Important Lessons From Commanding Killing Machines

Reflections on my tour as a tank/APC commander

Charging down open plains at full throttle atop a 20-tonne steel monster, wind in my face and machine gun in my hand, is at once invigorating and terrifying.

Somehow I’ve managed to do that multiple times and still got out alive. I served two years in the Singapore Armed Forces as an armored personnel carrier (APC) and tank commander — I’m trained to drive, fire and command up to five vehicles and 40 soldiers at once. Often, we encounter life-threatening (both simulated and no duff) situations on mission where a volley of decisions must be made in quick succession, where a slight misstep on the commander’s part may result in the entire crew’s demise. Other times, we are faced with the dilemmas of people-management and the challenges of administration.

I do not claim to be the best commander around; in fact I’m far from it in every aspect, be it command, administration, instruction, or beer-drinking. However, fallibility begets learning, and I have certainly picked up some lessons during my short tour that have brought, and will bring, me through trials both in the army and beyond, including a well-seasoned liver. I hope they prove to be useful, or at least intriguing, to you.

There are a million ways to do it. A 5.56mm through the head. A 7.62mm through the chest. A 25mm Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding-Sabot round through the side of the tank, impaling everything in its path with shrapnel and melting everything else. You feel nothing, perhaps even triumph, as you pull the trigger and see the human-shaped target fall.

But what if your soldier died? In front of you? Because of you?

In the past year we’ve seen several sons of Singapore fall. Regardless of the reasons of their passing, one group of people has been placed under extreme scrutiny — their commanders. A commander’s responsibility is twofold: to complete his mission, and keep his men alive. Both should take precedence over his own life.

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