Leadership

That was the topic we were on today. Major Nathan played Episode 7 of the Band of Brothers, even though I have the box I haven't had time to finish it, so I have never been across the episode, however, this one episode displayed the ethos of many characters in the series. However, I notice that there are always good and bad officers, be it in the Singaporean, British or the US army. All the system does is to sieve out the better officers while some just slips through the system. Yet, it is heartening to see that there are indeed more good officers than bad ones. Then again, the method of judging an officer differs from country to country too. Does doing well as a Cadet has a correlation as to whether you will become a good officer in the future. Maybe to a certain extent, with the fact that most commissioning courses tests the Cadets to the limit and doing well in it meant that one can handle both mental and physical stress. But what about the average Cadets, will they not do well in the future? I guess not. What is more important would be the spirit of learning, to never stop learning or be complacent. No one will be an eternal winner, but we can always have the spirit of learning going on, at least then you know you are moving along and not stagnating or 'marking time'.

C2DRIL was what our Commandant live by. Selfless commitment, courage, discipline, respect, integrity, and loyalty. These are the values and standards that he holds dear to himself and I guess every officers should have some core values that they live by. These will be the bedrock or foundation of their career, when shit happens, they know that they can rely on such values to make a decision. A decision that might not be right, but a decision nonetheless, so at least things will continue moving and not stagnate.

All in all, easier said than done. And those that emerge from the shittiest situation will be the epitome of a great officer.

I have decided that I should blog when I can, and use it as a way to rant or just to reflect upon my day. After Ex First Encounter, we are launching ourselves into the Faraday Hall stretch, lots of lessons and "intellectual stimulation". However, I still have yet to recover from the sleep lost from Ex First Encounter, still feeling slightly lethargic and not being able concentrate during lectures and lessons.

After going into the Gas Chamber today, we had two periods of PT and then a whole stretch of lessons. The lesson by my CABS (Communication and Applied Behavioral Science) tutor on creative thinking was good. The fact that as military commanders we need to think out of the box and at times consider a different approach to a certain situation was what we needed. Especially as Infantry officers, sometimes it is not simply about taking the objective from the left, right or center, creative methods could be applied into tactics and most of the time that is how you win a battle.

DIA however was boring, there seem to be no value add to the lesson, partly it might be due to the fact that I am not very well versed with the current terrorist situation all around the world but the tutor simply asks for input from the ground and does not really give us much information during the lesson.

In any case, it has been a tiring day. The problem with Sandhurst, too much curriculum, too little time, always rushing from point to point. Start of the Faraday Hall stretch, hopefully it gets better..:)