Okay, refreshed myself. Here goes:
The SAF nomenculture is clearer nowadays, partly the result of
organizational growth. You have the CDF, who oversees the Chief of
Staff-Joint Staff & the 3 service chiefs (Army, Air Force,
Navy). Each has his own staff, with the Joint Staff a separate
entity but coordinates joint-service tasks.
It wasn't always like that, though the ambitions were the same. In
particular, I recall some public confusion over Lee Hsien Loong's
designation (Chief of Staff-General Staff) during the Cable Car
Rescue of 1983. 1stly, it read too similarly to Winston Choo's
Chief of the General Staff (i.e. predecessor of the CDF). 2ndly, it
overemphasizes on some sort of bureaucractic affliation (which was
incorrect). 3rdly, nothing about it suggests he's actually the army
commander.
How come like that? Simple, when the SAF began in '68, it was
relatively small enough to have the Director-General Staff (later
Chief of the General Staff) running the service army as well as the
smaller SADC & SMC.
Then in the mid-'70s, SADC & SMC was developed enough to be
separated as RSAF & RSN respectively. Both, however, retained a
junior status within the SAF, headed "only" by colonels for almost
a decade. (This was just before my enlistment). The Chief of the
General Staff remained overall commander, with the Deputy Chief of
the General Staff the 2nd most-senior serving officer & running
the still-big army.
Up to the early '80s, the SAF was institutionally integrated more
on paper, but more concrete coordination was needed to meet its
expansion. Hence the forming of the Joint Staff in 1983, after
Lee's pilot scheme (joint service committees) proved unpractical.
The post of Deputy Chief of the General Staff would be changed to
Chief of Staff-General Staff & then Deputy Chief of the General
Staff-Army through that decade. Imagine the head-scratching
~lol~
Come the 1990s & the reorganization under the combined arms
banner, the Chief of the General Staff became the Chief of Defence
Force, & the Deputy Chief of the General Staff-Army became the
Chief of Army. The RSAF, RSN & - near end of decade - the Joint
Staff also had their status raised & commanded by generals (one
or two stars) or equivalent.
Huxley said the Director-JOPD now runs the Joint Staff as its Chief
of Staff-Joint Staff. FYI George Yeo headed that department back in
the late '80s before he quit to enter politics. Teo Chee Hean was
Chief of Navy & supposedly earmarked for the CDF job before he
left the service as well.
