Serving the Nation
Nearly There
Dec 9th
You know how it feels for a large weight to be lifted off your shoulders? Feeling for the first time in 2 years that, hey! your job is done! Your to-do list has finally come to an end. There’s no more dreadfully tedious work to look forward for the next day. No more unnecessary politics that you’ve to help sort out so that your work can be completed. No more retards in the unit to cover for because they can’t do some of the simplest tasks in the world (like typing their names).
A week’s time and I’m a free man. In fact, I have an advanced taste of freedom thanks to this long leave that I’m clearing before the inevitable 17 Dec 08.
I’m looking forward to step into the grounds of SAFTI SC, taking in the fresh air, for the very last time. Note that SAFTI MI is a beautiful place, but its people leave more to be desired.
I’m still wrecking my brains to think what I’ve taken from this 2 year lesson supposedly serving the nation. Trust me, its hard to list the positives. 2 years of mind numbing pain. I hope to recover from it fast. The last thing I want is permanent damage from the men and women (actually boys and girls) that would be soon clad in pixels.
But anyways… here’s the preparation for a week’s time of ORD LO!
Ideas to Improve SAFTI SC
Oct 9th
This is not just a blog. It also hosts some of my ideas I hope to implement. It’s some sorta blackboard for me to scribble things and come back to.
I’m not all angsty and against the National Sentence that our country proudly calls its defence. We look grand from the top but on ground zero, the service sector needs a much needed reality boost to work towards efficiency. Here we go.
Problem: Characters from different backgrounds and having different ideas are causing political turmoil in the office.
1. Recruit DXOs Wisely – Don’t just base it on job qualifications and background. Having a good command of English is a must to reduce a stunning amount of misunderstandings. Running a character test can help check if the personnel is of the right mentality to join the unit. (E.G. If the personnel is a fun loving person at heart, throwing him into our unit will cause rifts as some would think he’s not serious about work or is not doing work at all)
Problem: Inefficient Clerks / Lacking Skills
1. Classify Clerks – Don’t just lump every “educated” non combat fit personnel into the clerk zone. We have been seeing clerks that *gasp* doesn’t know how to use MS Office applications. Or doesn’t know how to write a letter. Or doesn’t know how to PRINT A DOCUMENT. (Click the button that looks like a printer, dude). Clerks should be classified by qualifications, job skills and communication skills. As we are not going to have scholars coming all the time, we’ve to divide the different classes of clerks evenly among branches.
2. Come up with a suitable scale to measure efficiency – Some clerks are left to rot watching others who are working their butts off. It’s a vicious cycle. Those who work hard get more work as they are deemed more capable. Those who slack or look like they suck actually avoid work. Give those who suck or pretend to suck more manual work. Give those who are always meeting job targets benefits like going home on time and NOT GIVING them MORE targets. Not every job in the unit requires massive intelligence. Most of the work are no brainers and are tedious. So where do these go to? The idiots and pretenders.
3. Ensure that branch heads know how to manage their manpower – You don’t request for 4x NSFs all heading to the university to handle administrative work. That’s a baffling amount of talent wasted.
Freedom’s Embrace
Oct 7th
I feel it.
This legendary feeling that every NSF at the end of his time tells you about. It comes in bouts of sudden joy, knowing that the end is at hand. You are in the middle of a dull dragging day and out of the blue, it catches you, sucks the air from your lungs and stops the blood flowing into your brain, making you light headed.
It has begun and it will last for about 2 months more.
You can only gasp…
“ORD lo!”
(Note: Premature? Nope, this feeling is best felt at the ending months of the sentence. After the release, you probably just feel “Ahh, back to normal living”)
Your leader’s the odd one
Oct 4th
This must be the first time I’ve worked under someone I completely disagree with multiple times. It is good to err on the side of caution and believe that your boss is right but it gets harder to take it in the same faith when everyone else thinks that she’s off the scale.
I’m a clerk in my unit, an overworked one with the amount of responsibilities I’m carrying currently. But that’s cool, I’ve always been the workhorse. Not just the workhorse but a WILLING workhorse. Back in Primary / Secondary and even in MI, I did most of the groundwork in projects to ensure that the results were above expectations. I didn’t care much if others didn’t put in the same effort, always thinking that if I could handle 90% of the project myself, I would be best prepared in the future since I can DIY nearly everything from background preparations to onscreen speeches. And it has always been smooth because the requirements were clearly stated and they did make sense.
Life has a weird way of putting you into situations. Enter NS and I meet people really out of sync with reality. People who are completely oblivious to the perceptions of others. Wait, not “people” but one person. Now if its one person, it shouldn’t be hard ain’t it? Nope, not when she’s your boss.
You see, when I posted into SAFTI MI, I heard disturbing stories of my boss to be. It came from the general population in my unit from the recruits to the officers. Now, I’m one to give a benefit of a doubt even to a person who is ridiculed by others. Maybe, there’s a misunderstanding. Maybe, there’s an important part missing from the picture. So, I gave her the trust that she might be right and the rest might be missing a crucial chunk. After all, she’s been in the unit since it was first established. And yes that makes her even more senior (in year count) than my Commanding Officer (da big boss). Just so that you get the magnitude of seniority, our camp passes are issued with serial numbers tagged on them. I’m around 800+ and am completing my service. She’s Number 13. A good choice for a number really.
So first we had a communication problem, her English was awkwardly ridden with befuddling grammer. No I’m not judging her based on her English standards but it does become a problem when it get so bad you can’t make out what she’s saying. Took 7 months to clear that communication hurdle and what my branch found out is that sometimes, or rather most of the time, she can’t express herself in words. Maybe she does well in Chinese but my Chinese is just as good as my Tamil or French or Japanese or Sinhalese.
The scary part was when I found her decision making factors rather confusing. Let’s put it this way, she is one that would cancel a flight just because it is raining. Over reacting to minor details. I’ve seen her argue with her superiors over such and when she looks to me for support, I have no better response than a nod and a smile. Could I say “No Mdm, that’s retarded and you’re wrong,” ? Hell, I’ve seen her superiors tell her that her perspectives are horribly skewed and she dares (yes thanks to year based seniority) to tell them “No, SIR, YOU are WRONG”.
Wow.
So she calls me this Saturday afternoon and tells me the presentation of my juniors were not up to standard. Let’s make it clearer – not up to HER standard. How should I tell her that the world doesn’t revolve around her opinions? or that I would rather not even have my juniors do the presentation than to do it her way.
My branch operates on a “Who-takes-the-blame” phillosophy. More or less its: Boss > Me > Juniors. Now that boss is untouchable, that leaves simply yours truely.
Now I have two options. First, align myself to take the exact same stance as her and shift the blame to my juniors. Or stand true to my beliefs, align myself to take the stance of the entire unit (but her) and be the buffer (punching bag) between my juniors and her.
The later sounds a lot more painful but for the sake of sensibility, I’ll take that spot for my final 2 months+.
Dear MINDEF, we need more talent sense in your regular base.
