Aspectos generales de Cargas Especiales Mincho S.A

According to Booÿjens (2008) all the SMD’s activities are concentrated on leadership development of first-, second- and third-year residential students. The SMD is always represented at selection boards of Military Academy candidates, and at these selection boards they will focus on aspects such as the military bearing, disciplinary records, confidential reports of the services and the social circumstances of the candidates (as opposed to academic staff who will be interested in the academic potential of candidates). Once the selected candidates arrive at the Military Academy their professional military development is the responsibility of the SMD.

The SMD’s calendar makes provision for three military terms per year, which are dispersed to accommodate the much more heavily loaded academic year. The first military term is during January and is usually presented in one week. The second term is during September and the third during December, each of them usually presented over two weeks. There are also several “military days” dispersed throughout the academic year to accommodate shooting exercises, drilling competitions, fitness tests and similar typically military activities. These ad hoc activities also accommodate elements of leadership development, as a student will normally be nominated to take charge of such exercises, for example, a student will be appointed to take charge of a shooting exercise. He/she will then plan the whole event, appoint appropriate positions and be responsible for the safety of the rest of the participants. In a situation such as a drilling competition, the student in charge will have to demonstrate leadership qualities to motivate his squad to excel. The activities during the three designated military terms are (Booÿjens, 2008):

• First Military Term. This is the induction phase for the first year students when they are introduced to life as a student at the SA Military Academy. They

are made familiar with the overall rules of the unit and the specific rules pertaining to their academic responsibility (faculty related) on the one hand and military responsibility and discipline (SMD related) on the other. They also elect their year group representative for the SA Military Academy Students’ Council.

Military Academy Students’ Council (MASC). The MASC is a council of

students elected by students. It is responsible for the discipline of students and consists of 12 members with the following portfolios:

- Student Captain (third year student and leader of the MASC)

- Vice Student Captain

- Third Year Representative

- Second Year Representative

- First Year Representative

- Logistics Representative

- Financial Representative

- Media Representative

- Faculty Representative (sits in at Faculty Board meetings but has no voting rights)

- Social Representative

- Regimental Representative

Other responsibilities of the MASC include coordinating the activities of the first year students’ induction phase, cultural events, regimental events, sports events and the group welfare of the students.

During the induction phase the Military Instructors (staff members of SMD, usually a senior Captain or Major)) also organise the first year students into military platoon structures, each with a platoon commander and platoon sergeant who are responsible for the discipline and regimental issues of their platoons, and the platoon commander reports to the Year Group Representative of the MASC. These platoon leader positions are changed on a regular basis in order to expose as many students as possible to leadership issues.

During the first military term the second-year students embark on a sea survival exercise at the SA Military Academy with limited scuba diving training, and exposure to sea streams and sea rescue exercises. Although the students get divided into syndicates with a syndicate leader, the focus is more on how to survive at sea under extreme conditions than on leadership issues. The Military Instructor does appoint a different syndicate leader for each activity though, to ensure exposure to a leadership position.

The third-year students attend an electronic war simulation exercise at the SA Military Academy with no leadership content.

• Second Military Term. The first-year students attend a course where they are exposed to the theory of being an officer in the military. According to Booÿjens (2008), the theory is divided into seven chapters, with one of the chapters

focussing on leadership and the character of leaders. Similar to the SA Army Gymnasium, they make use of a manual called “Profession of Arms in the SANDF” (undated), and typical focus areas are on the definitions of leadership, the elements of leadership (the goal and the human element), the characteristics of a leader (integrity, loyalty, commitment, energy, decisiveness, unselfishness), concepts that a leader must know and understand (leadership, self, human nature, the task, the unit), and the required actions of a leader (provide direction, implement decisions and motivate).

The second-year students depart for the SA Army Combat Training Centre at Lohatla in the Northern Cape Province where they are exposed to various warfare and land adventure exercises. They are taught the theory of conventional warfare including signal orientation, mechanised orientation and infantry orientation. The land adventure part includes nature conservation and practical exercises such as abseiling, navigation during the day and at night (being dropped at an unknown spot by helicopter and finding their own way to base) and land survival skills such as eating grasshoppers and snails and finding water. According to Booÿjens (2008) this second military term for the second-year students is highly leadership development orientated, with the Military Instructors having no direct interaction with the different student groups during exercises, but only with group leaders. The students need to demonstrate individual leadership qualities, such as convincing the group to follow his/her strategy, and keeping them together and focussed on the task under stressful conditions to overcome the physical and psychological challenges of the exercises. After the completion of each exercise, debriefing is offered by the Military Instructors so that students can learn from their mistakes. At the end of the course, students perform a buddy rating on each other, and the results are given to each individual as well as placed on their personal files for future reference by superiors. See Appendix E for an example of a buddy rating.

The third-year students attend a sea adventure exercise at the SANDF’s 4 Special Forces Regiment at Langebaan in the West Coast region. The focus is on sea skills such as tying knots, proper ways of jumping into the sea from a boat and kayaking. The exercise is concluded with the students being introduced to foreign weapons. Similar to the second-year group, this exercise is also leadership development orientated (syndicate leaders who must lead, convince and motivate their groups) with the Military Instructors keeping their distance, but debriefing the groups after each exercise. The difference is that no buddy rating is done after the course.

• Third Military Term. The first- and second-year students embark on a significantly demanding exercise called “Trans Enduro”. During this exercise the students depart via military transport to Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape Province, approximately 900 kilometres from the SA Military Academy. Two different groups, one via sea (rubber ducks) and the other via land (cycling) must reach the SA Military Academy within ten days. The leadership development aspect for students is in the practical experience gained by being in a leadership position in a real life situation, as well as in overcoming the physical challenges of the exercise. They have to organize the whole exercise from start to finish, and preparations and training for the event, which takes place at the end of the year, commence at the beginning of the year. An overall commander and second in command are nominated by the group of students and presented to the Military Instructor for approval. No real criteria are used to appoint these students other than that the disciplinary records of the students must be clean. According to Booÿjens (2008), the Military Instructor will also not approve a student who has already sufficiently demonstrated his/her leadership ability over the preceding two years, but would rather guide the students to nominate persons who still need exposure. The overall commander and second in command in turn appoint different commanders for the land, sea, media, logistics and community service teams

on the same basis (clean disciplinary record and a need for exposure in a leadership position). The Military Instructor expects feedback from the students on the progress of planning throughout the year, and before the exercise begins a Special Unit Order with detailed planning and allocation of tasks is drafted by the overall commander and signed by the Commandant of the SA Military Academy (Officer Commanding) to give it legal effect. Throughout the exercise the Military Instructor is in the background, and only becomes involved in the daily debrief by the overall commander after each shift.

The third-year students attend a re-integration programme at the SA Military Academy. The rationale is that the students have been absent from real time operations and activities of the SANDF for three years, and need to be sensitized towards what will be expected of them, and what they should expect when they report at operational units after their graduation. Senior representatives from the Army, Air Force, Navy, Health Service, Joint Operations, Force Preparation and Special Forces are invited to present the programme, and they cover issues such as overall developments on military matters over the past three years (a typical matter will be the current focus on peacekeeping in Africa), strategic direction and current deployments of the SANDF.

In connection with leadership character development SMD also draws up an overall performance report on each student, including a section on leadership, after the first year of study. A shortcoming is that about half of the students have had little or no experience in leadership issues at that time. However, at the end of the third year of study, a further report is drafted and by then all of the students have been exposed to leadership challenges. This report is available for confidential reference throughout the student’s military career.