SAF and The Allied Forces Troop Presence In Afghanistan
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I fully support our SAF and our allied forces troop presence in Afghanistan. How about you guys who are active or reservist personnel with the SAF, RSAF & RSN. What are your views and opinions about our SAF troop presence in Afghanistan?
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So what if we do or we don't? Is it up to us?
I support warm weather.
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We are at war with Terrorists remember and Singapore is one of the top list target for Al Qaeda and JI. At the sametime our SAF troops in Afghanistan are helping to develop Afghanistan and Afghans themselves. The SAF is training the Afghan National Army besides supporting our allied forces in Afgn.
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I support fighting terrorism and AQ in Afghanistan because AQ inspired JI and because I support the US.
TS, I am not trying to target you. But since you addressed active personnel, I caution them in expressing even supportive opinions, because if their support or opposition is too strident, and the relevant power blunt or ill-informed, they may find themselves or their career trajectories docked.
Even US troops are not free to say everything about the operations they want.
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In a way I agree with you but we aren't talking about secret military operations against the Insurgents in Afghn but generally we are talking about the patriotism of SAF personnel to serve and safeguard Singapore from terrorists attack and our war against Al Qaeda, JI or any terrorist organisation. About SAF personnel TOD in Afghn is not a secret. Singaporean and the world know about them being there for Afghn redevelopment, supporting our allied forces troop there, training ANA and afghan civilians.
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I said strident opinions, not secret ops. Even though the mission benefits other countries, it s unpopular with them just because it is US led.
I'll tell you a real story. Imagine if you express your support saying "I am a regular...". Unluckily it starts a hot topic in a foreign forum you've never heard about.
Fully reasonable of you so far. But how does it look to a superior who errs on the side of caution- those scholar kind? He will ask you to comply with SAF social media policy even if you did not breach it. Worth anot? Do you think your free opinion is highly valued in Singapore?
As a SAF soldier, learn to keep your head down and everything will be OK.
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MINDEF would be very pleased to know your opinion. And secondly, they need to know if their SAF men are really ready for such events should our SAF men need to be deployed for oversea missions in greater number in the near future. US is our strong and close Ally in this region.
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Originally posted by zulkifli mahmood:
MINDEF would be very pleased to know your opinion. And secondly, they need to know if their SAF men are really ready for such events should our SAF men need to be deployed for oversea missions in greater number in the near future. US is our strong and close Ally in this region.
will you volunteer yourself to go Agfan? or would you encourage your son to volunteer?
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Originally posted by zulkifli mahmood:
MINDEF would be very pleased to know your opinion. And secondly, they need to know if their SAF men are really ready for such events should our SAF men need to be deployed for oversea missions in greater number in the near future. US is our strong and close Ally in this region.
Yup, just shut up and do. USA is our ally but our top leaders often criticize it to avoid this appearance. It is a mature power that understands our need to do so. We made headlines in the US when we lectured them on China, right? Not a very complicated topic but as a regular, it is good to avoid being heard mentioning it until the distant day comes that you are not penalized for it.
I'm not sure why you need to hear it here in order to know "how ready SAF men are". Does saying it make them more ready?
As a regular, I would go to Afghan. Boosts my career and SAF mission is 99.9% safe. Big MRAP vehicle but you never ever leave the base. RSAF flies UAV, artillery mans the ARTHUR radar. I suppose among regulars, competition to go is stiff.
For me personally, I would go for the experience, touch an AK, interact with ISAF troops. Get some nice beige boots too.
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Originally posted by zulkifli mahmood:
MINDEF would be very pleased to know your opinion. And secondly, they need to know if their SAF men are really ready for such events should our SAF men need to be deployed for oversea missions in greater number in the near future. US is our strong and close Ally in this region.
put it simply, let the MINDEF mouth piece do their job, if you want to speak on behalf of the SAF, be sure you are sanctioned. Say the wrong thing and you get your balls hanged upside down. It is the same in any organization.
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Originally posted by alize:
I said strident opinions, not secret ops. Even though the mission benefits other countries, it s unpopular with them just because it is US led.
I'll tell you a real story. Imagine if you express your support saying "I am a regular...". Unluckily it starts a hot topic in a foreign forum you've never heard about.
Fully reasonable of you so far. But how does it look to a superior who errs on the side of caution- those scholar kind? He will ask you to comply with SAF social media policy even if you did not breach it. Worth anot? Do you think your free opinion is highly valued in Singapore?
As a SAF soldier, learn to keep your head down and everything will be OK.
If you say something different from the official version, not sure if anybody would be interested, but surely your boss and his bosses and all the way up to the top of the organization know you don't agree with them, what do you think they should do? Don't have to keep head down.
