Photo updates of Gunner oldies June 2015

Recently we had a get-together in KL on 22 June 2015. Some of our senior Gunners attended and I managed to get their photos updated as per below. Still handsome Gunners all.

Lt Kol (R) David Lam Wah Kum

 Lt Kol (R) Anthony Morel

Lt Kol (R) David Hermon

Lt Kol (R) Heera Singh

Kol (R) Harbans Singh

Old Gunners all, but still once a Gunner always a Gunner. If we add our average age at 70 years plus each, we would be almost 500 years of experience as Gunners.

Take care

Allen Lai

RA legacy and me

RA will be celebrating its 300 years of excellence and of being King of the battlefield in 2016. I am proud of being a teeny weeny bit of being King of the battlefield. The Federation of Malaya is still in its infancy stage being one sixth of the era. With Merdeka in 1957  our own Federation Artillery was formed, raised and nurtured by the RA. The humble field Bty raised in Kajang soon expanded to two Regiments by mid 1964. 

I joined 2 ARTY in December 1964. We had an HQ and four gun BTYs with four 105mm Pack Howitzers each. I was very comfortable with all the RA seconded officers in both the Regiments as I already had British legacy in me by default. All the senior officers in the Regiment were Mat Sallehs, including the Quartermaster. Fire discipline was in English. Standing Orders, Bty orders and training were in English too.  The RSM and all ORs were Malaysian, mostly Malays. The Mat Salleh BC would give his orders in English and all in attendance would acknowledge “Yes Tuan”. Needless to say soon after the BC’s orders had finished, my BSM would come to the BK or Tuan Lai as I was fondly called, and asked what the Tuan BC had ordered. There would be a second translated O Gp held by the BK if needed. 

Yes “Tuan" has always being in-bedded in our salutation to  calling of names. Tuan was always prefixed for appointments for seconded officers and prefixed for Malaysian officer’s names as in “Tuan QM” or “Tuan Maniam”. It is interesting to note that RA legacy called Captains and above by the ranks and names , but Mr. for  RA subalterns and I was called Mr Lai during my YO course in Larkhill. This legacy was not carried forward with us as we called our Sergeant Majors “Enciks”. As at today Mr Pan (Major (R) Pan Kong Leong) would still call me Mr Lai when we meet, and I would call him Mr Pan.

Some significant legacies derived from RA include:

The Stable belt, Shoulder titles, Bomb collar-doc, cap badge, red lanyard, which had served an attachment to firing the gun, and the blue beret.

Our vehicles had the red over blue tag signs and for each Bty, a corner of the square tag sign would be in red identifying the Bty.

We had Port or Mediera wine after the mess night dinner with cigars for smokers to boot.

Our morning calls by our batmen included tea with two bananas.

We had a night tray after bar hours.

We were officers and gentlemen always.

Oh how I miss the good old days.

One very strict RA convention / rule I had learnt was that during all fire missions, the GPO was not to be interrupted or disturbed until the end of mission. This made sense because the GPO should not be distracted nor harassed during a fire mission. On one exercise in Papa Position in Asahan, I was GPO in E Bty. My Tuan BC was Major John Lane. Scruffy looking always, but an excellent officer and gentlemen. He was outside the CP tent and I was busy with a fire mission. He interrupted me, Yes my Tuan BC interrupted me during a fire mission which was something “not on” in those days. I was not sure why he had interrupted me, but obviously I would have made a mistake in my fire orders. But still the GPO should not be harassed in the midst a fire mission, unless the the fire orders were unsafe, to which the order “Stop by Safety” would be ordered by the safety officer in attendance. My Tuan BC was taken aback when I told him not to interrupt me. He did not say another word and left the CP, red in the face. We could not always differentiate if our Mat Salleh officers had natural red faces or it was the perpetual effect of the previous day’s happy hours. He left the gun position. 

I did not see my Tuan BC until evening after the day’s firing exercise. I had returned to the field officers mess set up in Mike Position. My Tuan BC was already in the mess bar ( I recalled that we had never seen our Mat Salleh officers anywhere else other than at the Mess bar). I saluted him and was in full anticipation of a full dressing down by him. No he did not do that, for it was “not on” again to admonish anybody in the presence of others.

