Originally posted by walesa:
But the point is most professional armies deploy their generals at
military institutions (think West Point, etc) to give them a solid
grounding that prepares them for a career in the military and
nothing else - that's the kind of training I am talking
about.
This is old school way of learning...and i cant believe the
US are still using this. It just shows that they are not
progressing. How is it that military institutions will only provide
a career in military and nothing else?? In our SAF, we learn
soldier management, how to motivate people, technical stuff,
human-relations, social skills, deployment of units, inventory
optimizations, etc...which are ALL very useful whereever you
go...including private companies, etc. 
Let's face it - someone cut out for West Point isn't necessarily
Harvard material; likewise, someone who is cut out for Harvard
isn't necessarily going to make the grade for West Point. That's
simply because Harvard and West Point prepare individuals for two
very different lives entirely.
This is typical tunnel-vision. Who says that all who is cut
out for Harvard cannot be cut out for West Point. For heaven's
sake, there is the OCS, and tonnes and tonnes of courses, PT tests,
SOCs, etc...if you do not pass the military institution with flying
colours, for both war tactics, physical fitness, combat readiness,
discipline, etc, you will still not become an officer. That is,
whether you are from Harvard or not, is secondary, because
EVERYONE, REGARDLESS of your educational background, HAVE TO GO
THROUGH MILITARY SCHOOL, not direct posting to your positions,
duh...
What Singapore is effectively doing is picking someone qualified
for Harvard and have them schooled at Harvard and then place them
at West Point on virtue of the fact that they're Harvard-material -
evidently, this is going to compromise the quality of the
individuals West Point is intended to serve when they might never
have been West Point material had they not been eligible for
Harvard. Similarly, there could be many worthy West Point
candidates turned away simply because they aren't Harvard material
when there clearly is no direct and intrinsic relation to suggest
Harvard and West Point require the same set of assets and skills to
thrive.
Again, another boo-boo....I dont know about what West Point
or no West Point, in Singapore, there is no such things. All this
writing by the americans just shows they do not know Singapore well
and at the same time, want to act smart as if they know and knows
how to strategize, etc. In SAF, depending on your educational
background, you can be groomed to become specialists, sergeant
majors, master, warrant officers, and if your performance is good,
you can convert to commissioned officers to majors. A personal
experience of mine is that i know of a poly student who worked his
way to warrant officer, then he took up a degree course and go
through advanced officers course, and know he is already LT-COL. a
department head. How's that?
The fact that Singapore picks its generals from a pool of
academically-inclined applicants and subject them to their own form
of military training cannot and will never compensate for the
quality of training what many professional armies do with their
generals...
This reply is SO SO SO Wrong. Read my comments
above.
