Why are all our top military commanders so young ah?
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I feel i gotta say this...that for the past few years our top military commanders are quite young. Certainly they are like "Xiao Di Di or Ah Di" compared to most "lao chiao" service chiefs around the world, let alone our neighbours
Needless to say, most of these young chaps are scholars. Surely we must have CDF material among 'farmer' officers right? i mean look at Tommy Franks the Centcom Commander who fought the Afghanistan and Iraq wars...he rose from the ranks from the Vietnam War, only to get degrees along the way. The former israeli CDF Shaul Mofaz joined the IDF zahal and fought as a paratrooper in the 6-Day war. We are talking about donkey years
Is the SAF culture churning out to-be perm secs or warriors studs?
Any views? -
SAF r like tt.. wat can we do? the higher educated u are, the higher u can climb although they r some ppl who rise from the bottom till the up... but they r very rare n these r the ppl who we shld respect more... -
SM LKY once said that without the experience of actually going through hell, the only way to figure out a ManÂ’s mettle is to give him hell.
If he can make it, then he would have proven himself to be able to handle the tasks expected of him.
LKY believed that if all astronauts are trained and tested on the ground, by putting them through all kinds of possible crisis scenarios that can happen in outer space, the same can be replicated to test the mettle of a SingaporeanÂ’s suitability for leadership. -
LKY believed that if all astronauts are trained and tested on the ground, by putting them through all kinds of possible crisis scenarios that can happen in outer space, the same can be replicated to test the mettle of a SingaporeanÂ’s suitability for leadership.
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Well, if they wanna replicate hell, perhaps being a teacher with MOE would be a better way to test one's character ya?
Jokes aside. To be fair, the only test of warfighting leadership is when crisis strike...and then we'll know the men from the boyz, scholars or not. But what i'm really concerned about is the dearth of officers in the mould of winston choos, patrick choys...i mean their stories of how they literally rose through the ranks inspite of their academic qualifications are quite inspiring.
Nothing against scholar officers who are capable..but i think that most of them are just 'perfumed princes' getting their tickets punched.
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haha, are u a teacher???
Well, if they wanna replicate hell, perhaps being a teacher with MOE would be a better way to test one's character ya? -
SAF r like tt.. wat can we do? the higher educated u are, the higher u can climb
Well, considering Singaporeans did not part take in any real frontline battles or war there's just no better way to find out who is more suitable to be an officer. If you can't have experience, you'd have to settle for academic results. At least with more education you can trust the person a little more to have a plan in an crisis.
Besides, no matter how much training you give a guy you can never prepare him for the event when their comrades are screaming bloody murder from a fatal wound or seeing friends scattered all over the landscape. -
Same theory in all management. At the highest level, you dun need someone who is damn expert at doing. You need someone who is good at planning, directing and commanding.
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so what happened to LKY's theory? not being put to use now... at all...Originally posted by Atobe:SM LKY once said that without the experience of actually going through hell, the only way to figure out a ManÂ’s mettle is to give him hell.
If he can make it, then he would have proven himself to be able to handle the tasks expected of him.
LKY believed that if all astronauts are trained and tested on the ground, by putting them through all kinds of possible crisis scenarios that can happen in outer space, the same can be replicated to test the mettle of a SingaporeanÂ’s suitability for leadership. -
Unfortunately, in judging the "Leadership" qualities of a person, you will need a person who has similar qualities.Originally posted by the Bear:so what happened to LKY's theory? not being put to use now... at all...
The problem become magnified, when the person "to be judge" has ties to the "Leadership" who believe in "Genetic Hereditary Theory".
Then who has a more superior quality to judge the Genetic Ability of one whose father has impecable genes ? -
hey! com'on lah! we all BTC (bo Tak Chek) ppl, of coz cannot win those bookworms lah! SAF bias lah! Look for cert. never giv us BTC ppl to b an officer... i last time, my PC is fcuking younger den me.. whorst still is by 3 years...
