Farewell Encik Guna

8th October 2017..

I was very busy at SA and managed to take a breather to check my phone later in the evening... Was informed that the plug was pulled off the life support system for Robert M Guna earlier that evening and he was gone.

Encik Guna was a well respected veteran in the small Commando community in Singapore. He was always very supportive and helpful in terms of the projects carried out from the time I was in FT all the way to the present day 'The Commando Alumni'.

I just visited Encik Guna earlier in the afternoon with a few bros from The Commando Alumni and #Red72 at TTSH ICU ward and we each managed to say our respective sentences to him without letting our emotions surface too much..really did not expect him to be gone so soon.

All over Facebook, many brothers of the Commando fraternity were sharing their saddness on the passing of Encik Robert M Guna. This is one example from Daymon Lim that I can totally relate to...

I have just gotten to try out making a video on the mobile phone and I have managed to put together this video clip using some of our old photos in memory of Encik Guna.

At the end of the evening, I had a few whisky in a beer glass in memory of Encik Guna. Goodbye Sir!

The SG50 Limited Edition Wenger Commando Watch Project.

This watch materialized after many rounds of meetings, consultations, voting and discussions with many parties. It was mean for an Anniversary Run that happened in the SG50 year of 2015.

I was very glad to be given the opportunity to spearhead this project, with the help of many parties of course! We declared upfront that all the profits made from this watch will be forwarded to help a group of brothers from the same faternity.

Just wish to let you guys know that the 'Father of SAF Commando Unit' also bought the time piece to show his support! For Honour & Glory!

Some brother also excerised his fashion sense to modify the straps, making the beautiful watch an envy among all his peers. This is a true fact; Money alone will not be able to earn you the rights to wear such a watch.

The last watch for delivery was finally delivered today to this Spartan SGX Certified Coach, Mr Stef Fung.

This bro bought a number of watches under the first phase of the project (Thank You!). However, he selfless gave his watch up to another brother without finding out if another watch is available for himself. I am very glad to report that he managed to get his watch in the end. There are less than 300 such watches in the world. Although it did not turn out to be as easy as I thought initially, I am happy to report that we have managed to pull it through. It is now completed. 

Cheers!

81mm High Trajectory Platoon 19th Reunion 2016

This is our tradition among this band of brothers who was assembled together since our national service days in the SAF. 

After we graduated from National Service, we will meet up for our Reunion Dinner annually. I really do not know what happened to my maths..how did it suddenly become our 19th reunion this year?

As usual, before the Reunion Dinner, we pay a visit to our fallen brother who was promoted to become the Big Commando in the Sky. We miss you!

This year, we pushed up his supply of gold, silver & currencies hoping that he will have a bigger budget to spend..

With a larger supply of incense paper, it also took us more time and effort to 'wire' the money across to him..

Next, we move on to the dinner this year..A must have for Reunion Dinner every year..Yu'Sheng!

The menu this year a bit different..

Lobster tails.

Our in-house Master Chef painstakingly preparing the dinner before the main force arrives.

Stingray and potatoes.

Just by the fact that the food was served on banana leaves already made them looked more delicious.

Big Headed River Prawns.

Beer Can Chicken.

Lobster tails.

Another shot of our Master Chef with my reflection in the wall mirror.

Final touches, flowers added!

So much work actually went into making every Lou Hei mission a success!

Some pictures you do not usually get to see..when one of your team mate is late and everyone waited for him..

I really meant that EVERYONE waited for that guy to arrive before we could start eating! How can that guy be later than Chia, our 'Late' King??

Jokes aside, it was a pretty long, busy and emo day. I am glad that we are still hanging around after 19 years. Fire Mission Platoon!

SAF Commando Club movie outing: Act of Valor

Just came back from an outing with members of the SAF Commando Club. 
We coordinated to watch a movie(see trailer below) together on our Facebook Group and have decided on tonight Saturday 10th March 2012 at Ang Mo Kio Hub with one of our member arranging for us to watch the movie at $7 with a free drink and pop-corn thrown in! I would like to express my gratitude to all the people who made this possible and hope that we'll have more to come..be it events or members.

We took a group photo after the movie..! 

The deal we had was to flash our red beret to get free pop-corn and drinks..mine is on the shirt..

The fire-power in the movie is very impressive to me, especially when the 2 boats came in to the rescue at the extraction point(see approx 2.30 in the trailer below)..that is what I call 'suppressive fire'. 


It reminds me of the fact that although I had a few years of active service and reservist under my belt, I had never gotten to fire my rounds like this before..counting 'twenty-one..one-two' when firing isn't that fun nor thrilling at all. I don't think we were even issued that many rounds for live-firing.


