Season's Greetings

Hi all,

Tis the time of the year again. End of yet another year. A new year round the corner. Time for celebration and merriment. I have not being blogging here for sometime. No excuses. I will try to sort out myself in due time. I have terrible mood swings lately. I could not kick start out of my tardiness.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our Gunners. Blessings and best wishes to you and your families.

Take care

Allen Lai

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013

May you all be blessed with a Very Merry Christmas

Pingat Jasa Malaysia

The Gunners Club has planned the medal presentation ceremony. The Club Secretary's message is as follows:

Persatuan Bekas Artileri Malaysia(PBAM) will org a PJM medal ceremony for 40 Ex Gnr Offrs on Tuesday, 17th Dec'13 @0800hr at Wisma Perwira TD, Kem Perdana, Sg Besi. You are invited with you spouse. Wear a Batik, Suite or Baju Melayu. For medal recipients, there will be instructions sent soon. Call secretariat at 03-41084518 or 019-3179154. 
Join us for another Reunion of Gnrs and Lunch. "Once a Gnr always a Gnr."

PINGAT JASA MALAYSIA ADALAH  SEBUAH 'CAMPAIGN MEDAL' YANG DIZAHIRKAN  MELALUI STATUTNYA  YANG BERTARIKH 3 MAC 2004  YANG TELAH DIPERKENALKAN  OLEH   SERI PADUKA BAGINDA  YANG DI-PERTUAN AGONG  YANG KEDUA BELAS.

PINGAT JASA MALAYSIA INI   BERBENTUK BULAT  YANG DIPERBUAT DARIPADA TEMBAGA  YANG BERSADURKAN PERAK   PERMUKAAN HADAPAN BUAH PINGAT  TERUKIR  DENGAN JATA MALAYSIA  SERTA  TERPAHAT DENGAN TULISAN  'JASA MALAYSIA'  MANA KALA DI PERMUKAAN BELAKANGNYA  TERUKIR DENGAN PETA MALAYSIA  DAN TULISAN P.J.M.  PITA REBENNYA  BERJALURKAN WARNA MERAH,  BIRU TUA DAN KUNING  YANG MELAMBANGKAN  KEBERANIAN  PENGABDIAN KEPADA TUHAN,  TUGAS DAN TANGGUNG JAWAB  SERTA KESETIAAN KEPADA RAJA DAN NEGARA.

PINGAT INI DIWUJUDKAN  ADALAH UNTUK MENGIKTIRAF  KEPERWIRAAN,  KEBERANIAN,  PENGORBANAN DAN KHIDMAT BAKTI  YANG TELAH DIPAMERKAN  OLEH SETIAP LAPISAN ANGGOTA  KETIGA-TIGA PERKHIDMATAN  ANGKATAN TENTERA MALAYSIA  SEMASA MENGHADAPI   ERA DARURAT KEDUA  SERTA PASUKAN PENGAMAN TENTERA ASING   SEMASA DARURAT PERTAMA.

PINGAT INI  DIKHUSUSKAN UNTUK ANGGOTA ANGKATAN TENTERA MALAYSIA  YANG TERLIBAT DI DALAM MEMERANGI   PENGGANAS KOMUNIS  SECARA LANGSUNG   MAHUPUN TIDAK LANGSUNG  DI ANTARA TAHUN 1969 SEHINGGA 1989 DI SEMENANJUNG MALAYSIA  DAN  SEHINGGA  TAHUN 1990 DI SABAH DAN SARAWAK.

DI DALAM PERKHIDMATAN  SESUAI DENGAN STATUTNYA SEBAGAI "CAMPAIGN MEDAL"  PINGAT INI TELAH DIMARTABATKAN   SEBAGAI PINGAT TERKANAN  DALAM KEKANANAN SUSUNAN  BERBANDING DENGAN ANUGERAH-ANUGERAH  YANG SAMA KELAS DENGANNYA.

ST. BARBARA'S DAY- 4 DECEMBER 2013

ORDER OF ST BARBARA MEDALLION

Saint Barbara became the patron saint of artillerymen. She is also traditionally the patron of armourers, military engineers, gunsmiths, miners and anyone else who worked with cannon and explosives. She is invoked against thunder and lightning and all accidents arising from explosions of gunpowder. She is venerated by Catholics who face the danger of sudden and violent death in work.

The Spanish word santabárbara, the corresponding Italian word Santa Barbara, and the obsolete French Sainte-Barbe signify the powder magazine of a ship or fortress. It was customary to have a statue of Saint Barbara at the magazine to protect the ship or fortress from suddenly exploding. She is the patron of the Italian Navy.

