Director of Joint Operations

My first tour in Joint Staff was as a junior Staff Officer in JOD and I was honoured to have contributed towards Ops FLYING EAGLE, the largest foreign deployment of SAF troops back in 2004. It was ironic that my last tour in Joint Staff would be as Director of Joint Operations, and have the opportunity to lead the SAF's operations during the pandemic at the strategic and organisational levels. These are six of my reflections.

Always Ready

The then-COL David Koh, Deputy Head of Joint Operations, who led the SAF's support for our nation's fight against SARS, used to give me this advice: “David, in ops, every morning, you should listen to the BBC when you drive to work to find out what's going wrong with the world, and have a big breakfast at the canteen, because you never know when you are going to be able to eat next!”. The SAF has in place a number of standing and contingency operations. Anything ranging from aircraft intrusion to terrorist attacks to chemical leaks, we have a contingency plan for it, exercised it, and are ready to go. It is one of the most well-prepared organisations in the world. As DJO, my purpose is to ensure the SAF is ready. We are always ready to be called to action.

Unlike what they teach you in schools or what you go through in training exercises - in a crisis, nobody hands you an Operations Order or gives you a mission. Rather, you have to make sense of what is happening around you, study the data, and determine if you need to act. So in early January 2020, on learning about the outbreak of pneumonia in a market in Wuhan, the team at JOD dusted up our contingency plans for an Influenza Pandemic (yes, this is one of the contingencies!), and together with the Services' Operations Departments, started making plans for the SAF: Plans for both business continuity, so that the SAF could continue to keep Singapore and Singaporeans safe and secure, and plans for making contributions to WoG should we be called upon. This was a good 20 days before the Homefront Crisis Executive Group (HCEG) convened, and 30 days before the World Health Organisation declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. No matter what is happening in the world, the SAF must be Always Ready.

The Purple SAF

Throughout the pandemic, the Services' Head of Operations — BG Andrew Lim, ACGS (Ops), BG Seah Poh Yeen, Head, Naval Operations, and COL Lim Kok Hong, Head, Air Operations — and COL Lim Yu Chuan, Head, Joint Research, would gather in my little corner in MINDEF-SAF Operations Complex (MSOC), where I would update them on the latest data and national policy thinking, and we would collectively make sense of the situation, bring up Service-specific issues, and contextualise it into what needed to be done for the SAF. These huddles would be short, fast, and effective, lasting no more than 15-30 minutes each time, and was where ops policies regarding posture, isolation regimes, and measures would be made. The focus of the Services' Head of Operations were always on how do we come together and design policies that would be simple and crisp at the SAF level so it would be easy for the ground to execute, and give enough room for the Services to add on specific measures where needed. And this spirit of integration and collaboration would continue throughout the pandemic, from Army stepping up to provide accommodation for RSAF, RSN and C4I Critical Ops Units when isolation regimes were implemented, to RSAF and RSN folks stepping up to contribute in some of the Army-led Task Forces. Underlying it was the trust between the Services - that we could count on each other to help out. While it did not occur to any of us at that point in time, on hindsight, it was a picture of a Joint and Integrated SAF working beautifully together. The Purple SAF.

The power of the "Little Green Man"

Those who have served would be familiar with the Little Green Man, a small icon played on free-to-air TV that would signal the mobilisation of NS units. The SAF is a conscript armed force, and draws into it citizens from all walks of life. It is a big melting pot, where regardless of race, language, or religion, we come together to learn the common language of defence for our nation.

In early April 2020, following outbreaks in several migrant worker dormitories, the SAF was asked to lead an interagency task force to handle the situation. The scale of the task was huge – we had to manage 43 dormitories housing more than 300,000 migrant workers. The largest housed 24,000, while the smallest housed a few thousands. This was clearly beyond what the SAF could manage. We needed the help of the Regional Health Clusters to marshal the national medical resources to care for our migrant workers.

