Source:
www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/mindef_websites/atozlistings/saftimi/units/sas/index.html
In Sep 1968, barely a year after the commissioning of the 1st
batch of officers from SAFTI, MINDEF set up the School of Advanced
Training for Officers (SATO). SAFTI's first Director (the
appointment title was changed to Commandant much later), BG (Retd)
Kirpa Ram Vij, then a Lieutenant Colonel, was the pre-eminent
student of its first course.
Demonstrating the crackling pace at which SAFTI was moving, the
course included eleven first batch officers who had been
commissioned only a year before. SATO represented a reaffirmation
of the primary mission of SAFTI - to train officers and NCOs -
which the pressure of SAF's rapid development was diverting it
from.
SATO was later renamed Army Officers' Advanced Schools.
The duties and responsibilities of officers grow over a long
career. They will periodically switch from the command of
increasingly larger echelons to key staff positions. Also, over
time, the means and nature of warfare changes with advances in
technology and doctrinal developments. Officers and Military
Experts must be professionally upgraded to cope with these
advances. They will attend relevant schools for technical training,
but the consolidation of command, management, doctrine and
operations is done in the respective advanced schools of the 3
services.
The respect Service-advanced schools - Army Officers' Advanced
School (AOAS), Air Force Officers' Advanced School (AFAS) and the
Naval Officers' Advanced School (NAS) - are now co-located at SAFTI
MI as part of the SAF Advanced Schools HQ (SAS HQ). This
arrangement optimises the logistics and administration functions of
the 3 individual schools, whilst creating an environment for close
links at the middle-management level. Though respective service HQs
determine the professional content of their own advanced courses,
the SAS HQ is able to promote integration and common SAF
objectives. Pooling instructors from each service also facilitates
cross-service instruction in specialist subjects and improves
curriculum development across the board.
