In 2011, Brigadier-General Benjamin Seet embarked on a new mission in which he was parachuted from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), where he had spent 22 years, to the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star).

Such moves were not unusual for the former chief of the SAF Medical Corps. He had served on three United Nations tours, including being chief medical officer of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York.