Saint Barbara’s Day, December 4, is celebrated by the British (Royal Artillery, RAF Armourers), Royal Engineers, Australian (Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery, RAAF Armourers), Canadian (Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians (EOD), Canadian Air Force Armourers, Royal Canadian Artillery, Canadian Military Field Engineers, Royal Canadian Navy Weapons Engineering Technicians), New Zealand (RNZAF Armourers, RNZA, RNZN Gunners Branch) armed forces. Additionally, it is celebrated by Irish Defence Forces Artillery Regiments, Norwegian Armed Forces Artillery Battalion, United States Army and Marine Corps Field and Air Defense Artillery, many Marine Corps Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians, and other artillery formations. The units and sub-units celebrate the day with church parades, sports days, guest nights, cocktail parties, dinners and other activities. Several mining institutions also celebrate it, such as some branches of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Although they do not celebrate her saint's day, she is also the patron saint of US Navy and Marine Corps Aviation Ordnancemen

Santa Barbara Night is celebrated by the Norwich University Independent Battery.

In Greece, the day is celebrated by the Artillery Corps of the Greek Army and the Cypriot National Guard. Artillery camps throughout the two countries host celebrations in honor of the saint, where the traditional sweet of loukoumades is offered to soldiers and visitors, allegedly because it resembles cannonballs.^[15] Saint Barbara is also the patron saint of the northern Greek city of Drama, where a sweet called varvara, which resembles a more liquid form of koliva, is prepared and consumed on her feast day.

The Spanish Artillerymen also venerate her as patron saint of their branch, and parades, masses and dinners are held in her honour and on behalf of those serving in the branch.

The city of Santa Barbara, California, located approximately 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, is named for the Mission Santa Barbara. The Franciscan mission was dedicated to her in 1602 after Sebastián Vizcaíno survived a violent storm just offshore on the eve of her feast day. Other Spanish and Portuguese settlements named Santa Barbara were established in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Venezuela, and the Philippines.^[16] Many churches in Russia are dedicated in her name, including one in Moscow, next to Saint Basil's Cathedral, and in Yaroslavl.

In the Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian religions of Santería, Candomblé, and Umbanda she is syncretized with Chango, the deity of fire, lightning, and thunder.

In Georgia, Saint Barbara's Day is celebrated as Barbaroba on December 17 (which is December 4 in the old style calendar).^[17] The traditional festive food is lobiani, bread baked with a bean stuffing.

In Macedonia Saint Barbara's day is celebrated as Варвара (Varvara) on 17 December. Some Macedonians celebrate with their closest family and friends at home, while others refrain, believing that people who step in their house on Saint Barbara's day will give them either good or bad luck for the rest of the year.

In the mining town Kalgoorlie, Australia, as patron saint of miners she is venerated in the annual St. Barbara's Day parade.

HAPPY DEEPAVALI!

TO ALL HINDUS, 

MAY YOU HAVE A BLESSED DEEPAVALI CELEBRATION WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

Another milk run

It was to be the mother of all milk runs. Frustration was all time high and morale was all time low. I had always loved ops and logistics. Any SO2 Log would have no problems running the logistics support for normal operations, even at Div level. Logistics procedures were all written in the SOPs. I just oversee the logistics requirements. But this was to be my biggest ever logistics ops I had experienced.

I was SO2 Log in KL Garrison, handing mostly movement of troops for big parades in KL and bodevacs in transit from all over Malaysia. I thought transiting big body of troops and impromptu bodevacs were big problems. I had also taught Admin and Logistics in LATEDA.

Nothing came near to this experience.

Mid 1980s. Sibu airport. I deployed the DMA to support 1 Div’s biggest ever cordon and search ops in RASCOM area named OPS JALA AMAN ONE. 1 Div had cordoned off a sizeable group of the enemy stretching from Batu 10 to Julau. I am not sure if there was ever a DMA deployed for ops. DMA were for exercises and tutorials. This time I even had to do a staff check for body bags.

Two battalions were deployed from 3 Bde and another 2 battalions from 5 Bde in addition to RASCOM’s own 2 battalion, forming a tight ring to the cordoned off area. Troops were literally deployed shoulder to shoulder.

