VALUES AT HIS FINGERTIPS

CWO Quek Ser Hiang's most memorable experience in the SAF happened nearly three decades ago at Jurong Stadium. It was the Formation Sports Day and he was there with a group of instructors and trainees from the School of Signals (now Signals Institute). Suddenly, he heard someone shout: "School of Signals, bodoh (Malay for stupid)!"

With fire in his belly, he stood up and roused his trainees to shout "School of Signals" repeatedly. Together, their voices drowned out the rest. "I realised that people have a lot of pride, they just need somebody to lead them. I enjoy being a leader so I signed on," he recounted.

Today, CWO Quek still enjoys his role as a leader. During the photo shoot for this story, he regaled the instructors of the Signals Vocation Training School (SVTS) with stories from his 32 years in the SAF.

As Commanding Officer (CO) of the newly-set-up SVTS, CWO Quek relishes the experience of imparting the values he picked up in his many appointments to those under his charge.

"They understand where I am coming from because they know that I walked the path," said CWO Quek, who described his transition from Chief Instructor at SAFWOS two years ago to CO of a vocation school as a challenging but enriching one.

CWO Quek Ser Hiang (foreground)
CO, Signals Vocation Training School

"As chief instructor, you're the second man. There is someone you can lean on. But today, I must stand forward and be seen and heard and make sure they (the men) understand what I am saying," explained the 51-year-old, who leads various warrant officer and specialist instructors as well as Full-time National Servicemen. Together, they train new signallers at SVTS.

As a warrant officer, CWO Quek has immediate influence in moulding and grooming the soldiers. Soldiering fundamentals are at his fingertips.

On how he manages to remember everything, he said with a laugh: "Because we are on the ground every day, when we see something wrong, we will tell the men. We're worse than a nanny."

On a more serious note, he added: "That's the thing about discipline; if people don't follow rules, they will compromise the standards. Discipline translates to training which translates to operational readiness."