Not every unit in the SAF is sloppy and slack. If yours is, your
officers are killing you with kindness. But it depends on what kind
of slack you are talking about.
The discipline of the SAF in general is considered very good. Note
that unlike what you see in movies, every army in the world has
sloppy and slack parts. US Marines, SAS commandoes, everyone. The
vast majority of soldiers are lazy and afraid to die. The vast
majority of units neglect training and are totally SNAFU. This is
perfectly normal.
What counts is whether at the vital moment they will perform. When
your unit needs to push during an exercise, do you follow orders
and push? Do you possess the basic skills needed to fight? If you
do, it makes you better than the average soldier, and makes up for
all the chao genging, admin fuckups and other day-to-day stupidity
at camp.
The SAF trains its men very well, better than the US Army, though
not as well the USMC IMHO. The same CDOs you see sleeping in camp
all day (they seem to have the most senang camp life) regularly
perform better in exercises and tests than US SEALS and Special
Forces. The same softie pilots at our airbases regularly top the
class at Top Gun.
So just focus on your training. The army around you is better than
you think it is, and as long as you do your part we will all pull
through in a war. Make sure you know your stuff, and have the
ability to use this knowledge. If you are an infantryman (like me),
make sure you can use and care for your weapons and know how to
move in a firefight. Build up your stamina, and learn to be alert
at all times. Confidence in your training, condition and equipment
will build courage. It may save your life someday.
Regarding our armor forces vs Malaysia's: I will believe they are
getting MBTs when they actually get them, and I see them moving and
firing. They have a tendency to buy equipment they are unable to
support or effectively use, especially in the airforce. When the
purchasing decision comes from the politicians rather than the
armed forces, the chance of such a screwup is multiplied.
Even if they do get all of these MBTs operational, I do not think
they are that much of a threat. MBTs need a lot of support to
operate effectively, and without this support they are useless. I
seriously doubt that Malaysian logistics are up to the task of
keeping an MBT force fed with gas, ammunition and maintenance. Or
that their engineers are ready with enough breaching and bridging
equipment to prevent the force from being bogged down by mines or
destroyed bridges and slaughtered from the air.
In addition, contrary to what many on this forum think, these tanks
CAN be defeated by our AMX13SM1s and even our LAWs, let alone
Spikes, Hellfires, mines or DPICM. You need to be much more careful
with shot placement, which is not hard at the close ranges of
likely battle. There isn't a tank in the world yet that can take a
hit from an anti-tank weapon to a hatch, the engine grille without
brewing up. There isn't yet a set of tracks that can take an ATW
hit without resulting in a mobility kill. Even a hit that fails to
penetrate may result in a vision kill. Tanks are far from
invincible. They need to be deployed in sufficient numbers to be
effective, since they will suffer attrition in battle no matter how
thick their armor. The number that Malaysia is buying is too
small.
And of course, we DO have MBTs of our own, more than Malaysia will
even after this acquisition.