 I have only thrown one live hand grenade in my whole life so far..under very controlled conditions..I cannot imagine how 'garang' I am going to be in war as I didn't strap a few hand grenades on myself before like what they shown in movies. I only took out my grenade very carefully from a canister when I reached my throwing bay..


Every time I read about government increasing our defense budget spending, I cannot help but ask myself: Are our army boys going to get more realistic training with this increase or the last few? Will they get to throw more than one hand grenade in their lifetime? Will they get to fire more live ammunition rather then 'universal rounds'(it means just use your mouth and echo 'bam..bam..bam..' while u pretend to shoot).


Or are all these increased spending money going into the likes of some kind of related contractors for engineering or logistics or food? When I sat in the cookhouse as a reservist having my meal, I used to wonder why the budget for breakfast, lunch and dinner and night snack are not cheaper since this is a bulk contract. Why are 'Bangalas'(foriegners) allowed into our secretive camp to wash our plates and trays under the Singapore Food Industries contract? Will our national security be compromised? 


In times of war, will the uncles and aunties currently employed by these food contractors come back to camp or go out field with us to cook for us? Will the staff of e-mart continue to stand by our troops to issue uniforms,boots, socks etc in times of war..? What happened to the chefs that used to pile rice on my tray and gave me wire-like bee hoon? There are some things that simply cannot be outsourced..there are some problems that money cannot solve..Are my concerns valid? Or this should be the problem for top-level Generals in the SAF? Or should we just be at peace assuming that our country will never go to war..as long as certain organizations keep raking in the money and the top-level keep drawing the top pay..Peace!


Maybe I should not watch too many war movies...behind all these stylo-milo action mamas..there is a lot of logistics behind it..if the logistics fail to work..then there'll be no stylo-milo..


Last but not least..special thanks to the big commando in the sky and our fallen comrades for watching over us! You are not forgotten!

Attending a full month celebration of a newborn baby..

I have been busy with Workers' Party activities in the run up to the coming General Election.
Last weekend, in between WP activities, I attended a full month celebration of a baby boy. This is one of the rare occasions that I would shameless ask to attend someone else's party..


Well..it's like this..His dad is one of my close friend in the army and he had just passed away recently before the birth of his son. I am very concern about the situation and had wanted to see him when I knew that he was born. In the end, I decided that his full month celebration would be a more appropriate time for the visit.


I went to City Square Mall near my place to shop for a gift. The surprise I got was how I reacted when I first saw the gift that I chosen in the end and how I overcame it and added something to it..(see slideshow below)



This is the 1st time in my life I asked to attend a baby's full month celebration. There was this close friend who gave me the concept of "What's the point??The baby is not going to remember who you are nor what you did for him anyway!"..well, people got the right to think and do(or not do) what they prefer. 


Just by virtue of the fact that his daddy is a buddy of mine in the army, I just want to show my concern in my own way..whether the baby know anything is not an issue to me at all. I am just a bit disappointed with how materialistic this world have become..


I wish for the baby to grow up strong, smart and healthy just like his daddy!

Goodbye to my dear friend, a brother in arms,long time comrade.. a great loss to the Commando Family..

One of the 1st thing I came across this morning when I browsed through my Facebook pages..Somebody posted in our closed group account that a fellow commando have left us. As I was still not fully awake and could not understand the impact of the word "left us"..I just replied by asking him who is Andrew Tan & what happened?
He replied with a FB link and I clicked on it and realised he was referring to my comrade from 81mm, better known to me as Lip Chee! I could not believe it and tried calling Lip Chee on his mobile..His family answered, confirmed that he had passed away. Before I could ask any further,the family member have to attend to something else.
My world came crashing down..I was in shock,disbelieve and only wish to wipe the tears off my eyes. I am not exactly a soft guy, but I really cannot help feeling emotional when someone close to have to "leave" just like that..

We just had our 14th 81mm High Trajectory Platoon Reunion Dinner a few days back(photo above)..I cannot accept that, that was our last good bye..I thought that we still will have reunion dinner year after year after year just like before..
I sent out smses to my 'band of brothers' and a few of them called me back immediately. Our reactions were all similar.

As of this point in time,none of us know exactly what happened to our healthy, young, energetic buddy who expressed happiness at being ready to be a father soon..How could he 'leave' suddenly like this? We are suppossed to meet up again this coming Saturday! So many questions,no answer yet. As a new father myself, I feel very depressed about this. The least I can do now is to spread the word and make sure that the whole group is informed.
I posted 2 photos of the old days below for memory's sake..All brothers who can make it to say the last goodbye(the wake), it is at a pavilion between Blk 27A & 27B Jalan Membina till this Friday.

Above: In an ice cream bar in our camp in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.
Above: After our last mission as NSF in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.