MY FIRST COMMANDING OFFICER

There are some things in life that you cannot forget. One of them for me was the late Lt. Col Mustafa Saad, my first CO. Reporting to 3 Arty in Taiping circa 1975, I already had an inkling of how hard life is going to be. What with the forewarning of a formidable CO who loves Boxing, Rugby, Parajumping etc. etc. My god! what a tall order to be a YO in his regiment. Nevertheless, you simply had to meet it head on. For starters, his wife was Mat Salleh! He had a fancy gait which simply meant "watch out, here I come". The saddest part of my life with him was that it was short, maybe a couple of years or so. In that short period, I learnt one most important lesson from him- THE MEN COME FIRST, IN EVERYTHING WE DO AS OFFICERS. He had a "lan tse" air about himself and we never had doubts of his decision making or leadership. We had a tough time with daily, non stop activities that kept us on our toes. To recap some of our activities, they include:

• Silat Gayong (first thing in the dark morning before sunrise)
• Gun Drill for officers inclusive practice for alarm stake competition with NCOs and ORs
• Daily Games evenings with boxing, rugby,football, etc.
• Unending Mess Nights with Mess Games
• Weekly Yeah Yeah's (Informal parties with wine, women and song)
• Gun Salutes
• Demos

All of the above was in spite of our operational duties,which were either battery tours, or regimental roulement. CO Musty (as he was fondly called by his peers and seniors), was anywhere and everywhere. I always felt that he was Lord,Master and God for the regiment. That was the power of command where his every word is the gospel truth. I shall cover this aspect of Musty's leadership in another post where I was personally involved. 

Did you all know that the first airborne artillery was started by him in 3 Arty? D Bty (my battery) was re-designated as AHMAD SHAH BATTERY (In honour of our Colonel in Chief then- the Sultan of Pahang). Some officers and men were trained to jump at Sg. Udang and the training continued in the regiment. Sadly, this effort was discontinued over time. Musty used to walk around the regiment in jumpsuit carrying his short cane. As part of his "branding" exercise, we used to wear a green muffler with our camouflage on parade. He left the regiment under unusual circumstances to do Law in the United Kingdom. There he spent his final years and I wonder if his wife Kak Bibah is still around? I only heard sometime ago that his son Johnny was in Broadway N.Y. 

Farewell Sir! wherever you are and may your soul R.I.P.