Pointer V37N1 A Warfighter-Adaptiveness-Resilience Model

8/6/2019 Pointer V37N1 A Warfighter-Adaptiveness-Resilience Model

1/14POINTER, JOURNAL OF THE SINGAPORE ARMED FORCES VOL. 37 NO. 1

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Preparing Our Soldiers To Fight Tomorrow'sBattles:A Warfghter-Adaptiveness-Resilience

Modelby COL Ong Yu Lin, SLTC Lim Beng Chong and MAJ Damian Lim

INTRODUCTION

The modern operating environment is

characterised by uncertainty: the blurring o

boundaries between war and peace has changed the

battlefeld. Our soldiers ability to operate amidst

uncertainty is now key to mission success: they have

to remain rooted as warfghters and be ready to

perorm tasks that they were not traditionally

expected or trained to perorm. Recognizing that the

competitive advantage lies in the ability o our soldiers

to adapt, we will discuss the problems associated

with traditional training methods and the benefts

o training and developing our soldiers to think or

themselves. Second, to complement the adaptiveness

necessary to operate in an increasingly uncertain

environment, they must also possess the resilience

to bounce back rom adversity. We will also map out

the challenges that our soldiers ace and how their

adaptiveness and resilience interact to complement

each other. Finally, to conclude the discussion,

we propose a Warfghter-Adaptiveness-Resilience

Model to guide the development o the qualities

o Adaptiveness and Resilience in a Warfghter.

A TIME OF TROUBLED PEACE

Our undamental belie is that the world is in a

state o troubled peace. This echoes the postulation

o Rupert Smith that peace will never be ully restored

ater a conict. Given the nature o todays conictswhich closely resemble the Three Block War, this

means that military operation are most certainly

waged amongst the people.1 This troubled peace has

resulted in an operating environment where the soldiers

o today, as described by Marine Corps General Charles

Krulak, are expected to pursue multiple roles.2 They

might be required to perorm the role o peacemakers

or even humanitarians with their warfghter persona.

UNDERSTANDING THE MODERN OPERATINGENVIRONMENT

Besides having to assume dierent role identities

(as warfghters, peacemakers and humanitarians),

modern soldiers have to operate in an environment

characterised by uncertainty. Such an ability is key to

mission success. In this paper, we defne uncertainty as

a unction o (1) volatility dynamic environment due

to ast and requent changes, (2) complexity multi-

agent involvement interacting together rendering

Abstract:

Contemporary warare is becoming increasingly marked by operations that challenge traditional concepts o war

fghting. Peace keeping and humanitarian aid operations demand dierent skill s o soldiers than those required

to fght conventional battles. This article discusses the approach taken by the SAF as it trains its soldiers to

ace the uncertainties o the modern battlefeld, while retaining the skills required to handle more traditionalmissions.

Keywords: 3rd Generation SAF, Leadership, Military Psychology, Training



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cause-andeect conusion, and (3) ambiguity

multiple plausible interpretations o the emerging

situation.

This new environment requires a dierent breed

o soldiers who can exercise good judgement andbring a positive outcome to an uncertain situation

that may require all three roles to be carried out

eectively and seamlessly. Instead o leaving it

to chance or learning on the job while engaging in

prolonged operations, a systematic approach to

training and development can create not just one,

but an army o modern WAR-riorsadaptive and

resilient warfghters.

QUALITIES OF THE MODERN WARRIORHe has been called by many names: some call

him the Thinking Soldier,3 to others he is known

as the Strategic Corporal,4 while others use 3rd

Generation Soldier.5 The search or a soldier, rom

one who obediently ollows orders, to one who in

the absence o direct leadership can exercise good

judgement and bring about a positive outcome to

an uncertain situation, is vital or mission success.

The questions are: (1) what are the required qualities

o the modern WAR-riors, and (2) how they can

be trained to operate in the modern battlefeld.

