Enlistment day for many is a mix of apprehension, and the surreal feeling of being around that many bald people at once.

For this particular batch, their enlistment comes at a very challenging time. The Covid-19 outbreak has changed many aspects of our lives.

National Service is no different.

In fact, even the traditional journey to Pulau Tekong has changed.

Parents will not be allowed to send their sons and daughters off at Pulau Tekong due to safe distancing measures.

Instead, enlistees are to report directly to Selarang Camp on the day of their enlistment before they make their way to the SAF ferry terminal.

In case you're wondering what this new process looks like, here are a few Instagram stories detailing it, fronted by SV1 Kelly Latimer.

Here, parents dropped their son off at Selarang Camp.

With temperature checks of course.

Since their parents could not send them off to Tekong as per normal, the enlistees took a bus from Selarang Camp and made their way to the ferry terminal.

Which then led to the dreaded handing-off of the pink IC.

The effects of the new social distancing measures could be seen in several age-old enlistee traditions.

Here is how they took their oath — with lots of space:

Enlistees ate their first NS meal with fellow recruits instead of their parents.

And as Lieutenant-Colonel Dennis Oh told the media, training will have to change, but it still has to go on.

According to Oh, the SAF will leverage on technology to drive these changes:

"So a lot of our lessons, our CPR, AEDs, our weapon-handling for example, are all uploaded into this digital platform so that the recruits can actually learn without coming together, and we would be able to enforce this social distancing."

Oh also reassured parents that their sons are in good hands.

"To the public, as well as the parents - especially the parents: Just want to assure [them] that the welfare as well as the well-being of our soldiers are of our top priority. So these measures — enhanced measures — are important and necessary for us to ensure the operational readiness of the SAF. At the same time, also to safeguard the wellbeing of our soldiers."

Training will also be done in section level.

And soon the enlistees were wheeling their duffel bags to their new lives, for the next few months.

With a bit of space in between of course.

Image from Andrew Koay.