and have better ties with other nations in both the naval sense and the broader military context.”