The acronym W-A-R describes the qualities necessary

or the modern WAR-rior Warfghter, Adaptiveness

and Resilience (See Figure 1).

Figure 1: Qualities o the Modern WAR-rior.

QUALITY OF A WARFIGHTER

The blurring o the boundaries between Peace

and War still requires soldiers who are competent and

profcient in their military crat. They must be trained

in the art o warare to operate as warfghters. This

is the frst quality that the modern WAR-rior must

possess. They must espouse the ethos o a warfghter,

exhibiting steadast commitment and proessionalism

in carrying out their traditional military tasks. The

modern WAR-rior must be able to overcome the

physical and psychological stress associated with

warfghting. However, what dierentiate the modern

WAR-riors rom previous generations o soldiers

are their expanded capability sets which are driven

and guided by values.

This troubled peace has resulted in

an operating environment where

the soldiers o today, as described

by Marine Corps General Charles

Krulak, are expected to pursue

multiple roles.

Expanded Capability Sets. The modern WAR-

rior must not only be able to deal with various

intensities o warare, but are also expected to take

on a wider spectrum o operations spanning across the



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peace-war continuum. At a moments notice, this

versatile modern WAR-rior could be called upon

to engage in operations ranging rom an all out

conventional war to operations other than war,

which includes humanitarian aid and disaster relie

or even peace support operations. Because his

expected duties range rom one end o the peace-war

continuum to the other, a lot more is demanded o

the modern WAR-rior. He has to be a warfghter,

peacemaker and humanitarian rolled into one

(Figure 2). He needs to have the necessary

knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA), and adopt the

appropriate KSA as the situation dictates.

Driven and Guided by Values. Apart rom

the additional KSAs required due to the expanded

role and scope, there is a second component that

distinguishes a modern WAR-rior rom his

predecessors. He is defned not just by the abilities

and hardware he carries, but by the sotware within,

which some call a devotion to his proession based

on a set o belies or values. His values will guide

him to make decisions in an increasingly uncertain

environment where the boundaries between right

and wrong are unclear.6

Values serve as a moralcompass that guides this modern WAR-rior to do the

right thing in an uncertain environment, especially

in the absence o direct leadership.

Figure 2: The 3 Role Identities o the Modern WAR-rior.

QUALITY OF ADAPTIVENESS

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell mentions

the 10,000 Hour Rule. He claims the key to success

is to practise a specifc task or 10,000 hours.7 In the

same manner, soldiers are taught basic drills that

are practised repeatedly until it eventually becomes

second nature. This is easily done or simple tasks

in simple scenarios. However, or complex scenarios,

they require more than just a mechanical response.

Usually, there is a range o possible permutations

o responses in complex scenarios and as such, it

becomes virtually impossible to train or every one

o them. To operate in an uncertain environment,

training must now extend beyond the mechanical

process o repetition to ocus on gaining experience

and recognising patterns. Essentially, i given

enough scenarios or opportunities involving many

complex situations, one will eventually begin to

recognise patterns, expand one's knowledge base or

even combine acets o existing patterns to address

novel situations.

This new environment requires a

dierent breed o soldiers who can

exercise good judgement and bring

a positive outcome to an uncertain

situation that may require all three

roles to be carried out eectively

and seamlessly. Instead o leaving

it to chance or learning on the

job while engaging in prolongedoperations, a systematic approach

to training and development can

create not just one, but an army o

modern WAR-riors adaptive and

resilient warfghters.



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Training developers and providers are now aced

with a huge challenge. With uncertainty becoming

the dominant element o the battle space, the task

o identiying what to train or has also become

increasingly difcult. It is impossible to develop

training solutions to prepare soldiers or the range

and scope o possible scenarios. It is no longer

adequate to provide training that hinges on the

competency theory o learning where success o

the training requires 10,000 hours o practice to

achieve a specifc desired learned behaviour or

desired solution. A new approach is needed to

prepare our soldiers to ace an operating environment

characterised by uncertainty. Realising a new approach

is needed, military orces have begun the evolutionin the way they develop their soldiers, specifcally

in the area o adaptability.

