The SANDF will have to adapt to underfunding but will have to do so very intelligently to be able to meet the threats that could arise from spreading insecurity and instability in Africa. At the same time, this is an era of rapid technological developments, which will present both new threats and new opportunities that will affect operational and tactical concepts, force design and equipment requirements.
The upshot of this is that the SANDF should look at reconfiguring itself both to optimise capability at likely funding levels and to facilitate adaptation to evolving threats and new technologies, while preserving the ability to expand quickly at short notice if required.
One way to meet this dual challenge set will be to focus more strongly on the education, training and development of, particularly, the officer corps, to develop not just competence but also the intellectual and practical flexibility to handle rapidly evolving strategic, operational and tactical situations and to make optimal use of new technologies. Time spent on expanded, extended and intensified education and training will not be wasted.
The Defence Review of 2015 went into this aspect in some detail, but at a time when the situation was not as dire. The situation today, and as it is likely to be for some time, requires some adaptation from what was set out in that review, while keeping the basic concept.
One element of that concept is to re-emphasise that a commission in the military is a profession, not just a career or job. So, like other professions, it will require a profession-specific education as a first step, followed by profession-specific training. Unlike most other professions, the nature of what an officer must be able to do changes quite dramatically as the career advances. Commanding a battalion is vastly different to leading a platoon, and formation command is vastly different yet again, to give just the example of the command line. That requires both additional education and training over the course of the career, as well as careful career management by the military. That, in turn, requires education and training institutions to address the requirements of different rank groups.
Career management must include regular alternating between leadership (platoon) and command (company upwards) posts on the one hand and staff posts on the other. The point here is to develop officers with well-balanced capabilities and also an officer corps with a good balance between command and staff capabilities, the one being as critical as the other.
- Officers who demonstrate aptitude for command would spend more time in that line but must also build experience of staff functions if they are to be effective at the higher command levels.
- Officers demonstrating an aptitude for staff work would spend more time in staff appointments but need at least some command experience if they are to fully understand their responsibilities as staff officers. In addition, some officers will move into specialised fields and will mostly stay in that field thereafter.
- All of this is, of course, a generalisation and some officers will move through their careers differently.
Officer categories
The core of the officer corps must be the full career general duties officer, both those in command posts and those in staff posts. But the officer corps cannot be monolithic if it is to be effective and efficient, so the commissioning and career management system must make provision for officers other than full career general duties officers. To that end, it must provide entry, commissioning and career paths for:
- Medium-Service Officers: These would be officers intending to serve up to 20 years (with a suitable retirement option similar to the US half-pay of rank for life system), with the highest rank being lieutenant-colonel. They would have the option of applying during their service for a full career appointment.
- Short-Service Officers: These would be officers serving for a maximum of 10 years and up to the rank of captain. They would have the option of applying during their service for a medium-service or full-career appointment.
- Specialist Officers: This category would include doctors, engineers and other professions needed within the military and where uniformed service is required, rather than a civilian appointment.
- Direct Entry Officers: This category would be for persons desiring to enter commissioned service after having completed a degree or similar qualification outside the military or after time in a civilian career. This could include some desiring a general duties commission and others wishing to work in some professional field – for instance engineer – within the military.
- Reserve Officers: Ideally most reserve officer posts would be filled by officers departing the regular army after a short- or medium-service career, the former moving to reserve units as regimental officers, the latter mainly into staff posts at formation or other headquarters.
- Commissioned NCOs and WOs: Some NCOs may during their service find that they would be better suited to commissioned duties. This should be made possible for general duties commissions up to the rank of sergeant, given completion of the required education and training. NCOs above that rank and Warrant Officers would instead be commissioned as specialists in their particular field, for instance training or one of the technical fields.
Officer education and training establishments
The officer education and training system envisaged would base on the existing institutions with some changes to the courses offered: The Military Academy, the staff colleges of the services (eg Army College), the War College and the Defence College. The Academy (the Defence Review terms it the Defence Academy), the War College and the Defence College would all fall directly under the Chief of the Defence Force, reporting through the Chief of Staff. The service staff colleges would fall under the Chief of the respective service, again reporting through their Chief of Staff. The point here is that the education, training and development of officers is more than just a personnel function – it is a function and responsibility of the senior commanders.
The discussion here will be focused on Army officers, with the Air Force and Navy each needing somewhat different programmes, as will the Health Service and Defence Intelligence, both likely to make considerably more use of direct entry officers than the combat services.
Defence Academy
Essentially the present Military Academy but with an expanded role, and the entry point for most officers. It would offer:
- A one-year initial officer’s course, jointly with the Infantry School, qualifying the future officer as an infantry platoon leader and followed by one year of service as an infantry platoon leader. This would be the only course at this institution for short-service officers.
