I guess its just normal for a blog post to sound so much like a diary. Updating your post means you are still alive somehow on this world and the messages placed in a blog are usually useless things about the person's life and his or her encounters. Like what time they eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, what was their day, what happened etc.
To me, blogging is somehow a reflection. Not so much of diary, but to let my self understand my own thoughts brought down to words.
Being a commander is totally different then a leader. A leader is something that ANYONE can be. A Commander however, holds the Authority. Something which I've noticed over the past 2 weeks as a sergeant. Honestly, army is a bore to most of us Singaporeans. Why? Being 'forced' to serve this 2 years of our life in the army. However, not everybody regretted the experience.
9 months of army has made my thinking different. Commander authority is not just the rank, its you. You earned the authority, you have to show the authority. Somehow, I realized my weakness in this. I can't really shout my feelings, I can write it down, I can think it, but I can't express through speaking, which could be my downfall. Also, I am a 'nice' sergeant to my rec. I have been nice already. Compared to my other fellow colleagues, I just can't be the nasty guy.
But somehow, certain things allow me to shout, like not taking care of equipment, not taking care of the little things in their bunks. To clean up the areas needed for cleaning. I've already told my section about that. I hope to be able to start giving them more motivation as they began their 3rd week in army.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Army Journey - Back to BMT: Spec-ulation...
So what is moral standards? What is integrity? By playing by the rules? Sticking to the plan? Sticking to the standards? Or just throw that all away and be wild and free? Not caring for what is to come or what your actions will lead to some consequence which may affect others?
I've struggled with this. Peer pressure is always the problem to my decisions. On this day, 09/09/09, is where I want to make a stand. Sergeant is just a rank, but with it comes Great Responsibility as well. This does not give you excuses that you will wake up late, do not account for strength, not meeting the timing, not to march even when you are on course. I really hate that! Its like specs are given more freedom then officers? For Pete's sake, spare me all their non-sense. Somehow, not many of the commanders with me here are not even SERIOUS about this. Gentlemen, recruits will be under your care. You want to 'show' me that you are screwed up, fine. But do not screw yourselves up in front of the Recruits. If not how you lead by example? Wayang? Maybe. But its better than not giving a good impression from the recruits. Maybe you can talk to them because you are not so regimental, but they most likely won't trust you.
I must say that sometimes we have to be flexible, but not to the extent you lower the standards. In fact, the only reason why I am flexible, is because I TRUST that whether you are recruit or spec, you can get it done, you can do your duties properly, then we can talk about letting you sleep more and you are able to wake up and go down in 5 minutes for accounting of strength.
For me... Its time I practiced discipline in my exercise. Will be confined this week due to PTP batch. Hope to return to Singapore soon.
I've struggled with this. Peer pressure is always the problem to my decisions. On this day, 09/09/09, is where I want to make a stand. Sergeant is just a rank, but with it comes Great Responsibility as well. This does not give you excuses that you will wake up late, do not account for strength, not meeting the timing, not to march even when you are on course. I really hate that! Its like specs are given more freedom then officers? For Pete's sake, spare me all their non-sense. Somehow, not many of the commanders with me here are not even SERIOUS about this. Gentlemen, recruits will be under your care. You want to 'show' me that you are screwed up, fine. But do not screw yourselves up in front of the Recruits. If not how you lead by example? Wayang? Maybe. But its better than not giving a good impression from the recruits. Maybe you can talk to them because you are not so regimental, but they most likely won't trust you.
I must say that sometimes we have to be flexible, but not to the extent you lower the standards. In fact, the only reason why I am flexible, is because I TRUST that whether you are recruit or spec, you can get it done, you can do your duties properly, then we can talk about letting you sleep more and you are able to wake up and go down in 5 minutes for accounting of strength.
For me... Its time I practiced discipline in my exercise. Will be confined this week due to PTP batch. Hope to return to Singapore soon.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Army Journey - Back to BMTC : New Reformation, New Jobs for BMT Sergeants...
Chapter 1 of this new phase is the transition from Trainee to finally a Commander.
My fellow commanders-in-training all are still naive about one thing. That the BMTC Sergeants are KING over there. Perhaps the old way was like that. Now after hearing things from the BMTC HQ higher ups and the new things being implemented, I can safely say "WOW".
Next time, we 3SGs are no longer Kings, we will be with our men literally, just like unit people. Only difference? We act as instructors too, but the other side, the section commander side of us, cannot just throw it away. New challenges arises from my batch as BMTC is undergoing major restructuring. Many problems are going to occur and I can only pray that it won't be too complicated for all of us to accomplish.
I understand that we all have to do our duties, I am worried for the fact that the amount of duties I have done are so minimal. In fact, I have only done COS duty only ONCE in my current Army life. And from BMT all the way till now, I have not done a single, Guard Duty.
Count myself lucky? Well at that time I felt that way. Now I am back to the sunny island of Tekong I feel that I lack the experience on what Guard commanders do.
But I guess the main worry is the part that we will be leading our men out there in the field. And I thought I could throw away most of my knowledge back to SISPEC. But No, we can't. If we do so we will be digging our own burial ground instead of a shellscrape.
Truly, these are exciting times, even the BMTC HQ Commander, mentioned the thing on Servanthood Leadership. Now this term is actually Biblical. That caught my attention. Perhaps I'm moving along in God's Plan and Now is the time to really shine for God. Influencing and Inspiring the recruits to become better MAN and to be strong.
My fellow commanders-in-training all are still naive about one thing. That the BMTC Sergeants are KING over there. Perhaps the old way was like that. Now after hearing things from the BMTC HQ higher ups and the new things being implemented, I can safely say "WOW".
Next time, we 3SGs are no longer Kings, we will be with our men literally, just like unit people. Only difference? We act as instructors too, but the other side, the section commander side of us, cannot just throw it away. New challenges arises from my batch as BMTC is undergoing major restructuring. Many problems are going to occur and I can only pray that it won't be too complicated for all of us to accomplish.
I understand that we all have to do our duties, I am worried for the fact that the amount of duties I have done are so minimal. In fact, I have only done COS duty only ONCE in my current Army life. And from BMT all the way till now, I have not done a single, Guard Duty.
Count myself lucky? Well at that time I felt that way. Now I am back to the sunny island of Tekong I feel that I lack the experience on what Guard commanders do.
But I guess the main worry is the part that we will be leading our men out there in the field. And I thought I could throw away most of my knowledge back to SISPEC. But No, we can't. If we do so we will be digging our own burial ground instead of a shellscrape.
Truly, these are exciting times, even the BMTC HQ Commander, mentioned the thing on Servanthood Leadership. Now this term is actually Biblical. That caught my attention. Perhaps I'm moving along in God's Plan and Now is the time to really shine for God. Influencing and Inspiring the recruits to become better MAN and to be strong.
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