Two Armoured squadrons were deployed for patrolling the outer ring road and Artillery support was not required, even though a troop of Guns from 5 Arty Lok Kawi was deployed .  At a later stage we had a squadron of RGK deployed from Sungei Udang Melaka. We even deployed a whole infantry battalion from Sandakan, Sabah straight into the cordon line in less than 12 hours. The Charlies came to off load the troops on the airstrip. Nuris were flying out the platoons. One Nuri directly behind the other like a scene in a war movie.

We had the full squadron of 6 Nuri helicopters from Labuan, complete with the GLO in support. The Nuri Squadron operated from Sibu airport.

TAC HQ 1 Div was deployed to Kem Oya, 3 Bde Tac was deployed to Sri Aman, whilst 5 Bde TAC HQ was deployed to Julau. RASCOM HQ remained in Sibu town.

In spite of the cordon and search ops being the biggest ever, we were not doing very well. It became a nightmare when we had casualties almost every night. It was the most tense ops I had ever supported. Contacts every night. Bodevacs by Nuri every day from the ops area to Kuching, and after prayers in the camp Madrasah, bodevac by Charlie to Peninsular.

It was reported that an Iban warrior named Ubong,who unfortunately was an ex Signals personnel, was leading the enemy group. Ubong processed magic powers or so it seems. He was “seen” and “felt” everywhere. Fear was overbearing among the troops. We had contact reports every night. Every shadow, every movement of the leaves was the enemy, causing aimless fire. Much later during the Board of Inquiry we saw troops were actually firing at tree top levels. Branches were scarred by heavy rifle fire. Claymores were triggered off by themselves. Most of our casualties were blue on blue.

All troops in the front line were hysterical. Something most unexplainable.

Redeployment movements of small groups of troop and small arms ammo resupply was a daily tasking. We would drop off small arms ammo at designated drop off points (DZs). There was inadequate helicopter support.

I foresaw that a Board of Inquiry would be imminent after the ops. There was an unprecedented large number of casualties. At the DMA, I briefed my logistics staff. Logistics must not fail in this ops. Difficult as it was, we must not fail the troops. We must deliver. I must deliver. We do not want the blame game pointing to poor logistic support for this ops.

I personally attended to the ammo resupply by air. We were really short of Q personnel and OPDEMs for ammo and claymore kept coming in. One evening we were not too sure for the exact location of the new DZ near Julau. I volunteered to assist the ammo delivery. An infantry section would normally meet us at the DZ. We flew over the DZ area but could not see any marker panels. The Nuri was low on fuel and had to return to Sibu. We spotted an open field near a school. I requested the pilot to drop the ammo there before he returned to base for fuel. There were no soldiers in sight. Luckily there were some civilians near the school. They helped us to off load the ammo for us. The helicopter pilot signaled that he was going back to base and promised to return for me after refueling.

 I was the only person left on the field with the stack of ammo. I had to guard the stack of ammo all by myself. I took stock. I had 4 magazines of 20 rounds each for my M16 and two clips of 9mm for my pistol. I felt like a silly idiot. I wondered how I could have got into a tight situation like that. The SO1 Log was all by himself.

I asked the civilians who had helped us if they knew if there were soldiers nearby. They said yes, in Julau about 2 Km away. I asked them to call for help from the soldiers in Julau. They did and a section of soldiers came and took over guarding the stack of ammo in the field.

It was late in the evening. I had no radio and the helicopter did not return as the pilot had promised. I gave up waiting and walked the 2 KM to Julau. I was stranded for the night in Julau. I could call for my Rover the next day.

2300 hours.  We were still drinking our coffee at the Tac HQ in Julau. A distress call came from the Ironside Net. Officer down. 3 km from Julau by road and 2 km by tracks to the sector. We had a night medevac by air the previous week during the ops. But not so late as 2300 hours. This time no chance of another night air medevac.

We could not do a night medevec on foot either, fearing a blue on blue situation.  The location was inaccessible for the APCs. Rescue could only be at first light. I went to the location with the medevac team, A doctor was with us. Unfortunately we lost the officer who had succumbed to loss of blood and shock.

Flame throwers were just being brought into service by the Malaysian Army. The only unit that had them first was PULADA, which was holding courses in the deployment and use of the flame throwers.

The GOC requested for some flame throwers. I organized it within 24 hours. But not without problems. The fuel for the flame throwers were too volatile to fly out. No civilian airlines will take it. Not even TUDM. The flame throwers came on the next Charlie flight but without its flammable fuel and also an instructor from PULADA. We were to get ingredients for the fuel from Shell Refinery, Miri.

