i see a lot of little kids who know very little and talk a lot
here.
Which SAF officer dares to tekan a minister or MP's son? I can tell
you that I dare. I have blasted an ex-service chief's son when his
father was still a service chief and if there is a need, i will
still do it. i'm not along i can tell u. how senior am i?
oh...quite junior, 2 bars only.
BG Lee. If u're talking abt the DPM, it may interest u to know that
he was a 1970 SAFOS (SAF Overseas Scholar). My uncle was his sec
sch classmate and i was told that BG Lee was indeed a brilliant
student. Why is he a BG? Do any of you know that during the cable
car incident in 82 (82 rite? i was very young then, can't
remember), BG Lee was still a full colonel and he got his star coz
he handled the situation very well?
BG Lee was a regular and he was an outstanding one who commanded a
lot of respect from others. This I hear from some senior
officers.
yes, scholars do fly in the SAF. If MG Lim Chuan Poh was not a
SAFOS, would he have become the CDF at 38? No. but he deserves it.
Our generals are not lousy people. can BG Lee shoot well? I dunno,
but i can tell u that he has a very good runner and MG Lim is a
even better one. So is LG Bey and even Educational Minister RADM
Teo. I've ran with some of them and my colleagues have ran with the
others. We are not slow runners mind u, we're all sub 9:30 2.4
runners. There are certain things abt the top brass which deserves
respect and our top brass are not soft pple who hide in Gombak's
bunkers.
Now to the topic. What is the criteria used in the selection of SAF
officers?
OCS (Officer Cadet School) takes in 4 intakes a year. April (Delta,
Foxtrot, Sierra and Tango), June (Bravo and Echo), Sept (Alpha,
Sierra, Tango) and Dec (Charlie)
Thus, roughly abt 1000 people make it to OCS a year. How are they
selected? BMT rankings. Top 10% of each cohort (no matter which
company or platoon, COHORT). The prerequisite is that you must be
either a 'A' Level student or a poly student.
The catch in this is that as the Jan BMT intake is the largest (and
has most of the 'A' level pple..), the top 10% has the most
numbers, which is why the April OCS intake is the largest at 4
companies, which is a maximum of 144 cadets). Thus if u're in the
Jan BMT, u arguably have more chance than a guy from Apr BMT as
there will be more numbers and places available in OCS.
What is u get posted to SISPEC? Well...after BSLC, the top 10% can
jump over to OCS too. Sometimes, mono intake pple jump over too.
Nothing extraordinary.
Ok, it's not exactly so clear cut. Delta company in OCS is known as
the scholar company because all the potential PSC/SAF/SPF overseas
scholars are there. Generally, if yr grades qualify u for the
scholarship, u should make it there (assuming u're not really VERY
screwed-up). My batch-boy flunked SOC in BMT, still made it
there.
Of course, if u choose to sign on as an officer in BMT, they'll
give u a lee-way, top 30%. Still, i know countless friends who got
chopped as they failed to make the grade.
Is the system foolproof? Sad to say, no. While OCC has one of the
highest OOC rate in S'pore due to injuries, there are lots of
"cannot make it" cases too. Lots of others who should have made OCS
but failed to as well. No system is perfect and till now, no one
can find a better system.