Adaptiveness is the ability and capacity to

anticipate, recognize and understand changes in

a situation, in order to respond rapidly and retain

an optimal level o perormance. This is crucial or

the modern WAR-rior to operate and unction in

todays complex operating environment. Instead o

a comprehensive solution book with step-by-stepinstructions based on set rules and conditions, the

emerging approach is to equip the soldiers with

the necessary KSAs to construct their own meaning

and develop their own solutions. The Adaptiveness

Model (See Figure 3) proposes our inter-connected

mental states or phases an individual will transit

through while adapting to a disruption or stimulus

that changes the situation or environment.

The model suggests that practice acilitates learning

and accumulation o knowledge and a repertoireo skills necessary to unction optimally. A rich

source o stored knowledge and skill is the

experience that one can draw rom to assist the

individual to analyse and adjust their actions.

Through the process, one learns, enhances and

increases his existing knowledge and skills

which in turn, adds richness to the individuals

own experience.

Figure 3: Adaptiveness Model.

Sensemake The process o sensemaking requires

the individual to update or build-up their awarenesso the situation. Next, they will have to understand

both the positive and negative implications o the

changes and develop, to a great extent intuitively,

possible options to manage the changes. This process

also requires the individual to have good pattern

recognition ability to 'see' emerging trends and

patterns. Past experience and accumulated knowledge

are organized as patterns, trends or narratives. When

needed, we draw upon this database o patterns

in parts, whole or re-combine dierent parts o

various patterns to generate options to deal with the

prevailing situation.

Adjust The next phase is a series o adjustments

and modifcations to a selected option. This process

o mental simulation to determine the suitability o

the option takes into consideration the changes in

the situation. The process requires mental capacity,

which is developed over time and through requent

practice. As the situation changes, the selected

option is also adjusted or modifed to keep pacewith changes in the situation.

Learn Through the process o sensemaking

and adjustment o options, the individual develops

a better understanding o the situation and its

associated indicators, cues and patterns. It aids the

understanding o what might or might not work, and

more importantly, the reasons why. This essentially

is the process o learning.



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Accumulate The new learning is added to an

individuals existing repertoire o knowledge and

skill, and synthesized with existing knowledge and

skill base. The solution adopted ater many iterations

is now stored as a new pattern together with the

characteristics o the new context. Existing patternsare also refned to accommodate new additions.

The accumulated experience then provides a richer

database or the individual to draw upon when the

individual encounters a similar change or disruption.

The SAF has come to realise that every soldier,

sailor and airman is a leader who must think

independently, seize the initiative, and apply his

skills decisively.8 It is not enough or him to possess

good situational awareness but he must also learn

and create new knowledge. The desire is or a soldier

who can discern and analyse what he sees, and make

timely decisions in the midst o uncertainty.9 Every

soldier o the SAF is now a sensor and processor

who is able to sensemake and adjust his actions

in an uncertain battlefeld, utilizing kinetic and

non-kinetic eects, lethal and non-lethal capabilities

to deal with a bewildering array o challenges and

threats that require well-reasoned and independent

decisions made under extreme adversity. Thereore,

not only does the soldier need to be able to adapt,he needs to be able to deal with adversity.

QUALITY OF RESILIENCE

Resilience is recognised as an inherent trait o

every individual to cope with challenging lie events

residing in the everyday magic o ordinary, normative

human resources.10

It is also recognised thatresilience is triggered by adversity and necessitates

the achievement o positive outcomes or sustained

competence ater a period o adversity. Resilience

in the military is thus maintaining a positive mental

state despite the harsh realities o operations

that can stress and overwhelm the soldier. Lack o

resilience will result in maladaptive, dysunctional

behaviour or psychopathology. A Psychologically

Ready Soldier is one who maintains eective combat

perormance amidst difcult circumstances andkeeps on persevering even when injured.