I flew out in a Nuri to Miri together with an ammo technician(AT). We bought the necessary ingredients and flew back to Sibu. Liquid nitrate is very volatile and had to be hand held without shaking it too violently. The AT said  “Tuan tolong pegang ini” I said “Terima kasih, Tuan takut sangat, baik AT pegang, AT pakar, Jaga baik baik ya?”

There was also a lighter side contrasting to the somber mood during the ops. When the flame throwers were in place, and we managed to get the flammable ingredients for it from Miri. The AT need to mix the ingredients by using a weighing machine. A market or kitchen scale would do. So we purchased a standard market scale and flew it to the forward location. The urgent need for a scale was still demanded the next day. What? Didn’t we flew in one the previous day, together with the fresh ration resupply? A quick search found the critical weighing scale in the dapur. The QM had delivered it to his cookhouse instead to the AT.

As in all ops there would be high moments. I deployed light. My Rover Group comprise a batman cum escort and two radio operators. An HF radio on the Div Admin Net and a VHF radio to talk to the GLO located at the air strip, and to the helicopter pilots. I had a foldable butt M16 rifle and a 9 mm Browning pistol. An FFR Land Rover and a canvas camp bed gave me all the mobility and comfort I needed. I slept anywhere and everywhere. My group was as light as could be.

My batman cum escort was Ranger Balloon from HQ 1 Div. He bore the fiercest permanent rifle green tattoos I had ever seen. Agi idup Agi Ngalaban and all. He is a Sarawak Iban soldier. Ranger Balloon would not accept any stripes even after 15 years of dedicated service. He just aspires to be a good rifleman.

The road between Sibu Airport and Kem Oya is a classified Black road. It can’t be any blacker than Sibu- Oya road. It was “their” road. Wives going from Kem Oya to Sibu town for their weekly marketing need heavy armoured escorts.

One morning, I was in the DMA when the GOC at 1 Div Tac HQ called for an O group. I readied my rover group to move to Kem Oya. Ranger Balloon came up to me and said “ Jangan Pergi Tuan. Aku Pergi. Biar Aku mati” Ranger Balloon was concerned for my safety as we had two enemy ambushes along the route just weeks ago. I was most humbled for his thoughts and personal sacrifice. Here for the first time in my entire career, a subordinate offered to die for me.

I could only reply firmly to Ranger Balloon “Terima Kasih Balloon. Tuan mesti pergi Kem Oya pagi ini. Mari kita pergi bersamasama, Balloon jaga saya baik baik.”

The ops raged on. The nightmares rage on and it was a fiasco in the making.

Back in Kuching, our families in both the Kem Semanggoh and Kem Penrissen were not coping with the ops very well. They could not cope with the daily bodevacs by helicopters. Their anxiety broke into fears and hopelessness. The daily and night thalils, just too many, took a toll on our families.

I took a lift back to Kuching by a Helicopter. We landed in Kem Penrisson and I went home for a while. Word got out that I had come home. A dozen wives came to my house and asked for news in the ops area. Peggy told me that our wives were terrified each time they hear a helicopter circling to land. They would gather immediately to each others’ home for comfort and prayers. I took the cue that we should never land in either of the camps. I notified DMA to inform the pilots that all landing areas in our camps in Kuching were out of bounds. Our bodevacs were landed at Kuching Airport and the body bags brought back to the camp Madrasah by three tonners.

My greatest appreciation was to Army Log Div, 1 Div and Bde Logistics staff. I was given full empowerment to act, no questions, and no further clearance needed.  I delivered. Logistics rose to the occasion. We fought the good battle. Thanks also to the superb air support by TUDM.

This ops was our Waterloo. Another milk run not. How do we forget the tears of our widows?

Allen Lai

The milk run

Some milk runs are no milk runs. I know. I run milk runs.

Ammunition supplies are milk runs. Artillery ammunition milks runs are fairly arduous and could be complicated, particularly sending artillery ammunition to Sabah and Sarawak. A lot of factors were taken into consideration before the exercise to send ammunition stock to Sabah Sarawak. It takes two years planning to conduct an artillery ammunition milk run to the main ammo depots in Kuching, Labuan and Kota Kinabalu from Peninsular.

The move entails stock turnovers, shipping, land transport, accompanying Ammo Technical Officers (ATO) and ammo technicians, security, and very tight control measures for safety. Normally naval vessels were used for the task as civilian cargo shipping was very costly. The insurance cover for the run would cost more than the shipping itself. Whenever naval ships were not available for the milk run, we would schedule our civilian chartered cargo ship MV Sang Fajar, two years in advance at the expense of not shipping other routine runs for essential equipment and ordnance stores.

