Change of Command - DCOS UNTSO Farewell Speech – Michael Scott (Australia)
On the occasion of the Change of Command ceremony for the Deputy Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), Michael Scott from Australia delivered a farewell speech marking the end of his service in this critical role. His speech reflects on his experiences, the challenges faced, and the dedication of those who serve in peacekeeping efforts. Through his words, Scott expresses gratitude for the support he received from colleagues and highlights the importance of UNTSO's mission in fostering stability and understanding in the region. This farewell address serves as both a personal reflection and a reminder of the resilience and commitment required for peacekeeping work.
Good morning,
Thank you firstly for taking time out of your busy schedules to be here today to attend the formal change of command ceremony between Per and myself.
It means a lot to me and to Per that you could be here with us at this challenging time as we all continue to negotiate and work through the COVID-19 global pandemic—the challenge of our time.
A change of command ceremony is a time to summarise, assess and reflect on what has been and to then re-focus as the successor takes the organisation forward and the predecessor is confined to being yesterday’s man and gets out of the way.
Such is the nature of an appointment holder’s duty during their fleeting time as custodian of an organization or entity; for the period with which they are entrusted.
But before I ‘get out of the way’ I would like to share some thoughts, reflections, insights and ruminations with you all.
1. You must play the hand of cards you are dealt, not the one you would desire.
When I assumed command as the military deputy to a Norwegian officer on this long-running and prestigious United Nations mission, one could not have imagined that four months into this tenure I would step up and be responsible to the officer in charge UNTSO and the military advisor in New York for all military matters on this military observer mission; in the absence of our major general. Little could any of us then imagine that two years hence, these higher duties would still be being performed by my successor as I hand over command and military responsibilities.
Little could any of us imagine that a respiratory virus would so impact each and every facet of our lives.
But if almost three decades of military service has taught me anything, it is that you must ‘get on with it’ and play the hand you are dealt and not waste time or energy distracting yourself with what may have been.
In a profession where any of us are no further than ‘one bullet or one personal medical setback away’; establishing vertical and horizontal redundancy is a hallmark, in my judgement, of resilient organizations and resilient individuals. And I must say that as I look around the room today I see a number of individuals who have stepped up and have performed and are performing roles greater than what they may have initially expected. They have and are rising to the challenge that contemporary circumstances and our professional values demand.
As I look around this room I see such incredible potential; resident within many who serve here. Seeing my military and civilian colleagues giving their best has been a source of motivation for me to in turn give my very best during these difficult and challenging circumstances.
2. 'FUNTSO'
There is a pejorative historical term which is heard from time to time describing UNTSO as a form of Club Med of UN peacekeeping missions. And, indeed; when one considers relevant factors in UN missions such as Congo, Sudan, Western Sahara, and Mali; and contrast it to these plush surrounds, the basis of this pejorative term is readily apparent.
While I cannot speak of the motivations of service with UNTSO at an individual civilian or military officer level, a stone located outside this headquarters is inscribed with the names of 33 military persons who gave their lives while on this mission in the service of peace, which gives pause to allow a correction to how wrong a ‘FUNTSO mindset’ is and what the possible consequences of such a mindset taking root may be.
This mission isn’t characterised by these plush surrounds but rather in the forward positions, in our remote liaison offices and observer groups. On mounted or dismounted patrol in Lebanon or Syria. On observation posts lining the area of separation between occupied Golan and southwest Syria. Amidst violence and killings and loss of life which many of us have read about this very week.
Where mission support, security pillar and military observers work collegiality to maintain capability and deliver effects; while supported from this HQ.
In my more recent military service, the last 15 years or so, I have been fortunate to be entrusted with certain appointments both in Australia and overseas including combat team command on my first tour of duty in Afghanistan. A part of my deeply personal command experience from this deployment was that not all who served under my command returned home to their families and loved ones as they had departed.
And a decade on from that deployment, challenges endure within this veterans community.
