Monday, January 30, 2012

The New Army

"The Men Who Stare at Goats," is a weird story about a secret, psychic military unit established in 1979 by the most gifted minds within the US Army. Defying all known accepted military practice - and the laws of physics - they believed that a soldier could adopt the cloak of invisibility, walk through solid walls and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats just by staring at them.

The goats of the title, according to author Jon Ronson, have been hidden at a Goat Lab at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and de-bleated for security reasons. The experts there contend that a goat's heart can be stopped by the intense gaze of a certain kind of supersoldier.
This jaw-dropper of a hard-to-believe book (also made into a movie starring George Clooney) is a non-fiction story. Based on material from declassified government documents, Ronson addresses the more sinister aspect of out-of-the-box military thinking.

Equally weird is a study by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) that claim recruits who go through their Building Resilience in Individuals for Growth and Emotional Well-being programme (BRIDGE - even the acronym does not tally up)  out-jumped, out-ran, out-shot and out-performed those who did not. Add out-hype to those superlatives. Mindef spokesman Desmond Tan boasts that the programme focuses on imparting the knowledge and skills recruits need to control their thoughts and actions to overcome the adversities they face in physical or outfield training.

Stretched over the 10-week Basic Military Training (BMT), BRIDGE is supposed to teach recruits to:
Stop negative thought processes (and replace these with positive self-talk like HDB prices will come down);
Reflect and share thoughts with peers and commanders (keep the distance though, look what happened between teachers and students in schools);
Set individual targets for physical training (why 10 push-ups when one will do?)

Oh yeah, and recruits get to watch movies and are given handbooks, in addition to the laptops and iPads issued.

Makes one wonder when our young men in uniform will get to practise their marksmanship on the firing range, or learn to reverse a land rover without running over someone standing behind.

11 comments:

  1. "the programme focuses on imparting the knowledge and skills recruits need to control their thoughts and actions to overcome the adversities they face in physical or outfield training"

    "and BRIDGE is supposed to teach recruits to:
    Stop negative thought processes (and replace these with positive self-talk like HDB prices will come down);
    Reflect and share thoughts with peers and commanders (keep the distance though, look what happened between teachers and students in schools)"

    So now we have proof that the programs are a total failure, considering that they have failed to train the men to control their sex urges and keep faithful instead of seeking sex through extramarital affairs (re: SCDF commissioner and CND chief suspension case) and also the observation of the numerous crime cases in the new of underage sex and molestations between teachers and underage students in our very own local schools.

    So when will controls be tightened and programs be revised to ensure better morals in our Singapore men?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know! I know! I know!

    Let's get a former eye surgeon to stand in the rain and stare down the Orchard Road floods.

    Jaga Longkang! Another new job for you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. who the consultant/advisor to this great program.... a "scientist" named something TAN?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nothing to get excited about. New boss always cpme with new idea. Who cares if the idea works!

    ReplyDelete
  5. sounds like another load of NLP bull to me...

    ReplyDelete
  6. The better training to harden minds & physic in soldiers are:-

    1) Give them live goats / chicken and tell them that's their ration for next 1
    week.

    2) Tear down all modern buildings in P. Tekong & housed them like us Lau
    Peng in old commando barracks in the 70's.

    3) Polish boots & iron clothes till shine & smart , drill till they have no time & too tire to even think 'negative'.

    My 1 million dlrs thought.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Perhaps that partly explain why Singapore defence budget is 6% of GDP. With a budget like that, one can try almost anything!

    ReplyDelete
  8. alamak, with a 21% markmanship attainment, don't even count on our SAF boys to defend the country, let alone send them to afghan. I still don't know why we bother to "ka-chiaw" our local boys to do shit work like that when the country is already fast filling up with 40% of foreigners/PRs. Don't you think those who are hungry for jobs and stability in an ever increasing unstable world be the one to defend and earn for his rights to stay?
    Why bother with these new agey talks? Got war and experience to fight or not?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey, Singapore notes,

    don't even doubt that it works. This type of "The Men Who Stare at Goats," really really work in Singapore and it is already proven to work by none other than our MIWs.


    You see some deaf frog already stare at his CPF statement every month and he is amazed that he get richer each month. Amazingly staring at CPF statement increase his wealth !


    “Every month, when I receive my CPF statement, I feel so rich and the best part is, I know the CPF money won’t run away. CPF will still be around for a long, long time to come. Not only is it earning good interest, my capital is protected.”
    Deaf Zorro Frog Lim Swee Say

    ReplyDelete
  10. Another bright idea from some scholar? Positive thinking the soft way now that soldiers cannot be tekan anymore. I am sorry but the NSmen in my unit will die laughing if we even try this on them. Come on get real. Seriously we can achieve without such wayang.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sounds like the new white horse brigade!

    ReplyDelete