Thursday, January 16, 2014

Papering The Paper Generals

Early retirement for armed forces personnel used to be age 45. Presumably that's when the bones start to ache and marksmanship is adversely affected by deteriorating eyesight. Time to let the younger ones take over the dangerous task of defending the country. Desk job jockey officers, however, can soldier on, and keep barking orders till they lose their voices.

The lucky ones, like the Rear Admiral (NS) CEO at the National Environment Agency (NEA), can battle on by fending off attacks from Vivian Balakrishnan over restaurant-type food sold at hawker centers. The minister is overtly sensitive to the "r" word, a constant reminder of his "hawker center, food court or restaurant" rebuff to Lily Neo's request for a sufficient social welfare payout to afford 3 meals a day. Some even make it into parliament by luring old folks to political rallies with the inducement of free packaged meals. Army officers are supposed to possess skills honed in training, operations, planning and policy roles. So far we have yet to see demonstrable results at train operations or road planning.

Others may need special help after discovering that the years in uniform hadn't prepared them for useful work in the real world. Somehow the dean of postgraduate professional programmes at the Singapore Management University (SMU) has this freaking idea a master's degree or PhD title will be more relevant to the professional soldiers than a couple of medals for combat experience. Like, say, a Purple Heart for being brave at the front lines. The inglorious retreat at Little India does not count. Speaking at the launch ceremony, Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Ng Chee Meng actually said, "Some even have combat experience in Afghanistan." More likely the closest they got to an I.E.D. was the Ingenious Expense Deduction for the $1 million per year bond-free postgraduate scholarships. The first-of-its-kind Warriors Scholarship is supposed to be sponsored by SMU, but you can bet the bill will end up being paid by the tax payers. When it comes to round tripping, City Harvest's Kong Hee ain't seen nothing yet.

23 comments:

  1. They are not paper generals.
    They are Millionaire Generals.

    I wonder if Millionaire Generals will ever have the courage to lead their troops into battle.
    Let's see.
    Lead from the troops into battle and I might get shot.
    Or
    Flee overseas with my millions in the event of a war.
    And enjoy a life of luxury.

    BG Lee:
    What do you think?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The paper generals will lead the troops by commanding from the ivory tower

      Delete
  2. Remember what LKY said some years ago about Gen. Winston Choo's chestfful of medals at one National Day Rally? He said that Gen. Choo looked more and more military with those medals, one for parachuting from a helicopter and another for diving into the sea. At least Gen. Choo had seen real action and is no paper general. What about the present set? If the "inglorious retreat from Little India" is a sign fighting qualities of our men in uniform, I dread to think what will happen in there is armed conflict with out neighbours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You get a medal just for parachuting from a helicopter !!!???

      No wonder PAP Millionaires get paid such high salaries.
      Let's see;
      $100K/year just for showing up for work.
      $100K/year for returning back to the office on time after lunch hour.
      and etc.

      No wonder Grace Fu and Josephine Teo considers it such a great sacrifice to "serve" as Ministers with only millions for a salary.

      Delete
    2. Politicians resumes are good only for the network that they had. Jo & Grace and the lot will not be easily employable outside of the party.

      Georgie did the right thing. His resume would read far better.. at least he is doing real work and earning his keep.

      I have little respect for politicians.. in any party.

      Delete
    3. I also remember the time they
      tried to buy Mercedes Benz cars for the generals, so that the soldiers can "look up" to them.

      Delete
    4. /// Gen. Choo looked more and more military with those medals, one for parachuting from a helicopter and another for diving into the sea. ///

      General Winston Choo's medals are really proficiency badges.
      Like the badges given out to Boy Scouts after they master a skill.

      Delete
    5. not bad ...

      peter ong from changi airport tell his kakia ..

      he jumped from 30,000 (feet or meters???) n alive to tell

      BUT HE DIN SAY WHETHER HE WAS WEARING A PARACHUTE ANOT?

      Delete
    6. man men venture into the black holes without safety hermets frequently .. any awards for such bravely??

      what is diving into the sea ...

      Delete
  3. They reward and recycle the retired SAF scholar cum paper generals into the PAP or GLCs, don't they? Now they are trying the same with the SAF non-scholars and the rank and file with this "Warrior Scholarship". Only those with at least 10 years service are eligible, so by the time they graduate with a masters or PHD, they are just ripe to feed into the PAP gravy train.

