Volunteering

Why do we still label them as ex-offenders? They are people who have made a mistakes and they have already paid a price for it, so why we still label them? After all, we all make mistakes. It is just that the consequences for some mistakes are more severe than others. It does not mean we should look down on them. For all we know, we might make the very same mistake one day.

My name is SARAVANAN and I am 51 years old. Currently I am working as military expert holding an appointment of Regimental Sergeant Major in the SAF. Personally I believe that the label ex offender should be removed. We should give them a second chance and affirm them. Being a SACA volunteer provides me with an avenue to give a positive affirmation and support to them. I was inspired to be a volunteer from my oversea experiences. One of the mission, where I was deployed in Thailand to ease the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami. The scene was chaotic with dead bodies everywhere. In my time there, I met two Singaporeans; Peter and Richard. I was there because I had a call of duty, but two gentlemen were there on their own accord. I learnt so much from them from their kindness and love that was prominent in their every action inspired me. It inspired me to do more in serving my country, more than just what I was already doing as a Singaporean solider. I wanted to help more people if possible.

I went back to Singapore, I starting volunteering for a few organization. It was only in 2010 that I came across SACA through the internet. I was actually the first batch to join the community befriender program.  As befriender, I play different roles to support the inmates such as mentor, coach, counselor and close friend. My supportive roles allow them to reflect, share and listen to the real-life stories. As many of whom only hear and the listening which is very crucial to the individual thoughts and feels. Our heart is like shore and our friends are like waves. Waves are bound to come and come and go, but how many waves are able to reach deep into the shores? I believe that a volunteer should ultimately be a big wave, one big enough to reach deep into the shore of the client. The easiest way to achieve that is simply by listening. Listening is a no verbalized action that sends out the message such as “I care for you’’, and “I want to help you”. The ability to listen is an essential skill that of us should acquire.

In my thought, a volunteer should also possess these six C’s: Character, Conscious, Confidence, Commitment, Competency, and Consistency. Volunteer must have a good character, the conscientiousness to speak with care, the confidence to do what is right, and the commitment to participate in any volunteer related activities. They should also be competent by having the necessary rapport building and communication skills, and also have the consistency in providing support to the client. Over years I have several cases which are successful and memorable ones. I had this client, David which is not his real, who has been incarcerated 10 times due to drug-related offenses. I came to know about him when he was serving the tail end of his incarceration. Writing letters to each other was the medium of our communication at first.

I can still remember what I wrote in my very first letter to him. I started off by introducing myself, notifying him about the role that I play and the rest of it went something like this, “You are master of your life, you are captain and I am only a navigator. It is like we are on a ship. You give me direction and I steer the ship. You make the decision, not me”. On one occasion, when I was standing around the release gate at the prison just a few months before David was released. I had an interesting encounter, a friend was released when I was there. Out of blue, this person approached me and said, “You are Mr. SARA right? I know you” I got surprised, I wondered who is this gentleman was. How does he know my name? This questions raced through my mind. He mentioned that he was David’s cellmate and he was the one who wrote all those letters on behalf of David to me. David could not write well but took the trouble to ask his cellmate to reply all the letters which I have written to him.

Soon after David was released, he applied for a job but his application was rejected.T his utterly demoralized. I told him to believe in himself and to try again. Today, he is captain in a restaurant, earning a desired pay. Furthermore, he went to learn to drive and obtain a driving license and join the Multilevel company to do sales. He had the willpower to fight back to reintegrate in the community, knowing what it is important for him at this point in time as his age is very crucial. When someone is imprisoned, he or she spends countless hours in the cell, seduced by his or her loved ones. within a month, the inmates are only allowed two visits, so those visits are priceless to them. When an inmate gets a visit from loved ones, he or she will definitely talk about it with his or her cellmates’.There are always a few inmates who do not get ay visits or letter from their loved ones.

When someone like us, a volunteer make a conscious effort to pay them a visit or to simply write a letter to them, you can imagine the happiness that you can bring to them. Believe me when I say that the prisoners will always look forward to the next visit or a letter. A simple gesture on our side means a lot to the clients.