1982. It was my first year as SO1 Log 1 DIV and I took over a milk run planned two years ago and scheduled for mid September. I studied the plan and the movement tables. Piece of cake I thought. I was the SDS in LATEDA the previous year and taught Movements Graphs in the SD wing.

The special milk run was to be shipped by MV Sang Fajah, off loading 105mm HE, Smoke and Illuminating ammo in Kuching, Labuan, and KK being the last port of call. The different types of ammo needed to be loaded in separate hold compartments, with different fire fighting apparatus needed.

All planning and orders were finalized by August. We engaged extra stevedores and army work parties at all the ports of calls to ensure a fast turn around for the ship to return to its routine tasks. Bill of fares, custom forms, hazardous declarations were all in order. Local police were notified and military outriders were made available. All 3 tonners in the stations were centralized for the move, Red flags in front and green flags for the tail end Charlie. All systems go.

But time and tide waits for no man.

The milk runs to Kuching and Labuan were completed as planned and on schedule. But I knew that offloading in KK would be problematic. High tide was in the afternoon and the MV Sang Fajar was no RORO (Roll on Roll Off) ship. The ship could only dock in the early afternoon at the earliest. Time was the essence.

Now for the fireworks. Literally.

I had flown to Labuan and KK by CATW (Civil Air Travel Warrant) ahead of the ship. I knew the off loading at KK would be no easy milk run. The ship would dock on the day Sabah had planned to celebrate Merdeka Day in a big way. Parades, Fun activities and fireworks to boot. It was to be the biggest fireworks display I was told. AND the area for the fireworks was at the waterfront starting at 2030 hours. Bringing ammunition to the port that evening was definitely out of the question. Period.

I reported to Commander 5 Bde to seek permission to off load the ammunition. Major Maniam (Apu) was DQ 5 Bde. He was tasked to control the land transport turn around to off load the ammo in Kem Lok Kawi. He assured me that it could be done. But the Commander was adamant that we should not do it.  I argued very hard to get it done on an operational contingency. He finally agreed but said something I could not accept that it could come from a Commander. He had said that he would not be responsible for anything untoward. Not responsible? What are your stars for?

I grew up being responsible for my rank, status and all the actions by my subordinates all my life. It is part of command and leadership. This was the first thing I had learnt as a cadet officer. Don’t let anybody teach you otherwise.

MV Sang Fajar was 24 hours away when I gave the clearance to dock in KK. My head was on the chopping block. Die Die must do.

The ship came in at about 1400 hours and I had estimated that we needed about 6 hours to unload. We should finish unloading by 2000 hours latest working double time. We could do it. I ordered for more stevedores and extra hands and hoisters. I do not recall the extra expenditures. I don’t care. It was touch and go.

Everybody knew about the challenge to unload by 2000 hours. We even started to unload from all hatches before custom clearance. Franticly but no chaos.

We were making good timing until 1830 hours when the sky darkened and threatened to pour. Ammo should not be wet for long term stock up and shelf life.

We prayed. I prayed. Major Maniam must have prayed too.

We needed one more hour and the sky could cry for all I care. We were just working to our maximum capacity. Everything was clockwork. It was a battle against time. We planned for 10 vehicles per convoy for best turn around time. The 3 tonners were lined up, loaded and sped off led by a military out rider. Local police controlled every junction between the port and Kem Lok Kawi. Such was Major Maniam’s superb organization and support.

It started to drizzle, a couple of rain drops. I continued to pray some more. God must have heard Major Maniam’s prayers. A miracle happened. Heavy rain fell everywhere, one kilometer outside the port area, leaving a halo of dry area over the port. The rain storm covered the whole of KK, but not at the port area. Our 3 tonners returned drenched wet for the turn around. A real miracle. No other explanation.

We completed our mission impossible by 2000 hrs. Just 15 minutes after the last tail end Charlie left the port area, the halo above the port area broke loose and cats and dogs came down.

I adjourned to the little officers’ cabin on board MV Sang Fajar with Major Maniam. He polished his favourite duty free crate of Carlsberg and I had a couple of stiff ones. We did not talk. Our eyes misty, perhaps due to the wet sea breeze that came in from the cabin’s port hole window.

I took the last MAS night flight out of KK back to Kuching. I was in no mood for the grandest fireworks display, which started after the local Bomoh stopped the rain.

Allen Lai