Commander of Combat Service Support Command

I wrote this reflection in 2020 to share with my CSS community. At that time, never would I have predicted the circumstances we were in as a result of COVID-19. We went through two months of “Circuit Breaker”, completed Phase 1 and started on Phase 2 of our operations in support of the WoG, and looking forward to Phase 3 — a semi-return to normalcy. We were in the midst of an economic downturn, borders were tightening globally, and we were forced to change our way of life. Nationally, even the General Election and NDP that we were used to had to change. No one could have anticipated the speed, scale and impact COVID-19 had on training, operations and overseas exercises in the SAF, and in particular what our Army was used to.

The resurgence of COVID-19 cases in August 2021 has triggered the Nation to shift back into P2HA, with tighter control measures imposed on our way of life and an increased demand for aggressive testing, vaccination, care facilities and systems. The national healthcare system was once again under pressure, and the SAF was called upon to respond to the crisis. COVID-19 has thus far been one of the most disruptive event in recent memory.

Our fight against COVID-19 started in end-January 2020 when CSSTF was tasked to pack and deliver 5.5 million surgical masks within 48 hours for distribution to all Singaporean households through 89 Community Centres/ Residents' Committees. For the next six months, 10 CSSTFs were formed to support SAF COUs, MOH, MOM, Ministry of Trade & Industry (MTI), Enterprise Singapore Group (ESG), NTUC Enterprise and other WoG agencies. COVID-19 illuminated the need for CSSCOM to be Better, Smarter, Faster in support of the Army and the SAF as we build towards a CSSCOM that is Mission-focused, Data-driven and Respected.

A better CSSCOM

Putting people first

The key success factor for CSSCOM is our people. The successful execution of our mission by CSSians builds trust and respect from our community. Our people possess strong values, teamwork and work humbly behind the scenes to accomplish the mission. They do the right things and always do things right. We coin these attributes as our CSS DNA, and we continue to nurture them today through the way we organise, train and care of our people.

CSSCOM is type-organised in peace and task-organised in operations. This is our strength as we are able to build deep domain expertise in peace while being agile in operations. In short, what we do in peace = operations = war. In response to COVID-19, we empowered integrated CSSTFs, configured based on mission context and forward deployed them to lead, plan and execute end-to-end CSS operations. These task forces (TFs) collaborated with our integrated operations centre (which we called CSSONE) as well as the defence industry and technology eco-system. We were able to surge for operations seamlessly and responsively because of our partnership with our larger CSS eco-system.

Our CSS leaders are trained in peace for their roles in crisis, operations and war. Our response to COVID-19 today is evidence-based, calibrated and well-informed. This was not the case in 2020, when the world was just learning about the virus and the uncertainties that came with it. Our leaders, our organisation and our engagement with stakeholders had to adapt quickly to the evolving situation in real time – this skillset does not come easily. Leadership training through leading Forward Support Groups (FSG) for overseas exercises and Task Forces in support of national and international events are critical enabler to deliver agile and adaptive CSS leaders who embrace leading multi-disciplinary team and thrive in operating in multi-stakeholder environments. Putting people first means we must train them well for any mission that come their way.

We also set up Care Task Force to take care of the physical and emotional needs of our soldiers and their families. My Defence Psychologist and his team also conducted surveys to understand our soldiers' morale and pain points so that we could adapt along the way. My Safety Team enforced safety, compliance on the ground, and protected our soldiers' well-being.

Furthermore, I challenged Maintenance and Engineering Support (MES) to develop ops-tech solutions to protect our people operating at the frontline so that the operational risks were mitigated as much as possible. I focused this TF on developing meaningful, productive and responsive solutions for dormitory operations, where risks of transmission were highest then. For our people to focus on the mission, we must care for them, support them and look after their families.

Resilience is a necessity

COVID-19 delivered a massive shock to the global and national supply chain system. Our instinct to plan for the worst case, such as stockpiling, diversification, scenario planning and exercises, and a seamless peace-to-ops system allowed CSSCOM to respond well to COVID-19. The SAF was able to conduct operations and training with minimum disruption while continuing to house and sustain our SAF COUs across camps to maintain a high level of operational readiness. We also supported the WoG and WoN fight against COVID-19 in the area of sourcing and equipping, contact tracing, dormitory management, emergency housing, medical care and ops-tech solutions.