What I have learned from these experiences is the importance of giving your best. Day in, day out. Not when the light is upon you but in steady state. Focussing on the small things being done well. Being able to look yourself in the mirror after you have written to the next of kin of a team member who has just lost their life; and knowing that there was nothing more you could have done to prevent that loss. I have learned that while you will continue to mourn your fallen you will not be haunted by grief at what you did but should not have done, or what you should have done but did not have the moral courage or conviction to do.
Put simply, I learned that acting appropriately now will minimise regret later. If in doubt, on the horns of a dilemma, do what in time you will regret less.
For the leader, this requires you to pay due diligence to culture, behaviour, conduct and standards. Rewarding and acknowledging excellence and fault-correcting errant ways. Leading by personal example and through actions, not words. Aiming to be better tomorrow than we may have been yesterday and today. Encouraging and nurturing an individual acceptance of responsibility.
So while my personal journey in this role is that I have ‘had fun’, firmly in my gaze were the vulnerable communities in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt struggling with a series of challenges and then confronted with a global pandemic. And across the Levant and further afield in today’s interconnected world; political and economic crisis, hyperinflation, the presence of transnational terrorists and issue-motivated groups. Regimes and entities bent on the destruction of a state and its people. Desperation, intolerance, opportunism, suffering.
Peacekeeping is incredibly important work and I feel privileged to have played my part for UNTSO.
3. The Slow Boiled Frog
Now I’m an animal lover and no animals were harmed in the making of this metaphor. But as the metaphor goes, if a frog is dropped into a pot of boiling water it will immediately jump out. The threat is perceived and evasive action is taken.
But if a frog is placed into a container at room temperature and then the container is gradually brought to the boil over a protracted period of time, the frog will continue to swim around happily until it suddenly expires. This is because the frog’s central nervous system has evolved to detect, recognise and respond to sudden (not gradual and incremental) changes in its environment. Even when those gradual and incremental changes may constitute mortal peril after a tipping point is reached.
To cite but one nation in the five countries of the UNTSO mission area, Lebanon, I lack a thermometer to measure its metaphorical temperature beyond a statement of the obvious that things are quite hot. But what I do know from other contexts is that complacency can kill and one must respect and, to the extent we can, understand the environment within which we operate. And be wired tight on drills, procedures, continuation training (individual and collective) and in-extremis actions on and emergency procedures.
As a team, we have worked incredibly hard to stave off complacency and always show respect to the operational environment in order that 153 officers drawn from 27 different troop contributing countries may continue with their important work within an architecture of non-negotiable safety and security parameters befitting an unarmed military observer mission into its eighth decade of service.
Of not becoming a slow boiled frog.
4. Military Objectives Are Achieved Through Enabling and Empowerment
I feel so blessed to have been provided this opportunity of higher command of this diverse multi-national team.
While I consider myself wholly unremarkable, I do believe I have been effective at providing vision, intent and example and allowing great people to get on with doing great things.
UNTSO has been an extraordinary mission where military officers from army, navy, air force and marine corps from every continent save Antarctica have come together and teamed with dedicated UN international and national staff to perform their roles and achieve military objectives. Our team is strong and robust because individuals—from different cultures and different places, who do not look, sound or think alike—have come together to a common purpose to achieve common tasks.
I have learned so much from so many of you and I remain both humbled and deeply indebted for this extraordinary experience.
5. Success Cannot Be Pursued, Success Ensues
I was really struck by the motivations and performance of many I have had the honour to serve here with. Where many will get “the runs on the board” by doing their current role to the best of their ability, which provides a positive contrast with some other less functional and functioning workplaces where individuals concentrate more on the next opportunity while neglecting the one at hand.
For those junior officers in the room, success ought not be pursued, success ensues over time by doing your best at the here and now.
And ensuring you focus on your professional development, preparation and hard work today; which may come in very handy down the track if your country or a calling were to place significant and perhaps unexpected demands upon you sometime hence.
6. Struggle Gives Context to Achievement
While service with UNTSO has been incredibly rewarding and one of the highlights of my career thus far, not everything has been easy.
Indeed much has left me and indeed others I have served with scratching our heads and asking ‘can this really be happening?’