There are two emergent states prior to a mission

that characterises a Psychologically Ready Soldier

(See Figure 4). First, he has a strong Will-To-

Fight. In his heart, he believes in the need or

military action to bring about a better tomorrow.

He is compelled by care or his loved ones and

loyalty to his commanders and peers. Injustice and

preservation o his dignity drive him to action.When he fghts, he invests himsel wholeheartedly.

Figure 4: Individual Psychological Readiness Framework.11



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Figure 5:Resiliency Resources.

In the context o psychological deence, the WTF

is equivalent to a strong motivation to deend the

country despite personal costs. This motivational

state is what initiates related desired behaviours such

as task persistence (staying to fght) and bouncing

back rom adversity.

Secondly, he has an optimal State o Mind by

appraising the mission and his ability positively.

In his mind, he expects the unexpected and views

problems/setbacks as challenges to be overcome.

He is confdent o surmounting adverse situations.

He constantly seeks opportunities instead o dwelling

on threats. Most importantly, a Psychologically

Ready Soldier engages in constant Sel-Regulation.

He is able to manage his negative emotions and

thoughts, enabling him to overcome the instinctual

tendencies to reeze or ee when conronted with

ear. He is not derailed by distraction, but is able to

stay ocused on the task at hand.

Apart rom the environmental and contextual

actors, variations in individual resilience perormance

are inuenced by several actors. A soldiers mental

resources and experiences aect how he appraises

a stressul situation, his motivation how he copes

with the situation. The individual psychological



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readiness drivers or personal resiliency resources can

be categorised into Cognitive, Aective, Physical,

Attitudinal and Behavioural components, which taken

together, constitute the soldiers resilience capacity

(Figure 5). Given what we know about the nature

o resilience, we propose training to build up the

individuals psychological readiness by developingthese personal resiliency resources. The higher

resiliency a soldier possesses, the more likely he will

be an intrepid warrior in the ace o adversity.

THE CHALLENGE OF THE MODERN WAR-RIOR

Military orces have realised that the modern

WAR-rior requires an expanded set o Knowledge,

Skills and Attitudes (KSA). However, this is not easy

or the modern WAR-rior to manage. The three

Qualities described need to be imprinted in theWAR-rior DNA to help manage this expanded set

o KSA and deal with the challenges o the modern

operating environment.

First, he must deal with an already ull training

plate. Next, he must be prepared to switch and play

the three roles seamlessly. As he is human, even a

modern WAR-rior needs time to prepare mentally or

an identity shit. In addition, the blurring o the

boundaries already presents a challenge in deciding

what should be the appropriate role to adopt and

when is it the right time to switch. The extent to

which this modern WAR-rior can pick up the cues

that help him decide the what and when, and

how ast the transition can be done determines

his eectiveness.

Conceptually, there is a dierence between

operating in war and in peace. In war, the soldier is

trained to kill, maim or incapacitate. In peace, the

soldier is trained to de-escalate violence, protectand show restraint. The issue is whether such

cross-training creates tension in the physical, mental

and psychological preparation o soldier.

Figure 6: Tensions Facing the Modern WAR-rior.



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As mentioned earlier, in the domain o knowledge

and skill, the WAR-rior must be well-grounded as a

warfghter. The training demands or a warfghter ar

outweigh the training demands o the other two roles.

The knowledge and skills required are also harder to

maintain. Much time and eort is thus required to

keep a soldier ready or war.

In a dynamic operating environment, the

attitude that accompanies a specifc role identity

must adjust to match the scenario just as ast as we

re-tool the modern WAR-rior or a new task. But

this is not as easy as it seems, because there is an

inherent tension that exists between the mindsets

o a warfghter, peacemaker and humanitarian (See

Figure 6). Sel-control and sel-restraint are easily

lost when bullets y and survival is at stake.