Going forward, we need to continue to build resilience into our critical resources (e.g. a need for Smart Supply Chain Intelligence), our workforce (including contractors and sub-contractors), our systems and processes (e.g. rapid procurement) and overall, a strong peace-to-war ecosystem. CSSCOM alone cannot support the nation – we must partner with the larger WoG and industry ecosystem to do so. Two such examples: LTC (NS) Gabriel Tang led a team into GovTech to support the supply chain planning, development, equipping and Operations & Support of TraceTogether and SafeEntry Gateway, which equipped the nation with the means for effective contact tracing; SLTC (RET) Lim Soon Meng also led a team to partner with MTI and develop contingency plans for global supply chain disruptions. The team jointly executed one of the plans that ensured the continuous flow of essential supplies and food into Singapore at the time. These partnerships are essential for us to scale up for operations rapidly and sustain our capabilities during a prolonged crisis.

Our people must be ready to take ownership, fight red tapes, exercise discipline and work together with our partners from peace to war. CSSCOM must also deliberately invest and build our defence ecosystem to support us in peace, in emergencies, in tension and in war. We must never leave this to market forces that will tear, divide and compromise our capability, resilience and sustainment.

A smarter CSSCOM

Digital is critical

COVID-19 accelerated the rate at which technologies were employed and pushed for further digitalisation. We witnessed how digital, mobile and collaborative tools were developed and used to combat the virus spread. Across the nation, technologies and apps were rolled out rapidly to solve real problems on the ground. To minimise human contact, we also saw manual processes being either automated or innovated to be done remotely.

In CSSCOM, our Army Engineers codeveloped an automatically triggered thermometer to take the temperature of personnel at guardrooms remotely so as to reduce manpower demands and risks. Our CSSians understood the operational problems and solved them decisively.

The commercial sector is leading technology advances. Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, autonomous capabilities and unmanned technologies will continue to lead and influence how CSSCOM operates across the peace-to-war continuum. We must ensure that our wartime capabilities are designed for day-to-day applications and operations as well. Again, this boils down to making sure that what we do in peace = operations = war.

A Smarter CSSCOM is one that embraces digitalisation and technology in our daily tasks and in our warfighting capability. We must embrace Design for Analytics in everything we build. We must use data to enable real-time situational awareness, support end-to-end integration, enhance collaboration, facilitate smart decision-making, and acquire quantifiable feedback. To achieve this, we must elevate the Technology and Digital Quotient (TDQ) of our CSS community. It is not about understanding what makes technology and digitalisation work, but how we use technology and digitalisation and how that technology and digitalisation can solve problems and create possibilities. Digitalisation and technologies are no longer a good-to-have but essential capabilities that CSSCOM must possess and that our soldiers must embrace.

Expertise is valuable

A Smarter CSSCOM also means building the right expertise that is valuable not only to the SAF but also the WoG and WoN. We are one of the few outfits at the national level able to execute logistics and medical operations at scale, at speed and as one.

HQ CSSCOM stepped up CSSONE, our integrated operations centre, to C2 the entire operation 24/7. On supply chain and logistics, we executed emergency procurement, set up accommodations and partnered with industries to create the capacity to house, feed and sustain the migrant workers. On distribution and freight operations, we packed and distributed masks to every household in Singapore, worked closely with MTI to manage supply chain and shipments from other countries back to Singapore and supported NTUC on warehousing, cross-docking and distribution operations. On engineering and maintenance, we developed ops-tech solutions to solve real problems on the ground. On medical services, we helped to extend medical care to the nation at the peak of the pandemic. Finally, we deployed teams from our training institute to two dormitories to help stabilise them before Joint Task Force (Assurance) took over. In doing so, our teams developed a Dormitory SOP version 1.0 to guide the Dormitory Management Teams and conducted ops-learning to refine our capabilities along the whole journey.

This expertise did not happen by chance. Our capabilities were built painstakingly over the years. We must deepen our expertise, strengthen integration and professionalise our people. It is equally important that we constantly identify new growth areas and build the necessary expertise so that we can remain relevant.

Learning and adapting are constant

Prior to this, I did not expect CSSCOM to be able to sustain migrant workers, operate CCFs, and develop plans collectively with WoG. We adapted to the new operating context quickly and translated them into operational processes that we continued to refine through the mission. This prepared us well when the resurgence of COVID-19 cases strained the national healthcare system and the Medical Task Force from HQ Army Medical Services was called upon to augment two COVID-19 Treatment Facilities in NTUC Health Nursing Home (Tampines) and Renci Community Hospital.