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Originally posted by sgdiehard:
will you volunteer yourself to go Agfan? or would you encourage your son to volunteer?
As a veteran of SAF and knowing the importance of our country defense and security against Terrorism, the answer is ,"Yes! I would and I would allow my son to go to Afghanistan with pride."
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sgdiehard, are you a Singaporean and have served your NS in the SAF?
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Originally posted by zulkifli mahmood:
sgdiehard, are you a Singaporean and have served your NS in the SAF?
I am a reservist officer with the Singapore Combat Engineer, have a few more ICT to go.
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Originally posted by zulkifli mahmood:
As a veterant of SAF and knowing the importance of our country defense and security against Terrorism, the answer is ,"Yes! I would and I would allow my son to go to Afghanistan with pride."
to help your american brother, to gain overseas experience, to boost your career, or to show Mindef how ready you are to defend Singapore?
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I was with the Singapore Artillery. Its not about career. Its about being Singaporean and the importance of defense and security for Singapore. Yes, once you have combat experience in Afghanistan, it would really help to pass that first hand knowledge and experience to our SAF brothers. When you take that oath at CMPB when you entered the SAF, you must be prepared to protect and safeguard our country from any outside threats with our lives. period.
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Originally posted by zulkifli mahmood:
I was with the Singapore Artillery. Its not about career. Its about being Singaporean and the importance of defense and security for Singapore. Yes, once you have combat experience in Afghanistan, it would really help to pass that first hand knowledge and experience to our SAF brothers. When you take that oath at CMPB when you entered the SAF, you must be prepared to protect and safeguard our country from any outside threats with our lives. period.
Singaporean don't go around telling people who are our enemy and who are threats to our country, especially when Mindef is not sure, according to you, if their men are ready. SAF will continue to train and equip to stand ready as a useful contribution to the total defence of our nation. Unless we are aware of how MFA and Home Affairs are working to maintain our sovereignty, all talks with boiling blood about defending the country is but hot air. period
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zul, as I have said, there is no "combat experience" in an SAF mission to Afghanistan. The bases are surrounded by HESCO barriers stacked 5 high and you never leave. The only combat thing you learn is to run for cover when the Rocket-Artillery-Mortar alarm is sounded.
sgdiehard, I thought you were malaysian? Correct me if wrong.
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probably preparation for 2015 to come, a good displaying singa flag as an everlasting friendship...
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_820039.html
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Originally posted by alize:
zul, as I have said, there is no "combat experience" in an SAF mission to Afghanistan. The bases are surrounded by HESCO barriers stacked 5 high and you never leave. The only combat thing you learn is to run for cover when the Rocket-Artillery-Mortar alarm is sounded.
sgdiehard, I thought you were malaysian? Correct me if wrong.
I was born in Malaysia, came here with my parents and started primary school, completed full time NS. Haha...when I talked to the "true blue" born in Singapore Singaporean, I was labelled Malaysian, may be that's why some of you think I am Malaysian.
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Of course your commitment to Singapore is unquestioned. Too China also
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Originally posted by alize:
Of course your commitment to Singapore is unquestioned. Too China also
haha...I have no commitment to China at all, but very very cautious. They are big, they are also unknown, not communist, not capitalist, big difference between the government and the people, and the netizen, big difference between the coastal cities and those in the west, this is despite the difference between the shanghaiese and those in Beijing, and the Hong Kong Chinese, the Taiwanese and the those who returned from overseas 海归人士. They can have lots of difference among themselves, but can suddenly become very nationalistic. They are just too big and complicated。 I read their newspapers, I watch their news and TV, I visit China like 5 times every year. Very hard to do business, very hard to understand, definitely cannot trust, not before 5 meetings..
We are too small to handle China alone on regional issues, I don't think bringing in the yangkee as big brother will help, because I don't trust the yangkee, I wish the countries in the region could be more cooperative, I hope Asean can work better as a regional power, I believe that the balance of power to China comes from Asean, Japan and Korea, India and Pakistan, and of course the Russian in the north...the US can contribute of course, but they won't be the big brother....
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Malaysian Chinese can be very pro-China.
Disillusioned with own country + traditional Chinese mindset + access to Chinese international media.
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Originally posted by alize:
Malaysian Chinese can be very pro-China.
Disillusioned with own country + traditional Chinese mindset + access to Chinese international media.
Actually they are pro ROC, not PRC, that is the traditional mindset. They have access to Chinese interenational media, but we do too, but they are less influenced by the western media. Their disillusion with own country was less compared with their disillusioned with the communist China.