Any person, not just the modern WAR-rior, will fndit intuitive to switch to the warfghter mindset rom

that o a Peacemaker or a Humanitarian when their

survival is threatened. Unortunately, regaining

control takes more eort and time to cultivate. As

war is now waged amongst the people, the modern

WAR-rior must take care to exercise good judgement

and sel control. While it is easy to transit into the

warfghter mindset, returning to the mindset o the

peace keeper or humanitarian is much more difcult.

Adversity is a trigger that aects thepersonal capacity or adaptiveness

and resilience.

Difcult as it may be or modern WAR-riors to

switch mindsets, they do not have a choice. They

must be able to toggle back and orth quickly and

seamlessly to be able to unction and cope in the

ace o major environmental challenges that threaten

to overwhelm them. This is precisely the reason

why the Quality o Adaptiveness and the Quality oResilience complement the Quality o the Warfghter.

Adaptiveness helps pick up the necessary cues

to help the WAR-rior determine what role he should

switch to and when to do it. Resilience is what

helps one bounce back rom adversity, overcome the

resistance and adopt a response oriented approach.

Figure 7 compares how a psychologically

ready modern WAR-rior diers rom an unprepared

individual in times o adversity. For example, an

unwelcome and unexpected event is quite likely

to disrupt the normal daily unction o a modern

WAR-rior to some degree. Resilience retards the

downward spiral in perormance and helps recovery

ater the initial setback. Adaptiveness plays a dominant

role to acilitate sensemaking o the situation.

Thereater, once this person is able to make sense andunderstand the situation he is able to quickly adapt

to the stimulus. People with high sel-efcacy tend

to approach a challenging and difcult task as

something to master rather than to be avoided.12

Adversity may trigger the process but an optimistic

and positive outlook is what helps to overcome

adversity. This is where Resilience and Adaptiveness

work together in concert to produce a competitive

edge against adversity. Finally, to sustain an eective

or improved level o perormance, one needs the

resilience to keep going. The outcome is an individual

who is more adaptive and resilient ater an episode

o adversity.

Figure 7 also depicts a psychologically unprepared

soldier who is unable to recover rom tribulations. A

highly adaptive and resilient person normally adopts a

response-oriented thinking in response to an adversity

stimulus.13 Simply put, an adaptive and resilient

person moves quickly rom analysis to a plan o act ion

or reaction ater the onset o adversity. In contrast,a person with low adaptiveness and resilience gets

stuck in cause-oriented thinking that consumes him

and prevents a recovery.

Table 1: Cause-Oriented vs. Response-Oriented Thinking.

Cause-OrientedThinking

Response-OrientedThinking

What are the causes? What can I improve?

Who or what caused it? What are the positiveimpacts?

What is the extent othe underlying cause?

What can I do to limitthe negative eectsand generate positiveeects?

How long will it last? What can I do to addressthe problem now?



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Figure 7: Response to Uncertainty and Adversity.

Adversity is a trigger that aects the personal

capacity or adaptiveness and resilience. Learning

science tells us that or learning to occur, knowledge

must be presented in an authentic context, a setting

that closely resembles the operating environment

where it is to be applied. Thereore, the essence o

Tough and Realistic Training must still hold true

in order to bring one to a higher level. Essentially,

what does not kill you should make you stronger.

Over time, exposure to multiple episodes should

see one achieving a general improvement o task

perormance by accumulating capacity to deal with

uncertainty and adversity.

MAKING THE MUSCLES WORK TOGETHER

Soldiers need to be trained in military operations

that they are required to perorm in war or in

operations other than war. They must not only be good

at it but better than their adversaries. Furthermore,

they also need to be able to adapt in the ace o

uncertainty and bounce back rom adversity. Training

developers must incorporate the relevant elements

o uncertainty to make the training context as

authentic and challenging as possible. Oten, this can

be replicated in some orm or other in a simulated

environment. However, the actual emotions and stress

during operations are rarely ever replicated ully or

completely in current training. Lastly, or training



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to really resemble the context, doses o adversity to

stimulate the emotions and stress must be inused in

order to jolt the soldiers out o their comort zones to

expose and build up against adversity.

