November - Department of Defence

6feedbackIt takes the best to be the bestMan alters his life by altering his attitudes.You can control the way youimpress other people. Your appearanceto others, your outward appearance,is more like a movie screen thana painting.The screen reflects what goes oninside the projector. Your thoughtsand attitudes are the roll of film. Yourmind is the projector, which throwsout strong, good, impressive pictures.Your actions are important becausepeople know you by your actions.They form impressions of you by youracts. People are like gifts: they comeall wrapped up. Their thoughts, characters,abilities and potentials are allwrapped up inside them. Your actionsA young writer in needWith great admiration and deeprespect I am writing this letter tohumbly request the donation of an oldcomputer and multifunctional printerall in one - printer, scanner and copier.To have a computer and multifunctionalprinter will be another wayof empowering me, and my underprivilegedand disadvantaged communitywill also benefit from such adonation. In one way or another I willbe answering the people's call forhelp, as we are in the remotest ruralarea. I want to stress how importantsuch a donation will be to me. It willenable me to be of great help to therest of the community and this indeedwill be the mirror which will reflectthe best of our Defence Force and willmaintain social cohesion, help tostrengthen trust, bonds of friendshipand loyalty. This will be another wayof lending a helping hand. As we celebratea decade of Defence in a democracy,it will be another way of helpingto heal the wounds of the past in manyhearts.I always tell the civilian communityabout the Defence Force and I wantthem to have confidence and a clearunderstanding and a positive attitudeWinning letterare the ways you communicate yourthoughts to others.The purpose of change is not tobecome another person, but simply toemphasise all the good and wonderfulin you. If you act discouraged, you actinferior, you feel inferior, you act lazy,you feel lazy. Good thoughts and goodactions produce good feelings. Badthoughts and bad actions produce badfeelings.Life is a struggle to satisfy one'sego. Sow your thoughts, your emotions,reap your habits, sow habits,reap your characters, sow your character,and reap your destiny. It takes thebest to be the best! - A.M. Rakoma,Tzaneen.towards our Defence Force. The civiliancommunity has always associatedthe Defence Force with violence. Iwant people to change their attitudestowards the SANDF and see it as anessential service for the people by thepeople.I humbly request that my requestbe forwarded to the SANDF leadership,should they wish to make anyfurther contribution - ArnausMaphalle Rakoma, Moetladimo.* If anyone can assist Rfn ArnausMaphalle Rakoma, please do so. His contactdetails are as follows: Cell No: 083 3527770 or 073 421 9182 or write to him at:PO Box 257, Moetladimo, 0891 - Ed.Empowerment ofPSAPI really want to give praise to theDirectorate Inspectorate General (IG)DOD for giving me the opportunity toattend the core competency modulecourse. It was a great course with lotsof challenges. I learned a lot from themodules, eg the necessity of teamworkin our working environment,how to cope with different changeshappening within the DOD and managingfor results. What I liked mostabout the module entitled "How torespond to change" was the phrase,"The only constant these days ischange", meaning we must be able toface the changes that are really happeningwithin the DOD and be willingto move away from our comfortzones. Change is an ongoing process.Actually the most interesting topicwas about "Time management andhow to priorities your work". TheDOD has employed us in order toreach its objectives, viz to serve ourorganisation with pride and loyaltyand be willing to work in order toachieve its objectives. It will be a greathonour if some of the PSAP membersare given the opportunity to attendthis course. It will mean a lot to them,especially in our working environment.Praise is due to the Directoratefor equipping its members with qualityknowledge enhancing managerialcourses. This shows that even theunderprivileged PSAP get the opportunityto acquire more knowledge formanagerial positions. Lastly, the relationshipbetween the PSAP and DAPis really tremendous within ourDirectorate as is shown by a greatspirit of teamwork - Mr P.D. Mogale,Pretoria.R200-00 prize for the best letterSA SOLDIER welcomes letters to the Editor. Short letters are more likely to be published,and all letters may be edited for reasons of style, accuracy or space limitations.Letters should preferably be typewritten and double-spaced. All lettersmust include the writer's full name, address and home telephone number. The volumeof letters we receive makes individual acknowledgement impossible. Pleasesend your letters to: The Editor, SA SOLDIER Letters, Private Bag X158, Pretoria,0001. Letters may also be faxed to (012) 355-6399 or sent via email to sasoldier@mil.za.We would like to hear your comments or ideas, particularly aboutmatters affecting members of the Department of Defence. Regrettably, anonymousletters cannot be answered officially or published - Editor.S A S O L D I E R • N OV EMBER 2 0 0 4