Moving forward, we will continue to build the necessary capabilities to contribute beyond the SAF and design our military assets for dual usage in national emergencies and support SAF missions. COVID-19 has taught us to keep an open mind, be eager to learn new things, partner, collaborate and find creative ways to apply prior knowledge and our war machines to new context.

On that note, CSSCOM will need to constantly learn, partner, adapt and be smarter. Simply solving problems will not be enough, we need to create possibilities. We need to learn new skills and competencies. Transport leaders will master freight management; Supply supervisors will master facility management, institutional feeding and manage retail operations; Army Engineers will level up on advanced manufacturing, coding, software development, AI, 5G and Cloud; Ammunition experts will familiarise with advanced weapon systems and develop training ammunition simulators; and paramedics will plan and manage medical-logistics operations. This will be the new mindset for our future. Our new normal.

A faster CSSCOM

Leadership forward

CSSCOM has always put our best people forward to lead from the front. We put our formation Chiefs to lead operations supporting international events and unit Commanding Officers to lead FSGs. We did the same for COVID-19. We deployed CSS leaders to their specific missions having full confidence that they would be able to complete their mission and navigate through the initial chaos quickly. Strong leaders such as ME6 Anthony Chor managed to set up a system to manage, feed and care for one of the largest dormitories in Singapore within days and handed over a working system to JTF(A). Anthony and his team continued to develop tech solutions to help the migrant workers at the frontline. Their forward leadership made a difference to the lives of the migrant workers in the dormitories. The willingness to boldly take the helm despite not knowing what they were getting into. Encourage courage. This is an attribute we want to see in future CSSCOM leaders.

Creativity makes things happen

Leaders need to spark creativity, ignite the intrinsic motivation of those we lead and influence to make things happen on the ground. Crisis requires courage to try, to take risks and to challenge cumbersome processes, structures and status quo. The greatest killer of creativity and innovation is our desire to keep things the way they are.

As the swab testing requirement surged at the national level, our team of engineers worked tirelessly with DSTA and ST Engineering Land System (STELS) to convert our F550 Combat Ambulance into Mobile Swab Station in three weeks that could be deployed quickly within 15mins and operated by three men. The solution not only increased the throughput for testing, more importantly, it protected our medical professionals who were required to administer the testing protocol. From technology sourcing, to engineering development, to rapid prototyping, to safety assessment, to Quality Assurance/ Quality Control, to acceptance and to deployment into daily operations. They also went on to adapt our Multi-Utility Vehicles subsequently for these missions.

Encourage creativity. Imagine possibilities. Innovate. Improvise. Reject limits. Never be satisfied with the status quo. Aim beyond. These are key attributes for CSSians.

Speed-to-market makes a difference

In partnership with MOH and other partners, we established Singapore EXPO as a CCF to provide primary healthcare for recovering COVID-19 patients. We deployed around 100 SAF servicemen and servicewomen to operate round the clock within days. Another CSS team, deployed to MOH, developed governance, structure, management and medical protocol to prototype, build, manage and supervise CCFs.

In such a pandemic, speed is of the essence to stay ahead of the curve. Our procurement system is largely designed for governance. However, in the event of a pandemic, the process must be agile to enable fast track procurement and contracting. We managed to achieve a faster speed-to-market in COVID-19 operations because of sheer hard work of our people such as Mr. Melvin Ang, Head Contract Governance Branch. Melvin and his team, supported by DSTA, were astute in cutting contracts rapidly as the operations took shape, even when the demands were non-conventional. For instance, they sourced and deployed interpreter teams in a matter of days to support migrant worker dormitories and SAF camp operations. This was no easy feat, but because of their professionalism, we were able to rapidly acquire commerciallyavailable solutions to achieve mission success.

Crisis refocused our CSS community

CSSCOM was deeply entrenched in our WoN fight against COVID-19. We leaned forward to support SAF TFs, MTI, ESG, NTUC, MOM and MOH in the areas of leadership, planning, execution and ops-tech solutions. We also helped equip and support other government agencies in their respective missions. I am proud of the remarkable quality of our CSSians. We have established ourselves as a community that is relevant, caring, professional and resilient.

We will strive to build the next generation CSSCOM that is Better, Smarter, Faster. One that is Mission-ready, Data-enabled and Respected!

One Heart, One Mind, One CSS!