The Expert Decision Maker could be an approach

to bring the concept o the modern WAR-rior to

reality.14 The paradigm o technology being the orce

multiplier o modern military orces like the SAF

has now shited to that o a thinking soldier, who

despite being engaged in a myriad o challenges in

the new operating environment will be able to make

appropriate decisions and to operate seamlessly

along the peace-war continuum.15 This so called

expert decision maker is one who uses both intuitive

and analytical approaches in decision making.16 Ongand Lim (2005) have proposed a TALAC (Think and Act

Like A Commander) pedagogy that seeks to build such

an expert. (See Figure 8) It may be an appropriate

pedagogy that prepares one to understand the context

in order to rame or identiy the problem beore

working out a range o options or a solution.

The TALAC pedagogy, which is essentially an

approach or developing the cognitive aptitude,

or what this article describes as the Quality

o Adaptiveness, could be modifed to include

multi-dimensional stressors to simulate adversity

in order to develop the Quality o Resilience. Ong

et al. specifcally mention the need to leverage on

previous learning to lit the learning value o the next

activity to a higher order. Each successive training

activity aims to present a dilemma that challenges

the soldiers belies and views by conronting him

with a choice o action. While each activity is amiliar,there are dierences that orce him to re-evaluate

his thinking. It allows one to practice decision

Figure 8: Think and Act Like A Commander Pedagogy.

making and helps build a repertoire o knowledge

rom each encounter. The iterations are meant to

bolster subsequent levels and instil confdence. As we

continue to build on each level and gain experience,

the novice will eventually become an expert.17

Besides increasing the level o uncertainty in eachtraining activity, it is also possible to increase the

level o difculty by moderating the type and

intensity o stressors to enhance the process to

prepare a soldier to ace adversity in the modern

operating environment.

Having said that, we must not get carried away

as the intent o TALAC is to build up o a repertoire o

recognised patterns in a novice. Introducing adversity

induces a dierent learning outcome. Thereore, ithe purpose is to acilitate the build up in the level

o cognition, it may not be a good idea to include

multi-dimensional stressors that could inhibit

cognitive training or novices.

However, at some point in time, adaptiveness

and resilience must come together to ensure that

the cognitive component o the soldier unctions

optimally in the midst o adversity. Doing so not only

challenges the efcacy o the soldier, but also assures

commanders that the soldier is ready or operations.

For those with high efcacy, they will be motivated

to take up the challenge and master it. Second, it

builds upon the previous experience, raising the

level o resilience rom the initial state. Resilience

is like the muscles o the body. It does not work in

isolation, or every muscle that contracts, there is

another set that expands. Like muscles, we exercise

them to become stronger and to build endurance.Muscles that are let idle will atrophy and so too

does resilience.



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Figure 9: Enhanced TALAC Pedagogy.

WARFIGHTER ADAPTIVENESS RESILIENCE

(WAR) MODEL

A pedagogy that systematically transorms a

novice into an expert in dealing with uncertainty

and adversity will also develop the adaptiveness

and resilience necessary or warfghters. Such

pedagogy must have a mechanism that stimulates the

development o both adaptiveness and resilience.

The proposed training approach utilises

TALAC as the basic DNA or building block. Figure 9

indicates that each level represents a dierentstage o development which scaolds the next level.

According to the Dreyus Model o Skill Acquisition,

it can be concluded that our soldiers pass through

fve stages when acquiring a skill.18 In this case, it

is the skill o pattern recognition which is important

or Adaptiveness and the skill o coping or

Resilience. This pedagogy prepares our warfghters to

acquire such skills without having to rely on real

operations.

The principles underlying this pedagogy must

be understood or it to be used correctly. It must

be able to:

Provide sufcient challenge to orce one out o

their comort zone. For the model to be eective,

a learner-context analysis must be perormed to

understand the learners level o skill and the current

operating environment. This is to calibrate the level

o difculty and challenge that we want to expose the

warfghter to so that it orces him to achieve the next

level.

Allow or mastery over the training activity. It

is not about passing or ailing but rather to challenge

the warfghter to do better. This principle shared by

many other pedagogy ensures incremental success

at every stage. Such an approach aects the way

the warfghter views the accomplishment o task. It

encourages constant improvement instead o being

complacent once the task has been achieved.



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While adaptiveness is a necessary quality or

the warfghter, resilience is a complementary, i

neglected, quality that completes the warfghter's

preparation to ace the challenges o the new operating

environment. The ability to analyse is critical, but

resilience is required to quickly transit rom a cause-

oriented thinking to a response-oriented thinking.

While adaptiveness is a necessary

quality or the warfghter,

resilience is a complementary, i

neglected, quality that completes

the warfghter's preparation to

ace the challenges o the new

operating environment. The ability

to analyse is critical, but resilience

is required to quickly transit rom a

cause-oriented thinking to a

response-oriented thinking.

In order or such a transition to occur, three

conditions must be present. The frst condition is to

have a knowledge base and experiences organised as

a repertoire o patterns and narratives. The second

condition is to have pattern recognition skills.

The third is the ability to generate possible options

through the interaction o the frst two conditions.

These three conditions are the main learning outcomes

o TALAC pedagogy. Constantly achieving these

learning outcomes promotes the ability to transitrom a cause-oriented thinking to a response-oriented

thinking. However, the velocity o transition, while

triggered and accelerated by adversity, will depend

on the richness o ones experience and knowledge,

the mastery o pattern recognition skills and the

speed o generating options to constructively

address the adversity.

Adversity is not only a trigger but a means to

build tolerance against dysunctionality. Problem

solving and analysis are important, but too much o

both can result in paralysis. Inusing elements o

adversity at the various levels may be seen as taking

a bitter pill. I you taste bitterness oten enough,

you will get used to it. Eventually, it will seem less

bitter. Compared to the frst time when it numbed

the tongue such that you could taste little else, the

next time round you know what to expect and how

to deal with it.

CONCLUSION

The Quality o a Warfghter is still the cornerstone

even or a modern War-rior. However, being a

warfghter is not sufcient or the modern battlefeld.

Not only he has to deal with an expanded role and

scope, he has to adopt multiple roles o warfghter,

peacemaker and humanitarian. He is expected to

know what role to adopt and when to switch roles. He

also needs to do it seamlessly and quickly, assisted

by two complementary qualities o adaptiveness

and resilience.

To be an eective warfghter in the new

operating environment, the modern War-riors

competitive advantage is his Quality o Adaptiveness.Unortunately, all this is or naught i he is unable

to constantly sel-regulate and unction in the midst

o adversity. O course, we want this soldier to adapt

and thrive in whatever operating environment he

is thrust into, but it is also important to be able

to outlast his opponent. All things being equal,

the Quality o Resilience sustains the ability to

unction under adverse conditions.

Uncertainty is the new norm. The nature o

conicts in this century is more volatile, complexand ambiguous in comparison to those o centuries

past. In a time o troubled peace, the og o war

has invaded peace and blurred its boundaries.

Thereore, the chosen one must possess the quality

o the Warfghter, Adaptiveness and Resilience to

pierce this og and keep on going despite all the

unknowns thrown at him.



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ENDNOTES

1. Rupert Smith, The Utility o Force: The Art o War in the

Modern World(London: Allen Lane, 2005).

2. Accordingly to Gen. Charles Krulak, soldiers might be

called on to conduct ull-scale military operations,

peacekeeping operations and humanitarian aid, all

within the space o three contiguous city blocks.

See Gen. Charles C. Krulak, "The Strategic Corporal:

Leadership in the Three Block War, Marines Magazine

(January 1999), http://www.au.a.mil/au/awc/awcgate/

usmc/strategic_corporal.htm.

