COLONEL Chan Chun Sing was once described as appearing 'a little timid and shy' to a reporter. That was when he was just 19.

Two decades later, he is leader to about 15,000 men in the army. And the gregarious man hardly comes across as shy.

The original description appeared in a Straits Times report on the young officer-to-be in 1988, when he was nominated for an SAF overseas scholarship. He came from a low-income family, and his mother took on two jobs to bring up his sister and himself.

In a recent interview on his promotion to brigadier-general, he said: 'At that point, most of us were quite simple in our aim. The SAF offered us a career, a chance to develop our academic side and other skills.

'So you take it up and think of what you can do in return for the SAF,' he said.

When asked what had kept him in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) after all these years, his reply came quick: 'The men.'

'It's because you've touched the lives of many,' he explained.

He recalled how, as commander of an infantry battalion, he faced many overweight and unfit conscripts with low self-esteem: 'Our job was to make sure that after their two-year stint, they walked away with their heads held high.

'At the end of the day, when you look at the amount of hard work our national servicemen put in...the least we regulars can do is to try to realise their potential to the maximum.'