Question about becoming an armour officer...
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Hi to those who can answer my qns..
I have just finished my degree course and I am 25. Served as an infantry officer during NS. I am acually considering the decision to sign on as an armour officer. The sore part about it is actually I would have gotten the LSA contract if I had signed on earlier and thus lost a considerable amount of benefits in terms of monetary wise. Nevertheless, as compared to a job in the private sector, I rather enter the military cos i realise tat is where i m cut out for. Qns are..
1. Any comments by people who have been in my shoes and have taken the decision ??
2. The retirement age for officers is 45 now. How much of gratuity would we get and how realistic is a second career at tat age?
3. How is the training for the armour officer conversion course for me, a commissioned officer?
4. Would I be at Sungei Gedong all my life then?? ( I stay in the East!)
thanks a million!! -
1) chances is that your going to be sent back as an Infantry officer as a regular'.Don't think ARC will revoc you and its rather unlikely to get to Armour if your been assigned to infantry.I haven't heard of infantry ppl crossing over and vice versa.Originally posted by Aron1979:Hi to those who can answer my qns..
I have just finished my degree course and I am 25. Served as an infantry officer during NS. I am acually considering the decision to sign on as an armour officer. The sore part about it is actually I would have gotten the LSA contract if I had signed on earlier and thus lost a considerable amount of benefits in terms of monetary wise. Nevertheless, as compared to a job in the private sector, I rather enter the military cos i realise tat is where i m cut out for. Qns are..
1. Any comments by people who have been in my shoes and have taken the decision ??
2. The retirement age for officers is 45 now. How much of gratuity would we get and how realistic is a second career at tat age?
3. How is the training for the armour officer conversion course for me, a commissioned officer?
4. Would I be at Sungei Gedong all my life then?? ( I stay in the East!)
thanks a million!!
2)Not a regular, but got plenty of regular frens, so i hope i am right.Depends on your SAVERS policy right ? with the yearly increments and CPF and the contribution made by SAF, should be quite a large sum. The retirement age really depends if your worth more than the 45 yrs old limit. My Wind Comd retired at 50 yrs old as he was aked to stay on which he did. I am not too sure whats is he doing now as i'm in australia studing and i missed his retirement gathering last yr.Think u better ask wuming78, his a regular,so he knows the fianacial part of SAVERS better than i do. i may be wrong here.
3)Even if u are revoc, chances your going to be with the cadets, hows that for a start, and a officier trainee, i think your arrows , more likely spears will come hard and fast.Then your instructors are mostly warrent officers and LTAs. If your a Honours Grad, lagi more interesting, your going to get your CPT and be a trainee.
4)If u do make it, ur PC tour,OC TOur, and Staff Tour will definintely be in an Armour Unit, so at least 1+1+2= 4 yrs in LCK .i'm pretty sure u don't want to be posted to an infantry unit for your OC or staff tours, just like why some Guards or Commando Officers are posted out of their formation.
hope that helps !! -
From my last ICT, the trainer told that the retirement age is 42 for officers. If you are able to promote to at least a LTC, the govt will most likely arrange you to work in some govt related sector after retirement.Originally posted by Aron1979:Hi to those who can answer my qns..
I have just finished my degree course and I am 25. Served as an infantry officer during NS. I am acually considering the decision to sign on as an armour officer. The sore part about it is actually I would have gotten the LSA contract if I had signed on earlier and thus lost a considerable amount of benefits in terms of monetary wise. Nevertheless, as compared to a job in the private sector, I rather enter the military cos i realise tat is where i m cut out for. Qns are..
1. Any comments by people who have been in my shoes and have taken the decision ??
2. The retirement age for officers is 45 now. How much of gratuity would we get and how realistic is a second career at tat age?
3. How is the training for the armour officer conversion course for me, a commissioned officer?
4. Would I be at Sungei Gedong all my life then?? ( I stay in the East!)
thanks a million!!