See! in this world, everything is full of boot licking and bias people.. just get use to it! If not happy, go take a 5.56 and shoot urself or the PCs! -
without real field experience, it is hard to judge the leadership capabilities of anyone, thus the only tangible means of judging 1's character is via the cert. they possess. sadly, a short sighted and incredibly flawed choice.
but then, it would also weed out those without true capabilites from attaining high positions. -
I'm not really a grade A student. In fact i often barely pass my subjects in polytechnic.
It's short sighted yes , but frankly there just isn't any other way to gauge it. You can't just pack a company of promising young men and send then into a warzone and promote whoever comes back alive or sane correct?
You can complain all you like about this system and frankly i hate it too, on an irrational level. But rationally speaking, even if i'm in command, unless i've seen for myself how good a particular low educated officer could perform in battle i would always promote the one that is better educated. It's just as bias to promote someone because he's lowly educated. -
Dun laugh leh.... i happen to agree with him.Originally posted by laser51088:haha, are u a teacher???
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No i'm not a teacher but have relief taught before. Come to think of it..the moment a trainee teacher graduates, he or she is thrust into the 'battlefield' they've been trained for.Originally posted by laser51088:haha, are u a teacher??? -
Come to think of it...is it also a reflection of the risk-adverse culture of SAF that so far no special forces officer has made it to the top echelon of the army?Originally posted by Stevenson101:I'm not really a grade A student. In fact i often barely pass my subjects in polytechnic.
It's short sighted yes , but frankly there just isn't any other way to gauge it. You can't just pack a company of promising young men and send then into a warzone and promote whoever comes back alive or sane correct?
You can complain all you like about this system and frankly i hate it too, on an irrational level. But rationally speaking, even if i'm in command, unless i've seen for myself how good a particular low educated officer could perform in battle i would always promote the one that is better educated. It's just as bias to promote someone because he's lowly educated.
So far...most of them are from the traditional bastion of armour or infantry
If you look at the top leadership of the SAF in recent years...virtually of of them in quick succession after LG Ng Jui Ping end up in GLCs or administrative service... paper pushers
Why is it that the commandos, with their apparently more gung-ho culture, are sidelined? i think its such a waste of military leadership talents ...shame on the Mindef!
Even the our northern neighbour army chief is a red beret. A few years ago, he virtually ended a islamic extremist revolt by personally wrestling the rebel leader to the ground. What a stud! -
Of course they rather promote those SAF overseas scholar what. And those scholars most likely won't sign on commando. Also, our special forces units (commando, frogmen) quite small. Statistically they lose out to armor and infantry.Originally posted by IAF:Come to think of it...is it also a reflection of the risk-adverse culture of SAF that so far no special forces officer has made it to the top echelon of the army?
Why is it that the commandos, with their apparently more gung-ho culture, are sidelined? i think its such a waste of military leadership talents ...shame on the Mindef!
Leadership at general-level not the same as that at field level. Personally, I think the top echelon not very shiok, 'cos you don't actually command troops. -
That tells alot about the MAF, just a bunch of "gung-ho studs" that are prepared to poison our water supply first before taking us on.Originally posted by IAF:Come to think of it...is it also a reflection of the risk-adverse culture of SAF that so far no special forces officer has made it to the top echelon of the army?
So far...most of them are from the traditional bastion of armour or infantry
If you look at the top leadership of the SAF in recent years...virtually of of them in quick succession after LG Ng Jui Ping end up in GLCs or administrative service... paper pushers
Why is it that the commandos, with their apparently more gung-ho culture, are sidelined? i think its such a waste of military leadership talents ...shame on the Mindef!
Even the our northern neighbour army chief is a red beret. A few years ago, he virtually ended a islamic extremist revolt by personally wrestling the rebel leader to the ground. What a stud!
It will be good if our scholars are sportsmen as well, instead of simply being bookworms.
Quite telling, when the previous CDF had a few paratrooper's wings on his chest, while the present CDF - with the "school boy" look - has not a single piece to show. -
Bo bian, you can only promote 1 from the 3 service chiefs. And since chief of navy is passed over for promotion, you promote 1 from the 2. And I doubt chief of air force has that many medals to show. Maybe we should give credit to Gen Ng la, who knows, he might be a good leader?