SARA

Mentoring

Mentoring

Today’s leaders have the critical responsibility to develop fu­ture leaders prepared to meet tomorrow’s challenges. An essential component of this development is mentoring. Mentoring is usually an informal, familiar exchange from seniors to juniors conducted with a professional and caring rapport. Mentoring will often focus on our unique army culture experience (ACE) framework and will frequently address profes­sional development concerns. It is real-life leader development before very subordinate. Mentoring is about one-on-one, face-to-face counseling, focused on preparing junior leaders for increased re­sponsibility. A successful mentor can significantly influence charac­ter and values while guiding officers through the fundamentals of branch and functional area competencies.

Mentoring begins with the leader setting the right example. Leaders mentor soldiers every day in a positive or negative way depending on how they live the Army values and function as a leader. Mentoring allows junior leaders to see a mature example of values, attributes and skills in action and to develop their own leadership abilities accordingly. Mentoring is not without a degree of risk as senior leaders share their own personal and professional experiences with junior leaders to exemplify a coaching point that builds their 6 C’s which character, cautious, confidence, commitment, competency and consistency

Mentoring requires leaders to look for and take advantage of teaching/coaching moments; opportunities to use routine tasks to build skills and confidence in subordinates. Mentoring should not be limited to formal sessions; every event should be considered a mentoring opportunity, from quarterly training briefs to after-action reviews to casual, recreational activities.

The most important legacy of today’s senior leaders is to mentor junior leaders to fight and win future conflicts; mentoring develops great leaders to lead great soldiers. He can able to connect, share, create, learn, teach and lastly inspire his mentees will be a G.R.E.A.T mentor.

SARA

"Teaching is a labor of love... it requires commitment.

I'm not keen to encourage a culture where people clock in and clock out with same precision."

OETI JOURNEY

In Jan 05, when the Base Commander LTC David Lim informed me that I would be posted to Ordnance Engineering Training Institution(OETI) as an Instructor in EWTW, a sense of trepidation and dread filled me. My impressions of OETI then remained fully rooted in the memories of my technician days in Weapon Optical Training Wing (WOTW) in 1984. Back then; it had only been slightly more than twenty year since the move from Dover Camp to its current compounds. To maintain the facade of the brand new building then, a disproportionate amount of time was spent on area cleaning, which extended to almost the whole of every Saturday.

Training was predicated on breaking down the trainees and then rebuilding them from scratch, seemingly with the intent of churning out young technicians who would not need to think but would be expected to react to any situation in a template manner. As such, the focus of the curriculum was on the indoctrination of tried and tested dogma, rather than enhancing the trainee’s analytical abilities. In line with the kind of technical training that did not require trainees’ feedback, the instructors were exceedingly strict almost to the point of being cruel. Understandably, I did not particularly enjoy my OETI trainee’s life.

Given these preconceived notions, I was surprised when I first met my instructors on the first day of work. All of them were ex-technicians, with substantial unit experience under their belts. More importantly, were their attitudes and orientation. They were enthusiastic in the grooming, rather than just the training, of trainees, and they personalized care and concern. While still believing in the importance of discipline, they were also fervent in ensuring that the trainees did the right things, rather than merely doing things right. Gone was the old environment of fear and intimidation. Under the “new” culture of learning and empowerment, the trainees were able to able to apply their minds and become the “thinking soldiers” the SAF is seeking to cultivate. The relationship between the OETI faculty and the trainees were one built on trust and respect. OETI moved away from the mindset that we could really teach everything the trainees needed to know in ten to twelve weeks to a new paradigm which focused on enhancing the Army Technician s’ capacity for life-long learning. To achieve this, the OETI curriculum shifted its attention on leadership development and the strong values inculcation in the trainees.

