To Lead, To Excel, To Overcome. Those were the first words I saw when I arrived outside the Officer Cadet School (OCS) one week after my POP. When I received my posting letter two days ago, I was elated! Now that the initial hype of family and friends congratulating me had died down, I was feeling very apprehensive as I stood outside the gates of OCS (sorry for the heavy usage of acronyms!). I did not know what was expected of me and how I was supposed to act. In BMT, the recruits had an instinctual fear of the officers because we had to act correctly or risk punishment; and I was about to step into an institution that was full of officers, and in my mind, that meant more eyes waiting to watch me screw up. True enough, my fears were not unfounded.
In less than five minutes, I was facing the ground – but not for reasons that was originally expected. The officer-in-charge, Lieutenant (LTA) Nicholas, told us that this was part of the standard warm-up exercise they did in OCS. We were warming up for an orientation run around the OCS grounds. While doing push ups, LTA Nicholas also told us that we were doing push ups as warm up to build up our physical endurance so that we are able to lead by example in the future when we become officers. He instructed us to keep our heads up while doing the push ups so that we are able to look at our men and motivate them to persevere when we are doing pushups together with them. It was then when I realized that I was stepping into a different environment and I was expected to pick up a new discourse – an officer persona of sorts.
My ZoPD during OCS
On a macro level, I can see Vgotsky’s concept of Zone of Proximal Development (ZoPD) being applied in the SAF progressive training structure (See figure above). The difficulty and focus of training varied according to what the target audience’s actual and proximal development levels were. Previously, when I was still a recruit, the training in BMT focused on helping me acquire basic military skills. Using the situational awareness test, my actual developmental level was assessed and at the same time, the results delineated my zone of proximal development, particularly in leadership potential, which placed me as a candidate qualified for OCS. Coming to OCS completes one cycle, where I will be led through a process of developing my officer-ship skills and future evaluation tests will determine my future ZoPD for other areas of military training.
In all, I experienced a culture shock on my first day at OCS. My first taste of the training provided at OCS offered me a glimpse into the new discourse (as a military officer) that I was expected to master and acquire after the nine-month long training program at OCS; I was excited for the journey that lied ahead.