HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013

Year 2012 passed by so swiftly and also witnessed the passing of many gunners, both officers and other ranks. Namely, we lost Lt. Col Jamaludin, Lt Col Zainal Din, Maj Dally,Maj. Nasarudin,Maj. Robert Lai and PW1 Mat Zain, PW1 Rashid, MG Hassan, Sjn Adenan (of the pioneer 89 people) PW2 AISIG Jaafar, among others. What this means is that fate to meet the creator is inevitable.That is simply the ultimate truth. This journey of life is short and can be memorable, if we want it to be so. 

The gunners club, with the sole effort of its secretary managed to secure 15 PJM medals for retired gunners from JHEV. Well done ! Maj. Ganeson (Retd). 

We also saw the celebration of 50 years for 1 ARTY and 25 years for 21 ARTY. I suppose that next in line would be 2 ARTY's celebration. Apart from the School, I served 3 ARTY, 2ARTY, 4ARTY and 3 Div Arty. All my postings in the units were very educational, challenging and of course full of camaraderie esp. among officers. Gunner officers stood tall in courses, in performance and as staff officers in ERE appointments. Ask any Commander of his gunner officer , and he shall only have few sad words. We were the best, with zest, I must say, without being branded a braggart. Then there were also the "champions", who will be remembered for many other reasons too. I have the deepest respect for all my senior officers who carried themselves well. Deeply hidden in my memory should be Musty, Brinder, Tan Say Loke, Hussein Kamal, Hermon, Aris Salim, Allen Lai,Syed Hussain, Halim Hariri,Chong Kok Heng and the others (there are so many more). I must admit that I was also supported by good junior officers and superb other ranks, especially the senior NCOs. A few days ago Nordin Salleh was promoted to Brig Gen and this heralds the new generation gunners with old beliefs and norms in senior appointments. Well done! Gen. Nordin. The gunner officers of my seniority and slightly more senior ones are slowly approaching the "TWILIGHT ZONE" ( To quote DATO' JAAFAR's description a few days ago). 

The Gees Club was launched in 2012 with the tremendous effort of Lt. Col Zulmajdi (Comdt Arty School). Well done Zul! You shall be remembered for a long time to come as the catalyst to unite IGs/MGs/TIGs/AIGs of the Malaysian Artillery. I was amazed and also embarrassed that I did not realise that IGs have existed for 50 years in our Artillery. To add to the embarrassment it was Lt. Gen. Dato'Jaafar (the first IG) who pointed it out.

  All in all it was a momentous year in 2012. May 2013 bring the gunners more glory, as it has always been. I take this opportunity to invite "Twilight Zone Gunners" to step forward to guide, contribute and develop the platform for retired gunners. It is no point admiring the gunners in other countries who have credible retired associations when we can our selves be one- if we will it. Ayuh, Jom and other catch phrases should not be depended on, it's simply - ONCE A GUNNER, ALWAYS A GUNNER. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR GUNNERS......HAVE A BLAST!