One of a Kind (2nd Edition)

TRAINING THE TRAINERS

FIVE

base of the local forces such as trainfire or fieldcraft would be peer-learning) on the grounds

that instruction by the locals thereafter was the only way the SAF would develop self-reliance.

Subsequently, they would guide instruction by local officers, a process that they observed

throughout their services in Singapore, following the inaugural courses in several key training

institutions such as the School of Artillery, the School of Armour, the School of Advanced

Training for Officers and the Command and Staff College, several years after SAFTI was off

and running.

Range during the Preparatory Course. The SAFTI ranges were only

just being completed at the time. The firers were wearing the old British pattern steel helmets and webbing.

III. WALKING THE WALK

It was traditional in SMF days for training to be segregated according to the actual status

of officers and NCOs. The Advisors, who came from a country with a conscript military,

had somewhat more egalitarian ideas. All trainees attended every lesson and when the field

exercises began, role-play was distributed without discrimination to rank or appointment,

though within reason. Every trainee was required to carry a rifle and not a carbine, sub-

machine gun or sidearm. Each trainee was also required to wear skeleton battle order for

field exercises.

The Advisors introduced highly efficient and systematic conscript training

teaching methods that closely resembled assembly-line production. Lessons were modular

and progressive. Lesson objectives and sub-objectives were stringently defined, time was

allocated for demonstration without explanation, demonstration with explanation, practise

of sub-routines, practise of complete routines, confirmation and, before the next related

lesson, revision of the last. For weapons, trainees had to pass Technical Handling Tests

before practical application. The theory of instruction was based on the idea of ‘must know’,

‘should know’ and ‘could know’ depending on available time. Much of the field training

was done in the Pasir Laba training area. Tactical exercises were predicated on theory and

taught through practice. There were no locally produced tactical reference handbooks then.