exactly ! .....
if you ask nicely, don't rock the boat, you'll get what you want
... up to a point ....
like I said ..... yet again .... we are all chaps who have
served NS before ... we know that those career officers would more
often than not, not rock the boat and thus jeopardize his own ass
and career ......and everyone knows issues of race and religion is
a sensitive subject in Singapore .... you can imagine any SAF
officer who would dare dick around religious and medical issues
unless he's sure what he's doing is the right thing ? ....
for them to play hardball with this chap ... the powers-that-be
must have wasted kilowatts of electricity sending emails and memos
and cc'ing it around, and destroyed entire forests printing
everything out ...and knocked a lot of heads together discussing
how to respond, especially after MPs and Ministers were hauled
in.
somewhere along the line, they have put their collective asses
together and decided to say NO to this chap ..... even after taking
into account that this man is a potential shit stirrer, cos he's
already gone to MPs and Ministers before ......
you think they would just say no out of bloody-mindedness ? ....
and risk their asses and careers and crabs ? .... of course not
.... that's why I do not buy the TS' story .... there are things
that he's not telling us, only protraying himself as the victim
...
and of course, I have encountered such characters during my
service before too, shit stirrers who just die die have to keng
special privileges for himself, stay outs, no duties, inviolate
weekends, early bookouts etc .... in the end, it's the other men of
the unit that has to shoulder the extra responsibilities ..... my
sympathies go to his unit mates, not to that shit stirrer ....
Your tendency to ponder on your observations is commendable. It
shows the ability of critical thinking. But your inference on the
motivation of an officer giving leeway to his men is actually the
exact opposite of the truth. I guess it's because you were viewing
from the perspective of a non commander.
The truth is, it's far easier to be rigid, unbending and throw the
book at any man who asks for favours. This is because, when shit
hits the fan, a commander may most certainly get into trouble for
bending the rules (and going against SAF policy) to help his man,
but no commander has ever gotten into trouble with higher ups for
going by the book, EVEN if the higher-up wants to give leeway after
man kicks a fuss, because the commander can always say "I was going
by the book and following our policy. You want to bend it? Fine.
You're higher than me it's your call but I was in no wrong and no
one can touch me"
Let me give you an example. Lets say you go to your OC/CO saying
you have a medical allergy to the color green, and you can only
wear pink if not you itch. If you wear green, you will develop
itchy red rashes all over on the parts that green touch you hence
you can't wear SAF no.4. If your OC/CO is kuai lan, he will say "No
such thing, sorry, I want to go by the book. you complain to Teo
Chee Hean, PM or president if you want. We see how."
So you go complain to minister, PM or president, and if they say
you deserve to wear green, the story ends. Even if they say "How
can? So poor thing. He wear green, his whole body head to toe
itches. Itchy soldier in the jungle is not a useful one anyway. Let
him wear pink one." Guess what? Even then, no one, not even the
President can do anything to the OC/CO because the latter was
"going by the book" hence on paper, no one can touch a
go-by-the-book commander. At most they'll quietly think the guy's
not flexible nor a very good leader, but he will definitely NOT get
into trouble because no matter what, he can just say he was
following the law lor. Its SAF set one, he can say, can you blame
me? blame yourself first cos you set the rule?
An officer "going by the book" and is unbending when you ask for
favours is the officer that's covering his arse to protect his
ricebowl., Not the nice one who tries to be understanding to you.
you got the order completely reverse and you don't even know
it.
Do you know that the CO of 5SR, who was the commander of the Hindu
priest malingerer got into trouble because 'priest' appealed to the
CO to let him book out 2/3 times weekly so he could eat his special
food, and the CO agreed. And now the priest's father used that to
arm twist Mindef, asking how come there's an inconsistency in
policy after he was posted to the driving school and the CO there
don't allow? My friends in 5SR confirmed that this is the
truth.
Do you know that every time your commander bent the rules for you
when you asked him for a favour, he did so because he wanted to
accommodate you, and he was putting himself on the line if shit hit
the fan (and he's well aware but being a good commander is more
important to him)? Its interesting that to a man, he views it as
'wah i managed to arm-twist him, he so scared of what will happen
to him if i complain or if my parents blow it up big'.
Its far easier to go by the book, shiokado, be
safe from career harm and just stay out of trouble and be a fucked
up leader. If an officer doesn't care about what his men think or
whether he's being a good leader or is showing leadership, gaining
respect, leading by example, what not..so much easier to cruise.
Why go out on a limb?
Through the Net, it's illuminating when we discover the kind of
things that goes through the heads of others and both parties are
shocked by what they learn.