    Probably a party membership or activist "experience" (forget the bullshit about "combat experience") has a better chance for this scholarship. Seems very similar to the SAF scholarship - the difference being that they catch them earlier, whereas here they catch them when they retire from the SAF. Trying to scrape the barrel at both ends, hoping to land a catch like Kee Chiu, that slipped through the net, with probably tax payers' money in the end. Some are late developers mah.

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  4. Is the "Warriors Scholarship" another PAP recruitment exercise using Singapore's taxpayers' money?
    - Since only scholars can be card carrying members of the PAP?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good grief.
      You PAPigs should be ashamed of yourselves.
      Using taxpayers money to benefit yourselves.

      Delete
  5. Is he the PONDING General, or was there any sitting easy in PUB praying to God everyday hoping there won't be any more flooding in orchard again.

    ReplyDelete
  6. /// I also remember the time they
    tried to buy Mercedes Benz cars for the generals, so that the soldiers can "look up" to them. ///

    Soldiers, especially in times of war.
    Look up to Generals who can actually lead from the front by example.

    General George Patton was an example.

    ReplyDelete
  7. A Lesson from Napoleon
    -------------------------------------
    Napoleon won battle after battle and eventually controlled much of the European continent even though he fought against the combined armies of the major powers of his age and usually against superior numbers.
    Here’s just one example of his leadership.

    On one occasion it was the rainy season and the roads were swamps of mud. Riding along with his personal staff and some of his leading generals as they inspected the march toward an important rendezvous for an on-coming battle, he noted a handful of artillerymen trying to free a cannon that had become mired in the mud.
    They were delaying the rest of the French Army who merely halted, looked, and rested, apparently thinking that it was up to the artillerymen to free their own cannon.

    Napoleon, however, didn’t delay for an instant. He halted his horse, dismounted and drew his saber. This he stuck point down in the mud saying it would only get in the way. He then put his own shoulder against the caisson, dirtying his uniform as he struggled with these common soldiers to free the cannon from the mud.
    His generals and staff officers immediately dismounted and followed their commander-in-chief’s lead. In a few minutes they freed the cannon. Telling his artillerymen that their cannon was critical to the coming battle and wishing them luck, he re-mounted and continued with his previous inspection.

    The French Army won battles against superior numbers because they knew it was their army, not Napoleon’s and that even their commander was not above getting out in front where the action was and doing common work for the common good of all in order to defeat his enemies.

    BG Lee, BG Lee
    Where forth art thou, my BG Lee?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here is the link:

      http://www.stuffofheroes.com/Vol.%204,%20No.1.htm

      Delete
    2. “In politics stupidity is not a handicap.” - Napoleon Bonaparte

      Delete
  8. HaHa
    General Choo's chestful of medals.
    They are nothing more than proficiency badges given out to Boy Scouts by the thousands every year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. dun play play okay ...

      winston choo degree in history from some pariah americunt village ...

      his medals can donate to red cross for charity purpose ... auctions n many papigs supporkers will bids

      Delete
  9. fuck lah ... how much u understand about grassloots behaviour and mentality????

    kee chiu ....tactics are working well and effective in garnishing supporks for the papigs ...


    u onli know how 2 kpkb on your blog .... go out n convince those who love and feel beholden to papigs for their "handouts" (u know the sources anot?)

    so stop your bullshit ... okay lah, nok so much bullshits

    ReplyDelete
  10. The problem here is they believe in the person paper qualifications so much...they tend to miss the quality, integrity and genuine character of the person they want to get into the PAP...

    Failing that, they get the same group think people...have the same type of thinking is not conducive in solving real life problems but add more problems...

    Reason why you need different thinking people in a group...not because u enjoy or angry at the different thinkings but u know u can find the best solution from there...most importantly, all of them .. you know their loyalty is to singapore and its people first .. everything else 2nd...

    But the current PAP gov't has just too many people doing group thinking, sucking up and learning moire leetarded ways to be self palming idiots...

    I wonder what LHL is thinkign when these "highly recommended" people oif his keep screwing up...and how much more he can take it...they definitely reducing his life span with their repeated idiotic antics..zzz

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete