Of Commanders, command, control, responsibilities and such like

It would be clear cut if we were in the regiment, battalion or any formation. The chain of command and span of command are fixed within the command structure.

But what happens when an officer is part of a combination of different troops like in a convoy for movement (not maneuver)?

On ops in Sabah and Sarawak and also along the Malaysian Thai border, movement of troops are escorted to their destinations. Escorts were also required on all black roads in the country. Troops from armoured squardrons and regiments usually comprise Condors , APCs and Ferrets scoutcars.

In 1970 I was a Bty Comd with my BHQ in Bau, 20 miles SE of Kuching. All Movements on roads outside Kuching town need escorts. 3 Bde HQ was in Kuching and RASCOM (Rajang Area Security Command) was in SIBU.  All escorts were provided by the armoured squadrons stationed in Sibu, Bau, and Serian.

Escorts for Kuching/Bau/Kuching were scheduled twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening before last light. Timmings were never fixed. We had to ring up/ radio the armoured squardron stationed in Tasik Emas camp, Bau for escort timings each day. The size of the escorts differs with each task. Assembly area in Kuching was Camp Batu Tujuh.

One morning my Xray rover group came down to Kuching for Bde orders and was scheduled to return to my BHQ in Tasik Emas camp Bau with the returning escort in the afternoon. My joining the escorted convoy was late as we finished late with Bde HQ.

As I joined the convoy that evening, the escort commander reported to me that I was the most senior officer in the convoy, and requested orders to move out. Already in the group was an infantry platoon commanded by a 2Lt, and several three tonners on an admin run. The escort commander was a LT from the armoured squadron.

After setting up our internal Comms, I took up the second position from the front and we rolled out. There was a roundabout at Batu Lapan on the route to Bau. As the three tonners took the roundabout, several soldiers fell off the three tonner as the sideboard was not secured. Unfortunately mostly were hurt but one soldier died.

A board of  inquiry (BOI) was mandatory for every Incident of death. Presidents of BOI were mostly from DIV and Bde staff officers. I was called up in the BOI, being the most senior officer in the convoy even though the the casualties were from other units.

So we had vehicle commanders, convoy commander, escort commander,  a corporal in charged of the admin personnel, a platoon commander, artillery commander and the most senior officer in charged. Who was responsible for the death?

More importantly who would be in command should the convoy be ambushed? What would be the battle procedure? Anti MT ambush drills?

Needless to say every commander was called up. Did I get off the hook? You bet not. Responsibility and accountability come with the rank.

A big lesson learnt for me.

Allen Lai

84 Gun Salute

41 ARTY gun salute for Merdeka Parade 2013

Many Gunners would not have fired gun salutes since the forming up of 41 ARTY, our Ceremonial Bty. Veteran Gunners from field Btys would have fired gun salutes as we took turns to be deployed for the task.

I had my fair share of gun salutes whilst in 2 ARTY. And of course the most famous mother of all gun salutes is 3ARTY firing life round from Kem Kumunting Taiping. Perhaps somebody from the regiment would remember that episode and pen it.

I never enjoyed firing gun salutes as, simple as it seems, it is quite a stressful task. I prefer operational duty any day.  We would feel anxiety and feel the heat (Pun intended) during gun salutes. Exception to this is perhaps gun salutes for the Birthday of the Sultan of Kelantan every year held in Kota Baru. This is of course the attraction to sneak across to vibrant Golok in Southern Thailand. How we crossed the border without our passports and activities in Golok shall not be described herein this blog.

Gun salutes need lots of rehearsals. Crucial to gun salutes is of course timmings and the number of rounds to be fired, usually 21 or sometimes 17 blanks.  Problems may arise from gun misfire, no comms, and the actual counting of the blanks fired. Of course we devised backup procedures to ensure precision and clockwork drills.

The downside to gun salutes is that the fire unit never gets into the lime light of the ceremony. We would almost be deployed a distant away from the parade ground/ ceremony place. We were only to be heard not seen, inspite that we would be in our NO.1 uniform.

Anybody heard of 84 gun salute?

Yes you guessed right, yours truly had the honour.

Queen Elizabeth II visited Malaysia in 1972, her majesty's first visit since her coronation in 1952. It was a grand affair. Her majesty was accompanied by Prince Phillip and Princess Anne.

The royal entourage came by ship HMS Britannia, escorted by a RN frigate. They arrived early in the morning and the ships had anchored off Port Klang. The RN frigate fired the first salvo of 21 gun salute and we replied gun for gun (21 gun salute).

When her majesty actually stepped ashore, the band played God Save the Queen and we fired 21 gun salute to which the RN Frigate replied gun for gun. Hence the total rounds fired was 84 gun salutes. 42 salutes from each nation. What an honour. After the ceremony, the Frigate’s quartermaster and I exchanged our shells. I still have the 40 mm shell polished as a souvenir.

I googled Wikipedia for the RN tradition in gun salutes and paste an extract per below:

The custom stems from naval tradition, where a warship would fire its cannons harmlessly out to sea, until all ammunition was spent, to show that it was disarmed, signifying the lack of hostile intent. As naval customs evolved, 21 guns came to be fired for heads of state, with the number decreasing with the rank of the recipient of the honor.

Salute by gunfire is an ancient ceremony. For years, the British compelled weaker nations to render the first salute; but in time, international practice compelled "gun for gun" on the principle of equality of nations

There you are, another experienced chalked up.

Allen Lai

Merdeka

Saturday morning 31 August 2013. I was on parade for the nation's 56th year Merdeka celebration. Yes, I was even early, well before the arrivals of the VVIPs.

The scene was all jubilance, joy and colours. Participants had arrived and took up their positions in vibrant and patriotic costumes. There was loud music and everything was ready to go with clockwork precision. I know because I was very much involved in Merdeka parades when I was the KS 4 Infantry Division just before my retirement.

But it was not  to be that I was actually on parade at Dataran Merdeka, I was watching the live telecast from the comfort of my home. Am I patriotic enough as I was not actually there in person? I wondered.

My thoughts came with guilt. Am I not patriotic? What is it to be patriotic? I suppose I was and am still patriotic enough to have sat  through the whole two and half hours. I had contributed enough to the nation whilst in service in one way or other.

I suppose I would be there if I had an invitation to attend the celebration. I am too old to jost for a standing space along the line of spectators belakang tali. Perhaps my pride got in the way. Would you be comfortable to see me standing for 2 and a half hours. I do not expect to be at the VIP stand, maybe a bench somewhere for retired senior officers? Patriotism is respect and acknowledgement for those who had sacrificed. No?

But I digress.

I noticed the changes in this year's parade from past parades. The music and songs are more upbeat and patriotic. Even the NegaraKu has a new arrangement. I could hardly recognise the Negaraku in its new arrangement. But I knew it must be the Negaraku as I am still familiar with the protocols and format for Tuanku's arrival.

I am awed and impressed with the display of Artillery assets. New rocket launches, medium guns and air defence systems. I am very proud and glad that we have some fairly sophisticated assets. The Police Vat 69 group and our 10 Para Bde contingent had put up very impressive displays. Families of Perwira Lahad Datu were also on parade. I was moved and touched by their presence. But I missed our field guns. Shouldn't they be on parade as well ? 1 ARTY was deployed to Lahad Datu too and had provided the fire support needed for the operations. It would be the Victory Parade for the Regiment, meeting the theme of this year's celebration - Patriotism. 

Maybe I shall be delighted in next years parade. I am and will always be a field gunner.

Allen Lai

Elite Artillery Units

Hi All,

I am extremely proud and pleased that 1 ARTY had performed very well during the recent deployment to Lahad Datu, Sabah. I am proud because 1 ARTY is the First Regiment in our Corp. 1 ARTY was raised from the elite 1^st Field Bty, Federation Artillery. Even though I was commissioned into 2 ARTY and had served my early days in 2 ARTY from GPO to Regiment 2 IC over several postings, I was proud to have had commanded 1 ARTY for 6 and half years, that being the best of my service days.

Every ARTY unit should be an elite unit. When I was commissioned to E BTY 2 ARTY, the BTY was an elite BTY. We had more guns than officers back then. There were only three officers when I joined E BTY. Major John Lane was BC, the late Lt Colonel Mustapha Saad was BK and I was everything else. Section Commander/GPO/ Troop Commander/2K. Not to mention being Regiment Duty Officer almost every other day.

My first lesson as a Gunner was we are an elite unit. We are the King of the battlefield. We lend grace to what otherwise would be a bloody war. We must perform. We must excel.

We had 4 guns to the BTY and we were an elite BTY. So were all the BTYs in the Regiment. So were all the BTYs in 1 ARTY. We were all elite BTYs, similarly organized, equipped and trained to the highest standards. The BTYs were named A, B, C, D, E Btys denoting only Bty seniority from both the Regiments which had 3 gun BTYs each. All BTYs were elite and can be deployed on independent operations during the Confrontation era and Border Ops.

Officers joining the Regiments were designated NQFA (Non Qualified Federation Artillery) until we had attended and passed our YO course. We learned fast and were dedicated to our roles and responsibilities. We were a small Corp and had displayed our professionalism with pride to the envy of other corps. We are now the second largest Corp in the Malaysian Army. Are we still not an elite Corp?

Given my background experience, I am most sad that 6 ARTY which is raised and stationed permanently in Sabah did not have a significant role in the deployment to the ops in Lahad Datu. I would have thought 6 ARTY should have the honour to display our finesse. Lahad Datu is within 6 ARTY’s immediate deployment range and AO. Shouldn’t 6 ARTY be given the honour? Wouldn’t it make Artillery sense to deploy its nearest fire units? Please enlighten me. I feel really sad for the CO and all officers and Gunners from 6 ARTY.

Perhaps at Army and Corp levels we should start to learn the lessons from the now forgotten Falklands War in the 80s. Sabah/Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia is somewhat like the Argentinean mainland and Falkland Islands, separated by sea. The ground war in the Falklands, and in particular the Argentinean artillery deployment and fire support should lend us some lessons to be learnt. Least we forget Argentina lost the war.

Yes I would agree to the deployment of 1 ARTY, notwithstanding the high expenditure and logistics efforts incurred. 1 ARTY is after all with the Rapid Deployment Force. But I would say 1 ARTY should only be deployed if there were inadequate fire units on the ground. 6 ARTY should be given the privilege of the FIRST RIGHTS to the battlefield before any other regiment. I sincerely hope we can maintain this tradition that all Artillery units are elite.

Allen Lai

Selamat Hari Raya

Allen Lai

Hi all,

Selamat Hari Raya. I hope my greetings are not too late to all our Muslim Gunners. I had realised that I should also post my greetings in this blog in addition to my traditional greetings via SMSes.

This Raya, I was able to visit several open houses and also to RAFOC's Hari Raya Do in Kem Wardieburn. Unfortunately I did not meet up with as many Gunners in those occasions as I thought I would.

I wish to personally thank Brig Jen Dato Yusri, commander Air Defence Group who took extra efforts to contact me to extend an invitation to his function last Tuesday. I attended the Open Day and was extremely delighted to meet many serving and retired officers and other ranks. Thank you Dato Yusri.

It was also at this function that I was thanked for my contributions in SHELDRAKE in the past. I was also asked why I had stopped writing lately in my blog for Gunners.

Firstly I have to clarify that SHELDRAKE IS NOT my blog. SHELDRAKE is initiated by Mej Ramachandan, ig (retired). He had invited all of us to contribute in any which way we can.

I also believe that SHELDRAKE is also the blog for the Gunners Club. Thank you Rama for giving us the opportunity to share our experiences and thoughts. Once a Gunner always a Gunner. I shall try to pick up my will to contribute more in this blog.

Take care

Allen Lai

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL FITHRI

 

TO ALL GUNNERS

 AND THEIR FAMILIES.. MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN. TO THOSE IN OPERATIONS- SELAMAT BERTUGAS. WE ALL HAVE BEEN THERE BEFORE.

The battle of Long Tan Revisited

105 Fd Battery RAA in Vietnam

Map of the Battle of Long Tan

I am an admirer of the the Australian troops that fought in the Battle of Long Tan in Vietnam in 18 August 1966. Thanks to the Seventh Rangers website which posted a recent video to the battle documented by FOXTEL, Australia.

The Battle of Long Tan was an Artillery battle as much as was an infantry battle. D Company 6 RAR was supported  by 161 Bty (NZ,) and 103 and 105 batteries RAA.

View the video here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gUSq7pxux4&sns=em

Young gunners are recommended to study and research into the Battle of Long Tan. It was truly one of the best Artillery supported battles in recent times.

Danger close missions, higher than sustained rate rates of fire and continuous fire support are all seen in this three hours battle. Also seen are windows for critical time management for air support missions, accuracy and consistency in the fall of shorts and last but not least, clear fire orders and good communications throughout the battle.
Gunners did what they were supposed to do in battle. Proud to be a Gunner always.

The battle is very relevant to RAD.

Happy research.
Allen Lai