I recalled that he had said “ Come in Allen, Larkhill must have done some good for you. We had a good day today. Have a drink” . All else were forgotten / forgiven?. Till today I never got to the bottom of it as to why he had interrupted me during my fire mission. It was so not RA. It was a lesson that I had kept with me until today. Let the GPO have his day in his CP. That was his heaven, his boundary and domain.

Another lesson I had learnt from RA legacy was to adhere strictly to Fire discipline no matter what. The only person who was allowed to interrupt a Fireplan was the authorising officer himself. Nobody else. I was BK and Tuan BC was Major Mustafa Saad, Lt Yusof Said was FOO and 2LT Azahar was possibly one of the GPOs.

E Bty was on its second roulement tour to Sabah in 1968 and we were stationed in Kota Belud. We were to conduct the “mother of all” Firepower Demo to Sabah’s Chief Minister Tun Mustafa. Our Tuan BC was all bent to impress his namesake. Musti was always impressive without even trying.  He always wore his iconic red scarf muffler just as General Montgomery would wear two cap badges. We wore jungle green uniform then as we were not yet issued with the combat digital camouflaged uniforms. The UN steel helmet was then the in-gear to wear.

The Firepower Demo involved a infantry company attack with arty covering fire. The fireplan had a smoke screen and a main target on the company objective with several targets in depth at the rear of the objective We registered all the targets and we had several dry runs and rehearsals.  The guns were firing tight as they had new barrels. 

It was a beautiful D Day. We started with the Witness Point shoot to get our met data. The dignitaries came on time to the VIP Grandstand / OP area which had all the charms and smell of new hessian cloth and fresh camouflaged nets and all the other bullshits. We had set up the Command and the Bty Fire Orders nets for live broadcast at the VIP grand stand. Tuan BC was with Tun and I was chief waiter.

H minus. The guns opened fire and the infantry crossed the Start Line at H hour. (Now Line of Departure?). The fire plan was on schedule and on target. The smoke screen was at its best and lingered on longer before spiralling up. The infantry with an FOO moved towards the objective. The pace was faster than rehearsed and the HE shells kept falling tight and impressively. 

 The troops then were crawling towards the objective and the fall of shots were dangerously close to them. TOTs were precise, but the troops had advanced faster than scheduled. Whilst Tuan BC remained cool and composed, I panicked. 

It became untenable and the infantry company commander was shouting to stop the fall of shots. Lt Yusof Said our FOO came loud and urgent over the BFO net to lift the fire to the rear targets. Tuan BC ordered to Dwell, as the FOO was not authorised to lift. Shrapnels were flying over the crawling troops. It was hell out there but the show must go on. The guns finally lifted to the next schedule on the fireplan. The rounds then felled 200 meters further back of the objectives and we witnessed the final assault by the infantry onto the objective.

Modifications to fireplans were fairly easy to do and nice on paper, but all hell breaks loose when actually done. Modifications can cause havocs and mayhems. The main lesson learnt was that a drum should have been used to enable a constant assault pace. That is why infantry battalions have the pipes and drums platoon in their organisation. The bugle call will summon all the courage for the final charge.

On a lasting RA legacy, we undoubtedly accept UBIQUE as our moto. One ever conscious CO even explained UBIQUE as “EVERYWHERE ON ON”

 Once a Gunner always a Gunner

Allen Lai

British Legacy and me

The Captain General's Baton

I have a strong British legacy. And it is not by accident; by default if you will. I was born in 1944 in British Malaya and sadly about the time of the declining of British world dominance and many former British colonies were politically matured to seek Independence, including Malaya. The sunsetting of the British Empire had brought about strong nationalism in all of us. I was born into an English speaking family. English was our family's mother tongue largely used at home. This was so because of my father’s deep affiliation with British expats in the Malayan rubber plantations. He was a member of the once banned Freemason Lodge and had many British brothers. Hence my “uncles”.

I went to a government English medium school and finished my secondary school studies at O levels with the Senior Cambridge School Certificate. I read all the Enid Blyton’s books, Famous Fives; warts and all. We all had English names to boot. My father’s name was Pinsky. I am Allen. I had James, David,John,William and Edward for brothers.

I was very active and adventurous growing up in my young days. I had lived by the sea in Kuantan, Pahang. We had an English scout master Captain Preedy, who led the Kuantan Sea Scout group. I would have joined the sea scout group but thought otherwise. Captain Preedy was exceptionally fond of young boys. I was not “Jambu" enough for Captain Preedy so I joined the land group. But I was fond of the sea and aspired to join the navy to see the world. The RMN was then recruiting young Malaysians and the four years naval cadet training was at Dartmourt UK. 

I joined Malaysian Navy as a naval cadet in 1963 to satisfy my dream to see the world but survived only a couple of months pre-naval training at the FMC. I did not qualify to be a Sea Horse due to poor eyesight and thence transferred Service to serve with the army. After cadet training I was commissioned into the Artillery Corps to which I had served the full length of my career. 

It was during this period as a young officer in the artillery that I was infused with the full impact with British Legacy. What; with British seniors officers in the regiment, attending my YO course in Larkhill and getting a post course attachment to 2 Field Regiment RA. I was deeply entrenched into the British army culture and in particular RA culture. I can hold and survive in any English pub or bar in the officers' mess. That being my strongest British Legacy. And of course all my subsequent Artillery courses were at the School of Artillery Manly, Australia giving me more Britishness, albeit dunkum aussie.

Sometime in 1970s, I was privileged to fire the 84 rounds Gun Salute in Port Klang to welcome the Captain General Queen Elizabeth 2 and her entourage’s visit to Malaysia. The Queen sailed in to Port Klang aboard HMS Brittanica escorted by a RN frigate. The first 21 Gun Salute was fired by the escorting frigate to announce the Captain General’s arrival. We acknowledged and replied with our first 21 Gun Salute. As the Captain General first stepped onto Tanah Melayu we fired another 21 rounds to honour the visit to which the escorting frigate replied with their 21 rounds Gun Salute. The 84 rounds Gun Salute was one of the rarest British Legacy.

I am very grateful for my defaulted British Legacy for what I was and what I am today. I had spent 53 years of my life as a Gunner. The Malaysian Artillery Corps is as old as Malaysia when 1 Field Battery was established in Kajang. We are 58 years old against the Royal Artillery’s 300 years Old. We are proud of being part of the British RA Legacy. We were well brought up and raised professionally.

We now have to put on our thinking caps to organise the Captain General’s Baton tour to Malaysia in 2016.

Once a Gunner always a Gunner

Allen Lai

Ubique 300 - THE BEGINNING OF A JOURNEY

Fire discipline lost or replaced in transition

The Gunners bible

I am not sure if it is me only or everybody else. I can remember things of the past, way in the past but not of things in the immediate past. I cannot remember most things in my life say in the past 10 years, but I remember most things 30, 40, 50 years ago. Quite vividly too. 

When I recalled my first lessons in fire discipline in 1965 during our first adhoc inhouse YO course with Dato Jaafar Mohammed in 1 ARTY, every memory came back flawlessly. Beautiful thoughts and all things nice.

I remembered so many fire discipline commands not used today, lost in transition or replaced. Some simply not in use nor practiced because we would not encounter those circumstances that needed those specific fire disciplines.

Fire discipline is the explicit and precise language of gunnery, spoken and executed precisely by the OPO, GPO and gun numbers. This is the language of fire control.There can be no variations of thoughts and meanings. It has to be exact. There are no grey areas. However conventions could be included so long as these conventions are enforced applications to suit local situations. And there are many conventions too, discussed and set by our own conventions of IGs.

Do you remember any of the fire discipline below?

Repeat

Used by the OPO for another repeated round at the same bearing and elevation. Not to be used to repeat a scale.

Search and sweep

Used by OPO to produce an effective spread of fire without artificially increasing the size of the beaten zone. Sweep. To spread the round by the amount in metres. Rounds are fired left and right of the line of fire. Search is the amount of range in metres ( to the nearest 50 metres)  along the line of fire.

Scale

A method of fire by the OPO for concentrations at regimental or higher level to provide a certain quantity of rounds for fire for effect. Scale is not an executive order to fire. Scale is not used by the GPO.

Stand easy

Order by the GPO to terminate a shoot. Now end of mission.

Stand fast. 

Now stop by safety.

Salvo ranging

OPO orders salvo ranging when ranging is required from more than one gun. The charge used is reported to the OPO.

Fire by order.

From OPO or GPO. Now at my command.

Clinometer laying

Used by the GPO to the OPO when the gun was layed using quardrant elevation

Prematures

Bore/muzzle/flight prematures will be reported by GPO to OPO.

Stop and Go on

Stop and go on is ordered by OPO to correct a mistake entailing the firing the gun.

Gun loaded gun hot

Reported by GPO to OPO when round is loaded in gun for too long and may be hot. OPO orders to empty the gun as appropriate.

Wrong

OPO informing GPO of a mistake made. Wrong is followed by giving the correct order. Not used by the GPO.

Bad ram

Reported by GPO for guns loaded by the ram rod when the round was incorectly loaded.GPO does not fire the round. OPO fires the bad ram round with a safe correction.

Report stand by

Ordered by the OPO to the GPO. GPO will report stand by 5 seconds before fall of shot. Stand by is  also normally cued by the OP Ack.

Any old Gunner can remember any more unique fire disciplines to include here in?

Take care lest we forget

Allen Lai

Air Op

Hermes 900 UAV

WW1 air OP

Balloon OPs

The artillery air OP is no more. In comes the drones. above is the Israel Defence Forces’ drone Hermes 900  UAV nicknamed “Star”

I had Googled and researched into the development of the air OP. The air OP was first used in WW1. A plane would service a particular artillery battery, and before takeoff the battery's target was confirmed.  Once in the air the observer had to identify his battery and the target.  He would then transmit a message ordering it to fire.  He could usually differentiate shells that belonged to his battery by measuring the time from when they had fired till the explosion in the vicinity of the target.

From 1915 onwards the corrections, transmitted in Morse, were in the "clock code": a letter was used to indicate the distance from the target (the letters Y, Z, A, B, C, D, E and F representing distances of 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 yards respectively) and a number in the range 1-12 representing the direction from the target (with 12 indicating due north of the target, and 6 representing due south of the target).

Captain H J Parham, RA was a memebr of the RA flying club had re-conceptualised the method of air Op in 1933. And since then there were air OP unts, Artilery pilots and army air units. The first British air OP unit commanded by Captain H C Bazeley RA, was the 651 Squadron and was operational in 1941. 

The use of balloons were also experimented with great success.

We were also almost in the same approach to have our own air units; the army air corps. The army was calling for army helicopter pilots to form the nucleus of the army air corps in 1967. Capt Richard Jalil was the first Gunner to be a helicopter pilot. I had also applied to join the next batch of call ups. I even had secured an aptitute test in KL. But I was not fated to be a helicopter pilot. I was then serving in Tawau, Sabah and had to miss the aptitute test due to operational requirements. I was never offered a second chance for the aptitute test. And the rest was history.

Our air defence regiment has a operational “drone” detachment. More specifically remote controlled fixed wings aeroplanes. We hope one day we will be able to achieve some substantial arial support for our artillery.

We conducted some limited air OP shoots in Asahan range. They were quite straightforward drills. OTGT directions and the targets were clear and observable. The downside to air OP shoots was always airsick.

1970s. Border ops. I was in an allouette helicopter about 3000 feet over the dense jungles in upper Perak. We were doing the clasic figure of eight manoeuvre for orientation and fixation onto a high ridge. Two F5E zoomed passed just above us, Fast. Low and in a tight formation.

We were conducting airstrikes and I was the Air OP.

