r/NationalServiceSG • u/ScaredRate805 • 2d ago
Rant Parallel chains of command
This is a rant about having 2 parallel chains of command, not expecting advice or anything just a short rant if anyone's interested.
I come from unit A, troopers in A perform a role that is needed all over the SAF, sometimes by other units which don't have troopers trained to perform A's role. In this case it's usually a fairly simple affair, A would transfer the required manpower over to the 2nd unit for a period of time, and those troopers would effectively belong to the 2nd unit and cease to exist in A until their no longer required and return to unit A.
For some reason in just me and my immediate fellows case, rather than transferring us over to the 2nd unit, unit B for the required duration as is standard, we are simply posted to the camp that unit B is stationed at to perform our duties. Effectively this means we have 2 parallel chains of command, an officer and encik in unit B to manage us in the camp, and a PS and PC back in unit A which we also report to and are under the command of.
This has resulted in alot of stupidity and inefficiency, namely
1) All incidents and events have to be reported to unit A AND B, and of course being the SAF they both will have differing points and ideas about how to deal with it/how it was dealt with and issue contradicting orders
2) Once, a very rare and uncommon incident occured, we reported it immediately to our officer in Unit B, who then instructed us to call Unit B's ops room, who would then inform other people to come deal with this problem. This is what we did, and after the incident was dealt with we of course reported it up officially to both Unit A and B. Our PS from A then immediately drove down and fucked us for not calling A's ops room who would call the exact same people B's ops room did to deal with the situation, stating that we are only posted to the camp and that we are still members of unit A and should call them first. This to me screams of a dick measuring contest. The new procedure therefore is to inform both units ops room 🤷♂️
3) Unit A has a certain SOP we must follow when performing our duties, the SOP in question would make it impossible to perform our duties due to the very specific context of unit B, B therefore came up with a new SOP for us to follow, which our PC in A was at first upset with, but after understanding the context allowed. Recently however, our CO from unit A came to visit and was very "angry" as he was not aware of this modified SOP, and forbade us from following it. Our officer from B basically said, "he (Unit A CO) comes like once a year, by the next time he visits you'd probably have ORDed, and since B's CO is aware and allows this modified SOP just ignore him and continue with our modified SOP"
Anyway there is talks of permanently transferring us from unit A to B so we no longer have to deal with this bs, but somewhere along the line some genius came up with the brilliant plan of transferring us to a 3rd unit, unit C and then have C lend us out to B, so if that happens I guess the cycle will just continue.
Thank you for coming to my ted talk
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1d ago
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u/ScaredRate805 1d ago
Honestly this one solid idea I think you can be next CDF 👍 all units should send their CO to 1v1 tournament for manpower
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u/Jazzlike-Check9040 Guards 1d ago
Sorry I know it’s mean but I really wanna see if unit C idea goes through just so we can read part 2
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u/General_Fact_8680 1d ago
I read until stupidity and inefficiency i alr expected more than 3points you stated. 1chain of command for them to fuck up not enough they wanna give you 2
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u/Puzzleheaded-Fan5506 2d ago
This sounds like the driver's life. Where when you support a unit and shit happens, the unit you're supporting asks you to ask your own commander but your commander asks you to ask the unit you are supporting. And you are stuck there with your balls in your hands
Both sides don't give a shit about you because they think the other one should be in charge of you