Women in the armed forces have always captivated regular Singaporeans.

Adding to the mystifying or demystifying process, another woman personnel serving in the Republic of Singapore Air Force has been thrust into the spotlight.

The Singapore military's de facto publication, Pioneer, ran a brief piece on Air Force Engineer Military Expert (ME) 1 Tong Yi Ling.

The 23-year-old in a non-combat role was also featured in a short one-minute video, where she talked about her job:

"Hi, I am ME1 Tong Yi Ling, an air force engineer in 815 Squadron maintaining F-16C/DD Plus aircraft," said the woman responsible for keeping the wind flowing under the wings of air craft flown primarily by men.

Her job scope, she added, also includes assisting "my senior in rectification job", and to also "go inside the cockpit to do some operation check outs for component and do aircraft safety around the aircraft".

Focus on women in service

A recurring theme in the media has always been highlighting women serving in the military in various roles, combat or otherwise.

Why join a male-dominated industry?

Are there really no jobs left?

Can they be treated fairly in a working environment awash with testosterone?

The long answers to these and many other related questions have been answered here, here, here and here previously.

The short answer is that if a woman can even stomach the idea of being in the military under such conditions, she is cut out for it.

There is a high degree of self-selection bias.

The armed forces have been doing their fair share of training the spotlight on its soldiers and non-combat personnel, highlighting that there is no such thing as the fairer sex in the military.

In a March 2019 piece, six women from various vocations were featured, including Major Lou Yang, the only female Sikorsky S-70B Seahawk Naval Helicopter pilot.

Previously: