TUTONG

THE Officer Cadet School (OCS) at the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) is set to introduce a new course for instructors in a bid to enhance training standards in the military.

According to Captain Chris Hesketh, the Instructor Leadership Cadre will be rolled out next month with the aim of producing better qualified and trained instructors as the military moves away from authoritarian leadership.

“The military is moving on,” said the second-in-command of OCS, explaining that future instructors will be taught to adopt a coaching and mentoring approach.

The month-long course will involve British instructors from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the UK, who will teach RBAF personnel to become highly-trained instructors with technical instructional skills and lessons on training development.

“More than anything, it’s getting them to adopt an attitude that says: how else can I get this message across to the people I’m trying to teach?” explained Captain Hesketh.

The Instructor Leadership Cadre is slated to run every year with benefits that “will be felt immediately” at OCS and the rest of RBAF, he said.

“Sandhurst is seen worldwide as the bastion of excellence in officer instruction. OCS is very much modelled upon that as the training is a Bruneian reflection of what goes on in Sandhurst.

“Now hopefully we can influence the attitude of the instructors so we can build those bonds,” he added.

In a move to ensure the quality of the school, he added that a team from Sandhurst will also visit the school to carry out an independent audit.

Captain Hesketh also said OCS, along with the remainder of the RBAF Defence Academy, is scheduled to move from its current location in Sungai Akar to a new bespoke facility in Meragang in early 2015.

The Brunei Times