When I was on course 11 years back, there are 2 infantry officers coverting to become Armour officers, one as AI, the other is a tankee. They are holding the rank of LTA while the rest is OCTs. -
My brother signed with the RSAF after getting his NTU Honours degree, after serving as a QM when active. He's now a LTC. I believe he had to go through the equivalent of the Service-Wing & Professional Terms again (despite being comissioned), though in your case it should be only the lesser latter training, or some 23 weeks, with the School of Armour.
As for gratuity, I think the Personnel Service Centre is a better source to brief you on with. But I'll say the SAF pay itself will be much better compared to the civil-service equivalent, with your headstart (as a commissioned officer) & a more rigid military hierarchy. The negative side for regulars is that you must perform enough to progressively climb in rank, or be labeled as "condemned" if you cannot get promoted so-&-so by a certain age.
You'll probably make at least COL if you last that long into service-retireable age. Yes, there's some GIC-linked appointments that should be available but any viable job switch isn't 100% guaranteed (depending on circumstances & resume). You can always to choose strike out on your own, eg. heading NGOs rather than private sector.
Once you attain MAJ, you'll probably be eligible to attend SCSC courses (& also do a Masters degree on your own) to prepare you for staff-level appointments at the BGE or DIV level. LHL wasn't always stuck in Artillery, neither was George Yeo in Signals - though albeit they're SAF scholars. Even if you're posted to Sungei Gedong, you'll probably be rich enough to afford a car as a signed-on CPT, lah. -
aim for BG and go into politics!
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interesting. i was an infantry officer during ns too. the only difference is, i ord-ed, went to work for a year, and now, im back as an intelligence officer - at the age of 26. so u r not alone.Originally posted by Aron1979:Hi to those who can answer my qns..
I have just finished my degree course and I am 25. Served as an infantry officer during NS. I am acually considering the decision to sign on as an armour officer. The sore part about it is actually I would have gotten the LSA contract if I had signed on earlier and thus lost a considerable amount of benefits in terms of monetary wise. Nevertheless, as compared to a job in the private sector, I rather enter the military cos i realise tat is where i m cut out for. Qns are..
1. Any comments by people who have been in my shoes and have taken the decision ??
2. The retirement age for officers is 45 now. How much of gratuity would we get and how realistic is a second career at tat age?
3. How is the training for the armour officer conversion course for me, a commissioned officer?
4. Would I be at Sungei Gedong all my life then?? ( I stay in the East!)
thanks a million!!
the opportunity lost (and the one year of working experience which now count for nothing except for personal experiences) is something i learnt not to place too much emphasis on cos i re-enlisted because i believe that is what i am passionate in and will be happy to do. of course, its impractical to say that one can live on passion and happiness. but i thought i didnt lose much.
so bottomline is, if you are sure the military is your cup of tea (and specifically armour) then age shouldnt be too much of a concern, even though it may mean you will have to ago through armour pro term as an officer. remember that doctors complete the rest of their NS liability (including MOCC and part os OCS) at this age too. of course it will be good if you can prepare yourself physically and mentally before going back.
you will probably be rotated between armour units for your different tours, even going to OCS as instructor, or MINDEF for your staff tour.
as for the SAVER scheme, i have yet to learn about the A to Z of it. it really isnt that high in my priority. but i can find out for you if you need the information. as for second careers, i believe no one owes us a living. so even now, i continue to learn and upgrade myself whenever i can. i believe in the end, our second careers will be very much up to us. taking into consideration our demographic trends and the inclination of our government to encourage the elderly to continue working, i dont see a major problem in this aspect.
hope this helps. -
heh. i din noe that u were an intel officer. ...Originally posted by wuming78:interesting. i was an infantry officer during ns too. the only difference is, i ord-ed, went to work for a year, and now, im back as an intelligence officer - at the age of 26. so u r not alone.