I told BG Seet Uei Lim, the Commander of this interagency JTF(A), that we needed to mobilise the national medical resources. We called the Chief Operating Officers of National Healthcare Group, SingHealth, and National University Health System to meet us at JTF(A) HQ, to explain to them the scale of the problem, and what we thought needed to be done to prioritise and organise our national medical resources to manage the outbreak, and the support we needed from them. This was important to avoid overwhelming our hospitals - in particular the ICUs-so that healthcare services for non-COVID-19 ailments could continue.

BG Seet and I discussed how to approach this, and our conclusion was we should avoid as much military jargon as possible. To our surprise, at the meeting, the reply we got from them was “Sir, just give us the Ops Orders! We are all Medical Officers, we have served before. We know what the deal is. Just tell us what to do and we will get it done!”.

It was not just JTF(A). In almost every agency and ministry where we were asked to contribute, we would find people familiar with our common language, and the common way of working and organising, which brought great order and effectiveness during a time of great chaos. More often than not, we will meet those who had served with us – Dr Kenneth Mak, Director Medical Services, had served with us as the Deputy Commander of CSS Command. Dr Andrew Aw, who was tasked to support JTF(A), had served with me in 3rd Singapore Division. This common language, and common friendships acquired through National Service (NS) was one of the most important yet undocumented success factors in our nation's ability to manage the outbreak. The power of the Little Green Man.

Whole-of-Government – stronger together

While the SAF played an important role in the national fight against COVID-19, we could only do so because we were a part of the WoG team. The scale of the crisis made it clear that the resources of the SAF alone would not be sufficient for this national fight. We had to rely on Ministry of National Development colleagues to marshal the national hotel resources to serve as quarantine facilities, MOH colleagues to marshal the national testing and healthcare resources, and colleagues from Singapore Police Force (SPF) to deploy as FASTs in the migrant worker dormitories together, amongst others. Having strong networks and friendships with our WoG colleagues helped us get things done effectively and efficiently. Often, a phone call was all it took to get things done. Should the SAF ever be called to the ultimate task of defending our country, we would have to similarly work together with our WoG colleagues to mobilise our national resources for the defence of Singapore. In this regard, it is important for us to form our networks and friendships with our WoG colleagues in peace.

Ops-Tech together

One of the first phone calls I received during the operation was from Ngiam Le Na, Deputy Chief Executive (Operations), DSTA. “I heard that the SAF is activated. How can I help?”. Within a few hours from that phone call, DSTA engineers and DSO scientists would be at MSOC. My Ops people would explain to them what was happening, where the problems were, and what data they needed to do their jobs better. The scientists and engineers would dutifully take notes, and within a short time, come back with mock-ups and dashboards to iterate with our Ops guys on what would be useful. This would characterise the nature of our ops-tech collaborations. Thereafter, wherever the SAF went, the DTC would be there to support. It was this employment of technology and sense-making that would help us understand how well operations were running, identify chokepoints, and where necessary, work with our MOH colleagues to review the relevant policies. For example, the dashboard would show us that there were a number of COVID-19 patients who were staying for extended durations in the hospitals and care facilities, well beyond the documented 21-day infection period. On examination with MOH colleagues, we found that some patients would shed viral fragments, and hence not achieve the two negative tests required for discharge even though they were no longer infectious. This led to a policy review, and resulted in the time-based discharge policy that freed up bed spaces for new COVID-19 patients, better matching our hospital resources to those who needed it, and at the same time allowing patients who have recovered and were no longer infectious to return to their families. Throughout the pandemic, our tech people would be working hand-in-glove with ops, whether at the Forward Deployed Labs, the Task Force headquarters, or in getting pulse oximeters to the migrant workers in the dormitories.

Conclusion - people are everything

Finally, my most important reflection is that people are everything. In the final analysis, it was the strength, commitment, and resourcefulness of our people that got the job done. At every corner and every twist and turn of the pandemic, it was our people, working as a team, who delivered against the odds. Therefore, it is our role as leaders to lead our people well, nurture them, and help them achieve their fullest potential. For I have no doubt that in any future crisis or fight, it is our people who will prove to be our decisive edge that achieves victory for Singapore and Singaporeans.