Kirpa Ram Vij : The Volunteer Who Launched an Army.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Menon, Ramachandran.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Vij, Kirpa Ram, 1935-.

National security.

Singapore.

Local Subjects:

Vij, Kirpa Ram, 1935-.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (299 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Singapore : ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute, 2025.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

For the first ten years of the history of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), one soldier dominated its build-up. Mobilized by Defence Minister Dr Goh Keng Swee after Singapore's expulsion from Malaysia on 9 August 1965, Kirpa Ram Vij, then a captain in the Singapore Volunteer Artillery, established the Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute (SAFTI) with Israeli Defence Force advisors. Together with them, he also formulated many SAF operational doctrines that still underlie SAF land forces' training today. He launched advanced leadership training establishments including the School of Advanced Training for Officers (SATO) and the Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College (CSC). He attained the then top uniformed appointment of Director, General Staff, as a Brigadier General. Overtaken by numerous cohorts of younger administrative service officers for senior civil service posts while in the SAF, he quit government service to join Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) where he mastered computer freight services as General Manager, Administration, among other top management jobs. On retirement from NOL, he was initially appointed Consultant and later Chief Executive Officer of Gateway Distriparks Limited (GDL, a Singapore consortium) and installed India's first foreign-owned computer freight service terminal in Navi Mumbai, later to be listed in both India and New York with great success.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword / Peter Ho

Message / Winston Choo

Preface

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

2. Securing Singapore

3. Refugee from Punjab

4. Launchpad

5. Stumble and Recovery

6. From Pig Sties to Spit and Polish

7. First and Foremost

8. The Force Takes Shape

9. Once More with Feeling

10. Back in Mainstream

11. A Fork in the Road

12. A Success to Savour

13. A Life Well-Lived

Appendix: Memoirs of the SAF Instructors Preparatory Course in February 1966

Index

About the Author

Pictures

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Part of the metadata in this record was created by AI, based on the text of the resource.

ISBN:

981-5306-32-4

9789815306323

OCLC:

1564045059