3. BG Goh Kee Nguan, MAJ Damian Lim, MAJ Bryan Tan,

Learning Army Thinking Soldier, POINTER 33, no. 4 (2007).

4. Krulak, "The Strategic Corporal."

5. Singapore Armed Forces Soldier or the 3rd Generation SAF.

6. MG Neo Kian Hong, Values Based Leadership, POINTER 33,

no. 4 (2007).

7. Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers (Little, Brown and Company,

2008).

8. BG Goh Kee Nguan, et al., Learning Army Thinking

Soldier.

9. Speech by BG Hugh Lim, Chie O Sta - General Sta,

at the Army Workplan Presentation on 28 March 2007,

Sharpening Our Edge.

10. A. Masten, Ordinary Magic: Resilience Processes in

Development,American Psychologist56, no. 3 (2001): 235.

11. Lim Beng Chong, Individual Psychological Readiness,unpublished work.

12. Psychologist Alber t Bandura has defned sel-efcacy as

our belie in our ability to succeed in specifc situations.

13. Joshua D. Margolis and Paul G. Stoltz, How to

Bounce Back rom Adversity, Harvard Business Review

(JanuaryFebruary 2010): 86-92.

14. COL Ong Yu Lin and LTC Lim Beng Chong, Training Expert

Decision Maker, POINTER 31, no. 2 (2005).

15. BG Goh Kee Nguan, et al., Learning Army ThinkingSoldier.

16. Gen. Charles C. Krulak, Cultivating Intuitive Decision

making, Marine Corps Gazette (May 1999).

17. COL Ong Yu Lin and LTC Lim Beng Chong, Training Expert

Decision Maker, 2005.

18. Dreyus Model o Skill Acquisition. From Stuart and

Hubert Dreyus' 1980 paper on training.

COL Ong Yu Lin is a Guards Ofcer by training and was previously Deputy

Chie Guards Ofcer. He is currently the Senior Project Ofcer in Headquarters

Guards. He holds a Bachelor o Science in Physics rom the National

University o Singapore, a Master o Management in Deence Studies rom

the University o Canberra, Australia, and an MBA rom the Nanyang Fellows

Programme in Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University.

COL Ong has also attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, U.K.,

the U.S. Army Inantry School at Fort Benning, the Australian Command and

Sta College, and the Chinese People's Liberation Army National Deence

University. He ormerly held the appointments o Commanding Ofcer, 1st

Battalion Singapore Guards, Commander, 3rd Singapore Inantry Brigade and

Commander, Ofcer Cadet School (OCS).


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SLTC Lim Beng Chong is a Psychologist by training. He is concurrently theHead o Plans and Research Branch, and Deputy Head o Deence Psychology

Department. He was also the Psychologist to the organising committee or

Youth Olympic Games (2010) and an Associate Proessor (Adj.) at Nanyang

Business School, Nanyang Technological University. SLTC Lim holds a Bachelor

o Science in Psychology rom the University o Nottingham, United Kingdom,

a Master o Science in Training and Development rom the University o

Leicester, United Kingdom, a Master o Arts and a Doctorate o Philosophy in

Industrial and Organizational Psychology rom the University o Maryland,

U.S.A. He ormerly held the appointment o Senior Field Psychologist within

Applied Behavioural Sciences Department.

MAJ Lim Sze King Damian is a Guards Ofcer and currently Commanding

Ofcer, 8th Battalion, Singapore Inantry Regiment. MAJ Lim holds a

Bachelor o Engineering (Honours) in Mechanical Engineering rom the

National University o Singapore and a Master o Science in Instructional

Systems rom Florida State University, USA. MAJ Lim has served as a Sta

Ofcer in General Sta and Headquarters Guards. He has also held the

appointments o Ofcer-Commanding and Battalion S1 in 1st Battalion

Singapore Guards, and was a Platoon Commander in Ofcer Cadet School.

Pointer V37N1 A Warfighter-Adaptiveness-Resilience Model

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