It was in this refreshing and dynamic OETI environment that I began my three plus -year posting in OETI, one of my most enriching experiences in the SAF. My fellow instructors were from the various AMBs and other than imparting different perspectives to the trainees, there was a lot of cross-learning at the instructor-level as well. One moment we would be giving a lecture on technical Lesson, the next we would be planning maintenance operations, following that, conducting FDX for the different level of leadership training for the technicians.

At a personal level, other than deepening my military knowledge base, my contextualization of the various SAF operations was significantly broadened as well. For example, we would be zooming in on fundamentals, such as FCSSB operations, and then the next day, zoom out to planning for Maintenance company-level operations in the context of a Battalion mission. I have also learned a lot from the 16 batches of BTT trainees, 6 batches of MSCC and seven batches of LOCC, which I had. With the culture of greater openness, my trainees were able to question long-held assumptions underlying our maintenance skills and procedures and to come up with fresh and effective recommendations to make sure that our training constantly keeps up with time.

A number of trainees had also impressed me with their perseverance and passion to be an Army Technician. Despite adversities and unfortunates’ circumstances, they would adopt a “never-say-die” attitude and innovate to come up with creative solutions to age-old problems or inspire their fellow technicians to rise up to the occasion. However, what impressed me more was the moral courage they had demonstrated throughout the whole course. The majority of them would readily own up to their own shortcomings and learn from their mistakes. This could be the result of the success of OETI which focuses on values inculcation. The importance of this cannot be understated for it is the set of moral values that the trainees have internalized that would ultimately be the conscience that guides the newly Army Technicians when making day-to-day tough decisions.

I have personally benefited from my OETI experience. When I assumed my new appointment after my OETI tour, I had the skills and experience to train and groom the new generation of great soldiers, whether in terms of maintenance operational knowledge or values inculcation. Once the commanders had the right values, running the company will be the breeze. While in OETI, I have also learned a set of useful tools to inspire and engage my trainees. The trainees thought of initiatives that will benefit them and work on it. This incredibly successful initiative was just one of many things. I have OETI to thank.

Prepared By: 1WO SARAVANAN.

WSM EWTW

Various Appointments:

• INSTRUCTOR, 2005
• PLATOON COMMANDER, 2005-2006
• WING SERGEANT MAJOR 2006-2008
• COURSE SERGEANT MAJOR –1^st LOCC to 6^th LOCC
• MSCC INSTRUCTOR – First six batches
• SAFETY COMMITTEE
• EVENTS ORGANISNG COMMITTEE

QUOTE: Trust men and they will be true to you;

Treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

LOOK OUT . STAY SAFE

LOOK OUT . STAY SAFE
As a kiddie, we grew up with the themes of road safety relentlessly drummed into us. We learned to repeat by rote, things like “looking right, looking left, and looking right again”. As we grew we were subject to countless public campaigns on television, radio, and via every other conceivable media, to drive slowly; look left; always stop at signs; belt up; slow down; don’t drink and drive; keep my distance; and countless other themes designed to keep not only us, but everyone on the roads safe. These were driven home by marauding traffic police zealously, and it’s only right to say, fairly enforcing the rules. Of course the huge chink in this is, that in western terms, Singaporean” drivers are appalling; and the roads are seemingly designed to ensure maximum traffic bloodshed.

OETI continues to educate Army technicians to cultivate road safety awareness; there by honoring its signature to the Road Safety Outreach on 21ST June 2008, which was organized by Traffic, police dept.
OETI, which was representing behalf of the SAF at the event for its contribution to the issue, takes this opportunity to express its pleasure at the positive messages coming from the road safety Outreach 08 and hopes that its contribution to the issue of road safety will continue to make a substantial difference as part of the SAF effort being made by the whole of Singaporeans to achieve the common national goal.

Prepared by:

SARAVANAN

The Power of L.I.V.E

The Power of L.I.V.E

The L.I.V.E model embodies many of the fundamental principles which bring about a lasting mindset change and strengthens commitment towards Our Army culture and experience. This model is formed to initiate a movement, in which it represents the internalization of correct principles based upon Our Army.

