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STAFF AND TRAINEE DYNAMICS
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THIRTEEN
joint parades at SAFTI, at which he would be the Parade Sergeant Major forming up the
parade to hand it over to the Parade Second-in-Command. Rejecting a direct commission
to the rank of Lieutenant some years later, Inche Sng went on to become the first Sergeant
Major of SAF.
The first intake was also fortunate that they were kept out of the way of Adjutant, SAFTI.
The Adjutant was and remained an institution in Commonwealth armed forces, his routine
job covering manpower, administration and overall camp discipline and was the principal
staff officer to the Commanding Officer. The SAF has stopped using this appointment title
in favour of Manpower Officer or S1, but with vastly reduced authority. An Adjutant’s job
description did not officially include being a nemesis to subalterns, but in the regimental
system, he was entrusted with nurturing and grooming young officers in the corporate image
of the armed forces and of the regiment in particular. He presided over unit readiness,
the dress code, ration states, personal morals, mess etiquette, military law and summary
punishments, unit anniversaries, unit histories, promotion ceremonies, leave, even personal
finances and permission to marry. Most important of all, he presided over the duty officer
schedule, which meant 24 hours at a stretch per duty and spot checks during the wee hours
of the morning. As a nurturing process it worked—painfully. Within months, a young officer
knew the unit inside out. A subaltern reporting for duty, punctually, to the second, could
expect to ‘take’ three or five or 14 for the most novel of reasons, which meant keeping on
one’s toes, and one’s wits about one. The Adjutant’s powers were too awesome to last in the
National Service SAF.
First Adjutant SAFTI CPT R Ramachandra with LTA Earl Hope Robeson and CPT Syed Hashim Algoffrey.