- A three-year qualifying course following on the two years set out above and leading to a bachelor’s degree in military studies. This would be for intending full career and medium-service officers.
- A one-year graduate diploma course for:
- Direct entry officers holding a university degree or similar technical qualification.
- Specialist officers (eg engineers, lawyers).
- Reserve officers wishing to join the regular forces.
- A higher diploma course for NCOs and WOs selected for commissioned service. NCOs and WOs who hold a university degree or similar qualification could opt for the graduate diploma course instead.
Staff Colleges: Junior and middle-ranking officer education and training
The service staff colleges would offer several levels of education and training. Taking the Army as an example, the Army College might offer:
- Junior Staff Duties Course, to follow on to an officer having completed a tour as a platoon or troop leader before appointment as company commander or as a battalion staff officer. This would be a six-month course, followed by training during field training exercises.
- Command and Staff Course, for majors after they have commanded a company and held one or more staff or training posts, to prepare them for battalion command and senior staff posts. This would comprise one year focused on Army command and staff matters plus a one-year foundation joint operations course at the War College as part of the package.
- This course would lead to an honours degree in military studies.
- Selected officers might be offered a one-year extension to obtain a master’s degree.
- Introduction to Defence, for civilian officials entering the Department of Defence and for officials of other departments dealing with foreign relations, national budget planning and national industrial and technology planning. This would be a one-year course, with some modules open to staff of defence industry companies and selected defence journalists.
- This course would lead to an honour’s degree in defence studies.
- Studies Programmes: In addition to their education and training role, the staff colleges would serve as think tanks and be responsible for conducting studies of recent and current conflicts, potential conflicts and emerging defence-related technologies, with an eye to adapting or developing tactical level service doctrine and drawing up doctrine publications. Selected graduates of the courses might be held at the staff college for an additional year on graduation or brought back later for a longer tour for this purpose.
War College: Field-grade officer education and training
This would be the home of joint and combined operations education and training. The college would offer:
- Foundational Joint Operations Course, a one-year course forming part of the services’ command and staff qualification courses and would include participation in a relevant field training exercise.
- Primary Joint and Combined Operations Course, for officers who have held battalion command, to prepare them for senior staff appointments in their service, joint headquarters and foreign attachments. This would be a one-year course and would include participation in a relevant field training exercise.
- This course would lead to a master’s degree in military studies.
- Selected officers might be offered a one-year extension to obtain an MPhil degree.
- Defence Management, for officers selected for appointment in the Department of Defence and for senior officials of the department, as well as senior officials involved in foreign relations and national budget planning. This would be a one-year course.
- This course would lead to a master’s degree in defence studies.
- The purely military courses would include or be linked to practical field training.
- Studies Programme: In addition to their education and training role, the College would serve as a think tank, responsible for conducting studies of recent and current conflicts, potential conflicts and emerging defence-related technologies, with an eye to adapting or developing joint operational level doctrine and drawing up doctrine publications. Selected graduates of the course might be held at the college for and additional year or brought back later for a longer tour for this purpose.
Defence College: Senior officer education
This would be the home of policy and strategy education and would offer:
- Joint Command Course, for officers in the rank of colonel who might be selected for a senior joint headquarters staff post or for formation command or joint force command. This course would also be open to senior officials involved with foreign relations, national budget planning and national industry and technology planning. This would be a one-year course. It would include participation in a relevant field training exercise.
- This course would lead to an MPhil degree in military studies
- Selected officers might be offered an extension to obtain a doctorate.
- Studies Programme: In addition, the Defence College would serve as a think tank and be responsible for strategic level studies and development of policy, strategy and strategic level doctrine publications. Selected graduates might be held at the college for a year after graduation or brought back later for a longer tour for this purpose.
International exchanges
The final element of developing the officer corps would be an extensive programme of education and training in friendly countries and service attachments to the armed forces of friendly countries. The purpose would be to give the officer corps broader background, to gain insight into how other forces approach things and to build contacts for the future.
The focus of this should be on countries recognised as having competent, effective armed force and/or having operational experience of relevance to the Defence Force and:
- That use English as their command and instruction language;
- That use as their command and instruction language one that will be useful to the South African officer in his future career (eg French, Portuguese, Arabic, Kiswahili);
- With which the Defence Force is likely to have operational dealings or from which it is likely to acquire prime mission equipment.
- To which attachés are posted, in this case the officer attending a course or on an attachment would specifically be an officer set to serve a tour as attaché in that country.
That does not entirely exclude sending officers to other countries, but those would be only in small numbers to limit the cost – in time and funds – of becoming competent in another language that is of little relevance to the Defence Force.
