When Colonel (COL) (Ret) Gurcharan Singh took over the reins of the Singapore Command and Staff College (SCSC) in February 1979, he had two big tasks set out for him.

Cancer survivor ME5 Alvina Tao recently became the top DIS graduate of her Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College (GKS CSC) course.

Imagine going back to school at the ripe old age of 47 – and studying side-by-side with your teenage kids!

Your fourth child is coming. You're busy with work in the bank. AND you're studying for an executive MBA. THEN you receive news that you're to attend a ten-month military course. Would you be able to cope?

For two full weeks in July this year, his wife and three sons, aged 12, 8 and 2, saw him in action as an army officer, planning for battles from morning through the night as he went through the Command and Staff Course (NS).