“Tiger Tiger, this is G29, Sheldrake speaking, do you have visual on orange smoke, Over” 

A “squesh” was clearly heard meaning afirmative. The F5E was flying so fast that the pilot dd not have time to answer “ Roger afirmative”.  All he has time was to press the voice switch to get the “Squesh’ in the VHF radio. The americans would say “Do you copy?”

“G29, Own troops south of orange smoke. Aproximately 800m. Target on high ridge. Come in 90 degrees from the west, Over” 

“Squesh”

Air strikes should always come in from 90 degrees of own troops for added safety.

Both the F5Es did a fly over and swooped around. I could see them coming from the west. One behind the other. Each F5E fired two rockets into the ridge. 

That was it. End of Mission. Did we hit the target? Truth be told. I don’t have the faintest idea. But I was really happy that our troops were safe. The air strikes had boosted high morale if not anything else. Air strikes in the jungle terrain is very difficult because of the high canopy of tree tops. There were no real targets observable. Our ground troops would search and clear the high ridge after the air strikes.

Again in late 1970s. I was on ops in Sarawak. B Bty 2 ARTY was supporting 2 RMR operating from Lundu in the First Division Sarawak. I had two guns each in Kg Bokah, Lundu and Semantan.

The Lundu - Biawak road was as black as a black kettle. A convoy from the previous Ranger battalion operating in the area were ambushed recently.

2 RMR conducted OPS UMPAN.  Two 3 tonners were specially prepared with sandbags surrounding the side walls of the 3 tonners. The side canopy covers and the side boards were designed to drop with a simple pull lever. A section of troops hid inside the 3 tonners with additional mounted GPMGs and M60s grenade launchers. From the outside they were plain 3 tonners on routine admin runs. The convoy was escorted by a ferret scout car and two APCs in the front, mid and rear. 

I was air OP in an allouette, circulating in circles like an eagle 8 KM away. We had report lines for the convoy and predicted targets along the route. The Ironside commander was also convoy commander and he  would report the report lines to Bn Tac, and Bty CP and I monitor the progress airborne. We waited for the ambush. 

Ops Umpan was not triggered even after two weeks moving to and fro Lundu-Biawak. A month later SB had a SEP who confessed that the enemy was tempted strike but did not. A sweep along the route discovered two freshly prepared ambush positions. They were lucky. We were lucky?

I had another chance to do air OP with 2 RMR. I was airborne and was ready to call for fire to support a company ambush in Lundu area. The company was commanded by Capt Hamid who was to be awarded the SP medal, when he sprung his ambush in this ops. Unfortunately he did not call for fire support as planned. We did not know of his actions until it was all over and when he had called for medevac. I returned to Lundu camp immediately and the heli was re-tasked to do the medevac. 

So much for my experience with Air OP.

Alas, air Op was a thing of the past. With current GPS gadgets and arial surveillance drones, remote target acquisition and control is in.

Take care

Allen Lai

Gun salutes

Back in the 1960s, Field Regiments had their fair share of gun salute duties. Even after the establishment of 41 BTY, we still had to chip in to do gun salutes. Field Btys were on a rotation basis to fire gun salutes depending which state’s sultan birthday.

I loved gun salutes. I was GPO, young and brash. Gun salute duties took up about a week’s deployment to the state’s capital town. My favourite gun salute was for the Sultan of Kelantan. The two most favourable reasons were The Sultan of Kelantan was our Gunner in Chief and Kapt Mustapha Saad was BK. He was of course a Kelantanese and was deemed very close to the royalties and palace staff. Add the two together, we would have a business as usual holiday in the state. What say with Golok Thailand, just accross the border; a railway line crossing the Sungei Kelantan providing free access pass immigration and customs points.

Golok those days was also a haven, a rouge’s delight. Same same but not the same. Mustapha Saad or Musti as he would liked to be called, look after us well. We did not have to cross illegally via the railway line. We crossed in style using palace staff cars, with local guides to boot. Who wouldn’t want to volunteer for gun salutes in Kelantan? 

Now 41 Regiment has all the perks that comes with gun salutes. But alas Golok is no more a bright border town. I visited Golok recently to see a sorry state of affairs, neglected and gloomy. 

Yes it is still the same same but not the same.

Allen Lai