At the moment right now Our Army is going through a paradigm shift. Our Army is currently embarking on a journey of transformation to a 3^rd generation fighting force. The purpose of L.I.V.E is to strengthen Our Army’s core areas in a simple way to understand and see them as a model. A model is simply an explanation of certain aspects of the particular paradigm in which we as human beings see things.

All of us enter in to army with many models in our head, which is divided into two categories: model of the way things are in reality and model of the way things should be such as values. We interpret everything we experience through these models which we neither question the accuracy nor accept the fact that it exist. Hence we simply assume that the way we see things is the way things really are or the way that things should be.

First and foremost we must accept the fact that all of us see through a tinted glass. We must know that whatever we see and comprehend is affected by the models that condition our perception. The purpose of the model is to ensure that we meet the objective of Our Army to create a first-class Army with the highest standards of military professionalism and with soldiers who are committed and confident.

The L.I.V.E model incorporates 4 main components mainly leadership, learning, image, identity, values and positive army experience. Firstly under the letter l we have leadership and learning which starts the ball rolling for things to come. Secondly, the letter I represents image and identity a part and parcel of life. Moving on to the letter V we have values, the quality (positive or negative) that renders something desirable or valuable. Lastly, we have E which stands for positive army experiences, which we might call the “Aha!” experience when someone finally “sees” what makes one person proud of what they do.

The model provides a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for creating a common language to build on and strengthen the hardware of our people. With penetrating insights and experiences, I hope to show u the power of the step by step model to take advantage of the opportunities of the changes brought about by the model. Having an effective model is the key to success but most importantly we must use and apply it.

FISRT MWOC

True Feelings from Warrant SARA

The Maintenance Warrant Officer Course was ever to be conducted at the army level with comprise of various modules such as the 1^st Line Engineering, Resources Workshop Management, Project base module, Value inculcation and OPS & Training. The appropriate training allowed us to gain better knowledge of what should be done and what should not be done in order to gain maximum productivity. Warrant Officers from the different various units have had many years of experience and are always willing to go the extra mile just to inculcate the next generation with the knowledge and skills needed for them to survive in this ever demanding environment.

One of the most interesting and memorable topics of the session was the 1^st Line Engineering that actually related to the different levels of maintenance analysis method studies. FMEA (Failure mode effect analysis) and REM (Reliability centralized maintenance) modules tools were even taught to use a framework to craft out properly engineering report, higher level repairs and simple diagnostic skills

The value inculcation segment was very well handled and managed by the Course Commander, and the course was also a very comprehensive package that actually tailored to the needs of everyone. There was also a segment that was shared by the all AMB Sergeant Majors who shared their knowledge and experiences.

As for the OPS module, everyone involved in a two day Field Deployment exercise at the Lentor training area together with the trainees from both the LOCC and the MSCC. It also displayed a great deal of exposure not only to the people attending the training but it also created a wide spectrum of high level maintenance operations by bridging their gap between various appointments holders.

As for the project module, all the trainees as well as the Warrant Officers present were all assigned different assignments and finally working together, putting a great amount of man-hours into creating and developing plans in order to create a better service and technical written report

Overall the courses have developed us to relatively competent Maintenance warrant officers as a better alignment between technician’s competencies and the Army’s operational requirements are desired.

1WO SARA

WSM

OETI

OETI SAFETY DAY

OETI SAFETY DAY

What have we learnt?

ØCorrect ways of using a Fire-Extinguisher,

ØActual usage of a Bandage,

ØThe using of stretchers and evacuating the victim without any doubt,

ØHow to apply CPR on the victim,

ØSafety equipment presentation by the SCDF,

ØSafety practices.

How it benefited us…

I had never learn to use a bandage and Fire-Extinguisher in the correct ways before, but during our Safety’s day we had hands on experience on how to use them. That’s extremely useful as we never know when an accident or fire can occur. After learning the correct procedures of CPR, we are always ready to put the CPR skill into action whenever there is an emergency. The safety equipment presentation by the SCDF also imparts us with the knowledge correct ways to handle equipment when there is a need and not use the wrong equipment.