RIMBA, Monday 02 Oct 2006 - This morning the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) held an opening ceremony of the Second Junior Staff Course (JSC) for the year 2006. The ceremony was held at the Civil Service Institute in Rimba.

The tri-service JSC is a two-month full day intensive training which commences from 02 October until 01 December 2006. This pilot course will be participate by 20 officers from all the services of the RBAF as part of the developing armed forces human resources capability and professional competencies to face the growing future challenges. This course is designed to develop mid grade officers with knowledge, skills and attitude to become staff/executive officers. Unlike combatant officers, being a staff officer is another career exposure off the field. In this level of military duty, it challenges officers' ability to think and discuss general issues to be put in writing. These two months intensive course will demand quite stressful hours on reading and writing techniques. Along with operational and non-operational lectures, the participants will also be assessed on their skill of individual and group presentation. Important subjects that will be covered will include leadership, management, communication and operational planning. This course will be under the guidance and supervision of Lt Colonel BK Rawat and his Directing Staffs as well as guest presenters.

Officiating the opening ceremony was the guest of honour, the Commander of Royal Brunei Land Force (RBLF) Colonel Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Rosli bin Pengiran Haji Chuchu. Also in attendance were Director of Civil Service Institute, Awang Hj Junaidi bin Haji Omar, Commandant Training Institute RBAF, Deputy Service Commanders and Commandants, Directing Staffs and officers of the RBAF.

The Guest of Honour also delivered in his opening remarks:

…." His Majesty Duli the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam in his titah during the RBAF 43rd Anniversary in 2004 highlighted 'People are the main asset of the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, and their faith, training and motivation are the foundation towards achieving success. The RBAF must undergo a transformation in leadership and minset that is more open towards new methods in defence.'

The establishment of the JSC is a direct result of His Majesty's personal wishes. By striving to meet personal objectives, which include 'Being the Best You Can Be' is also inline with His Majesty's wishes. To state the obvious, defence is a serious and at times inevitably dangerous business. As officers we are in the position of being responsible for the safety of our nation. To achieve this affectively we must invest in all our officers by providing then with the essential training and educational opportunities that will ensure that they can, and will carry out all their tasks professionally and efficiently.

The JSC is one of the key training and education building blocks for our officer corps. The package you will participate in has been designed by the RBAF, in order to meet RBAF's specific needs and is a significant development for Brunei Darussalam.

The aim of the junior staff course is to develop junior officers in the knowledge, skills and attitudes that they will need to meet their staff responsibilities as general staff officers. Specifically, these skills include professional knowledge, leadership and management, communication and operational planning.

This course starts from the basis that learning is something that comes from you the learner; something you choose to do actively and willingly, not something imposed on you! There is no single pass or fail exam. Instead there is a process of continuous assessment, the outcome which will outline strengths and weaknesses based on evidence gathered from the course, providing suggestion for future employment.

The directing staff will be looking for displays of intelligence, knowledge, leadership and management qualities, albeit under artificial training conditions. They will be looking for signs of initiative, maturity and self-directed learning. In line with His Majesty's wishes directing staff will be looking for evidence that officers are prepared to embrace new ideas and to challenge mindset and ultimately to change their own mindset.

By the end of the course, you should have gained a cleared understanding of your own strengths and you will also have identified areas needing own personal self development. A key point to remember is that only by practicing what you have learned will you be able to fulfill His Majesty's expectations of both you as an individual and of the RBAF as an organization."