the opportunity lost (and the one year of working experience which now count for nothing except for personal experiences) is something i learnt not to place too much emphasis on cos i re-enlisted because i believe that is what i am passionate in and will be happy to do. of course, its impractical to say that one can live on passion and happiness. but i thought i didnt lose much.
so bottomline is, if you are sure the military is your cup of tea (and specifically armour) then age shouldnt be too much of a concern, even though it may mean you will have to ago through armour pro term as an officer. remember that doctors complete the rest of their NS liability (including MOCC and part os OCS) at this age too. of course it will be good if you can prepare yourself physically and mentally before going back.
you will probably be rotated between armour units for your different tours, even going to OCS as instructor, or MINDEF for your staff tour.
as for the SAVER scheme, i have yet to learn about the A to Z of it. it really isnt that high in my priority. but i can find out for you if you need the information. as for second careers, i believe no one owes us a living. so even now, i continue to learn and upgrade myself whenever i can. i believe in the end, our second careers will be very much up to us. taking into consideration our demographic trends and the inclination of our government to encourage the elderly to continue working, i dont see a major problem in this aspect.
hope this helps.
lolx now i NOE 
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A word on future employment prospects for ex-regulars:
The thing is once you survive into staff-officer training/appointment stage, your professional strength will be centered around planning & organization. Thus, any planned postgrad academic courses should bolster that, i.e. do Masters in Public Policy/Management/Admin (instead of in Marketing or Finance).
That way when you leave the service, the NGOs & such headhunters will be receptive to your acquired skills. But you gotta decide early if this is your desired career orientation in the 1st place, cuz it'll be fooling yourself if you come out & plan to go into business or insurance or the ilk. The latter route would render you a complete novice to begin with, whatever your age. -
The biggest challenge to all regulars is the route they will take after they have ended their service with the SAF.Scholars have a much easier time as their ROA is usually catered for them to be fast-tracked into the upper echelons of GLCs or MINDEFs' Defence Groups.For the rest, it's worth noting that whatever military experience you possessed in the force, might not count for much when you seek employment in the private sector later in your eyes...So plan wisely, take up professional courses and be very sure of what you plan to do post-SAF when you are already a MAJ.Chances are, the COL ranks are the highest you might get and the timeframe would be at most 7 years therabouts.Look ahead, the iron bowl is not as huge as before.
On the plus side, MEOs have it easier, since their work takes them to the fringes of the SAF and within the sphere of ST and DSTA, so the networking is much better there. -
thanks guys.. I actually applied for Intelligence at first but was unsuccessful. I found the job of an IO pretty interesting although I hardly know much about it. The next best thing I wanted was to be an Armour Officer. I am a degree holder but not an honours holder. I have served 2 years and 4 months. To my understanding I will get my captain rank in 2 months rite?
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the best part is that he didnt even tell me he signed on... sms-ed him but kana ignoredOriginally posted by kwlee:heh. i din noe that u were an intel officer. ... lolx now i NOE -
Well... there ARE too many MEOs around nowadaysOriginally posted by LazerLordz:The biggest challenge to all regulars is the route they will take after they have ended their service with the SAF.Scholars have a much easier time as their ROA is usually catered for them to be fast-tracked into the upper echelons of GLCs or MINDEFs' Defence Groups.For the rest, it's worth noting that whatever military experience you possessed in the force, might not count for much when you seek employment in the private sector later in your eyes...So plan wisely, take up professional courses and be very sure of what you plan to do post-SAF when you are already a MAJ.Chances are, the COL ranks are the highest you might get and the timeframe would be at most 7 years therabouts.Look ahead, the iron bowl is not as huge as before.
On the plus side, MEOs have it easier, since their work takes them to the fringes of the SAF and within the sphere of ST and DSTA, so the networking is much better there. -
my advice is very short: once armour....always armour.....
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har? i never received your sms leh.Originally posted by Master -_-:the best part is that he didnt even tell me he signed on... sms-ed him but kana ignored