Originally posted by vito_corleone:
there's no such thing as a thinking solider. soldier= no need for
brains, only listen to orders 
"there's no such thing as a
thinking solider. soldier= no need for brains, only listen to
orders" - I hope you are just simply "clowning around" and not
being serious.
What good is a soldier who simply listen to orders, and do not use
his brains to think the best possible way to execute the order,
without himself being executed by the order being carried out in
the most risky and foolish manner ?
Can Singapore - with a limited resource pool of manpower - afford
to have soldiers who do not think ?
Under the present circumstances, there seems to be three weaknesses
in the existing SAF :
Weakness #1
over reliance on fresh medical graduate - without any experience -
wearing the rank of Captain.
There have been instances when a soldier complaining of pain in his
legs were given simple X-Rays that do not pick-up hairline
fractures; and sent back for normal training, only to bear the
brunt of abuse from commanders who view the soldier as attempting
to maligner.
After a long torturous period, the soldier was reviewed by a
Private General Practitioner - who is a Reservist Doctor - and was
sent to a Government runned Hospital for a CT Scan that picked up
multiple hairline fractures on the bones of both legs.
The SAF Doctors were not taken to task, nor their inexperience
being exposed.
The unnecessary and prolonged torturous training of the soldier
would have crippled him for LIFE.
Weakness #2
Over enthusiastic SAF Instructors, who take themselves too
seriously to be RAMBO Veterans, and ignore the advise of Private
Doctors, and test results from Government Hospitals, and insist
that their personal views of the soldier malingering is correct;
and subject the soldier to continuous administrative abuses.
Weakness #3
SAF Counsellors believe in "looking after the SAF" and view the
soldier's complains with skepticism.
Unfortnately, in the current incident, the trainee was no ordinary
simple soldier, but a Full Lieutenant - with experience enough to
know the dangers he is exposing himself to.
Could the SAF Commando training be benchmarked too closely to the
US Army Special Forces training ?
A typical US Special Forces soldier will easily weigh at least
90kg, compared to the average Singaporean Asian weight of 55kg to
65kg.
Are the packs and cargo to be carried by our 65kg SAF Commando too
ambitious - so as to make our SAF Commando performance equal to
that of a 90kg US Special Force soldier ?
Benchmarking ourselves with the best, should be taken with some
degree of realistic pragmatism.
The SAF Command should seriously review the entire design plan in
the way that they expect our SAF Commandos to perform during war,
and if our Commandoes should be expected to physically perform in
the same manner as the US or other Caucasian soldiers.
If one 65kg SAF Commando alone cannot match a US 90kg, perhaps two
SAF Commandoes should be tasked to do the job, or else redesign the
approach that will allow the same task to be accomplished by one
SAF Commando.
