WOSPECS - A KEY PILLAR OF THE SAF

In a day and age where praise is not given as often as it should be, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) took time out to celebrate its Warrant Officers and Specialists (WOSpecs) who work tirelessly to support the SAF in all areas of operations.

It was thus fitting that the Home of WOSpecs, the Specialist and Warrant Officer Institute (SWI), was where the men and women of this Corps of excellence gathered on 27 Mar for this event, which also marked the first anniversary of the home.

A milestone of the event was the launch of a commemorative book of the WOSpec Corps' past, present and future titled Backbone of the Singapore Armed Forces.

Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General (LG) Desmond Kuek, who launched the book, praised the Corps in the foreword he wrote for the book: "Since its pre-independence British colonial roots as non-commissioned officers to today's 3rd Generation leaders in our One SAF, the Corps has taken great strides to grow in stature and professionalism."

Looking back

The book goes all the way back to the Corps' roots in the first batch of recruits enlisted on 1 Jul 1954 and as SAF Sergeant-Major Senior Warrant Officer (SWO) Jeffrey Chung said, the book will "act as a beacon for the present and future WOSpecs to navigate their way in our skies, land and sea".

The reflections of the book were not lost on those who attended the launch and was an opportunity to reflect on the Corps' role in the SAF, as was the case for 2nd Warrant Officer (2WO) Omar bin Osman who is currently a platoon commander in the School of Infantry Specialists.

For him, being a WOSpec is to be an engaging mentor, which is something he is very passionate about: "I love to work with and develop people. By signing on as a specialist, I have the opportunity to do both. By developing good specialists and leaders who care, I feel I am doing good for my nation."

Looking forward

Commenting on the Corps' striving to become 3rd Generation leaders, 2WO Ganasekar, Coxswain of the RSS Resilience, said: "I've been in the Navy for 17 years. Along the way, I have seen a change in perspective."

"Although we initially started off as a support contingent, we now work hand in hand with the Officer Corps. I think this anniversary really commemorates that."

In his foreword, LG Kuek summed up the three main roles of the WOSpec Corps today: to lead by example, to support the Officers Corps and to be subject matter experts in the various fields of specialisation.

And to help the WOSpecs achieve all this, the SAF WOSpec Resource Centre located within the WOSpec Mess Rocky Hill Mess at Pasir Laba Camp was unveiled at the event.

The centre will primarily serve as the knowledge hub for the Corps and will contain materials on subjects ranging from leadership to management to physical training.