In accounts as diverse as Nelson Mandela, Jonathan Sacks, Alexander Solzhenitsyn or Viktor Frankl, a recurring theme is one of difficulty and adversity giving meaning to performance, outcomes and achievement.
Frankl perhaps puts it best when he proffers that ‘to live is to suffer. What is important is to find meaning in the suffering.’
A football team which is handed a premiership trophy without having set foot on a paddock is one in possession of a chattel devoid of meaning that simply gathers dust on a shelf. But a team which has undergone rigorous pre-season training, made sacrifices, played hard, been tested, overcome setbacks, realised opportunities, dealt with frustrations, and succeeded on grand final day when it matters most; will carry in themselves something that can never be taken from them.
The tough, difficult and frustrating times provide context to the good times and achievement. And enable proud reflection, both on this mission and more broadly.
On the cusp of handing over my responsibilities to Col Nicolajsen, I can say that all the difficulties, incongruities and irregularities you may face like I and my predecessors have done before you; can be negotiated. Without compromising your principles, values, your integrity or the safety and security of those for whom you are responsible for.
It is premiership quarter and UNTSO is a champion team.
7. In the Middle East Sea of Such Pessimism, There is Cause for Hope and Optimism
In this extraordinary duty I have been privileged to perform over these past twenty-seven months, I have been one of a handful of individuals on this planet permitted to pass between the nation states of Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt.
This amazing experience has shown me that while there remain differences which aggregate at present to be intractable and irreconcilable, there are at least as many similarities in culture, values, ethics and behaviours between Israelis, Lebanese, Syrians, Jordanians, Egyptians and Palestinians as there are differences.
I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have formed friendships not only with all nationalities in the Levant. But I have seen that there is a shared humanity which gives hope for cautious optimism for a better tomorrow—like was seen in the past when Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat came together with the support of US President Jimmy Carter at Camp David in 1978, or when Yitzhak Rabin, King Hussein and US President Bill Clinton came together in 1994.
I have read that peace between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the State of Israel was first explored by Jordanian and Israeli academics working together abroad some time earlier. Fast forward to today, where in recent years we have witnessed an extraordinary breakthrough and rapprochement between the State of Israel and members of the Arab world. This is, for me, history lived—a hopeful sign pointing to a more tolerant and less divided tomorrow, which I feel privileged to have been a witness to from within.
As this relates to we servants of the United Nations, we are in the business of doing ourselves out of a job. Anyone with a contrary view or motive should be watched closely.
That is certainly enough of me banging on. Before I am hooked from this microphone, I would like to acknowledge and thank He Paul, Defence Attaché Brandon, COMASC Chris and Deputy Sam, for their exceptional national support. I would also like to acknowledge and thank Mr. Alan Doyle, who was also required to step up and undertake higher duties. From our early dealings while you served as Chief Mission Support, I described you as a mentor and as a friend. You then became my boss but remain my friend. Thank you for your support and congratulations on recently reaching an important career milestone of 30 years of service to the United Nations.
To the many civilian national and international staff of this mission who serve in a cause greater than themselves, thank you for your support. Keep going. You are tremendous.
To the amazing military experts on mission, senior national representatives and senior staff appointments, irrespective of rank, seniority or country of origin, you have been a source of inspiration and admiration. Thank you for doing what you do. Keep going.
To my incredible wife, thank you for enabling me to do my duty. Thank you for supporting me wholeheartedly in my role. I could not have achieved what I have without you.
Finally, to My Successor Per. Congratulations on being selected for this important representational role at a very challenging time in this mission’s long and storied history. In my judgment, you are the right officer to take over this role at the right time. I will soon be out of your way but will continue to provide help and assistance if ever you may need.
I would like to conclude with verses from one of my favourite poems by Rudyard Kipling, If:
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, and yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; if you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken, twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, and stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings, and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings, and never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, if all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, and—which is more—you’ll be a man (or DCOS UNTSO), my son!
Thank you once again, ladies and gentlemen. All the best. It has been an honour to serve with you all.