Hi-Tea with the Master Gunner

I attended the afternoon tea with the Master Gunner at the Royal Chulan Hotel KL on 3 April 2016. I was glad that I did as there were about 50 other retired Gunners present. It was a pleasant gathering with the adage Once A Gunner Always A Gunner. There were so much to stories catch up. A favourite GPO of mine confessed that he had played a trick on me. We were in Bau area Sarawak. I wanted to deploy a troop of guns at 1800 hours to which the GPO was not too keen to do so. He preferred a first light deployment the next day. However how could he disobey his BC? A simple but very effective plan.

I called him on the Bty command net on the HF radio and ordered for him to deploy urgently that evening. He pretended the radio conversation was full of static interference and kept telling me so. I eventually gave up giving the orders that evening and he deployed the next morning, when the Bty command net was at strength five. We had a good laugh but I could not pick a bone with him now as he retired as a two star general. That was regimental life then. No harm done. The prank was worth his sleep.

I also took the opportunity to snap some photos with my old iPhone of Gunners not seen in this blog for sometime. I forget some of the names though. I hope Rama or Ganeson will help out naming them. I wish to apologise for the poor quality and low resolution of the photos below. I have taken a new hobby of photographing birds instead. I have lost my skills in taking portrait photos of people and I am also using an old iPhone to boot. I hope somebody can take on this important task to update us with photos of old Gunners not met/seen for sometime. This blog will be a treasure in prosperity for new Gunners to come.
Thank you.

Master Gunner Lt General Jaafar Mohammad

Lt General Aziz Hassan

Maj Rahim

Maj Jen Dato' Ibrahim

Col Zainal

Major Jamaluddin

Capt Asri

Lt Col Kasiran

Maj. Najibuddin

Brig General Dato' Hussein Kamal

Lt Col Basri

Lt Col Heera Singh

Take care all

Once a Gunner always a Gunner

Allen Lai

OF THE GUNNERS, FOR THE GUNNERS, BY THE GUNNERS

On Sunday 3rd April our very own Master Gunner hosted a Hi Tea at the Warisan Cafe, Royale Chulan Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. About fifty officers were invited and the turnout was excellent. A full spread of local and western dishes made up the scrumptious lunch. It goes without saying that the camaraderie was incredible. Being informal and relaxed the atmosphere was too inviting to miss.

Finally, as the event moved on The Master Gunner opened his speech on an impromptu note to address why he gathered the "Eagles"of the Artillery, or rather the "old war horses". The message was simple and direct - The "Gunners" welfare is of utmost priority in these twilight years. There must be some means for us to take care of ourselves rather than depending on other agencies to do it for us. A fund raising is required to realise a "Home for The Gunners", medical equipment for bedridden, physically challenged members and also the wives. There is simply too much need, and too little resources. Many ideas need to be tapped, many roads need to be walked, and also many doors need to be knocked.

The clarion call of the Master Gunner was loud and clear with the Gunners Club Advisor taking on the rostrum to echo and further detail out plans. He made a powerful appeal to all gunners present to start the ball rolling, and as true gunners, garner all means and resources to meet the objectives of fund raising.

The Hi Tea presented an excellent platform to exchange views and also quite expectedly, there simply was no objection to the fund raising effort. Yes, my fellow Gunners, we have to do this "Of the Gunners, For the Gunners, By the Gunners". There is no other recourse. Let's make it all happen.

ALWAYS A GUNNER