Speech by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean at the Presentation Ceremony for the SAF Overseas Service Medal, and Award of Unit Citation to 24th Battalion Singapore Artillery and 128 Squadron

CDF, Service Chiefs,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon.

The security challenges we face today are transnational. We live in an interconnected world, where the peace and security of Singapore can be affected by instability in another part of the world. While the SAF's primary mission remains the defence of Singapore's sovereignty and territorial integrity, safeguarding our national security interests today includes participating in international peace and security missions to help bring stability to critical regions. Because in the end, instability there can affect us here at home.

In the last decade, the SAF has deployed over 2,300 servicemen overseas in support of multinational peace and security operations. Our contributions are not large, but they are in niche areas where we have the expertise and which our international partners find operationally useful. We have, for example, deployed dental and construction engineering teams as part of the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team to help develop medical capabilities and build health facilities in Bamiyan province. Over a period of four years, our engineering teams have helped build a number of clinics, as well as a Regional Health Training Centre. They also facilitated the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid donated by the SAF to the province. Through these efforts, we have made useful and meaningful contributions that have improved the security situation and the lives of the people in Bamiyan.

Bamiyan has become a relatively stable province. Local authorities and civilian aid groups are now better able to provide the services that the SAF has been contributing. With the return of our six-man Construction Engineering Team in October last year, we have concluded our mission in Bamiyan. This will allow us to focus on other ongoing deployments in Afghanistan where the need for the capabilities that we can contribute are greater. The Construction Engineering Team, deployed in Bamiyan from May to October last year, was led by LTC Royston Lim. The team managed the construction of a Comprehensive Health Clinic. LTC Lim and his team can be proud that their efforts to build the clinic have benefitted over 10,000 families living in Foladi and its surrounding villages in Bamiyan province.

Recognising that one of the key strategies of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is to gradually transfer responsibility for the security of Afghanistan to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), a four-man SAF military institutional trainer team was deployed to the artillery school in Kabul to mentor and train the Afghan National Army (ANA) from August to December last year. Led by LTC Nicholas Seow, our trainers worked closely with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to advise the Afghan National Army on artillery training, doctrine development and the design of Train-the-Trainer programmes. The artillery school has made a lot of progress in the past months, producing trained Afghan artillerymen who are now ready to join their operational units. While LTC Seow and his team have returned, a 10-man team from the SAF continues to train the ANA in Kabul in the area of artillery till December 2011.

From August to November last year, the SAF also deployed an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Task Group to Multinational Base Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province. This was the first time we have deployed UAVs to Afghanistan. The SAF's UAVs augmented the International Security Assistance Force's surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities in Uruzgan. The 52-man Task Group, led by LTC Alvin Chan, overcame strong winds and austere launch and recovery facilities to carry out over 100 day and night surveillance and reconnaissance missions amounting to some 450 hours of flight time. Each mission provided valuable information which, when meticulously analysed and disseminated, enhanced the security of the Afghan population and international forces. For example, the UAV team was able to provide vital information that helped the ISAF identify threats such as Improvised Explosive Devices on key roads. Our ISAF partners have found this capability useful. Hence, we have maintained our UAV capability contribution through the continued deployment of our UAV imagery analysts till December 2011.

Today, we are also recognising the men from the third and fourth rotations of the Weapon Locating Radar detachment. We had deployed our Weapon Locating Radars to Uruzgan in September 2009 for nine months to provide early warning of incoming rockets for ISAF members stationed at the Tarin Kowt base. This has been a highly valued contribution and, upon request from our partners, we extended beyond our initial committed period for another six months till December last year, or a total duration of 15 months. I know the challenging conditions and the long hours that our men had to put up with and I commend them for their professionalism, skill and dedication to duty. Over their 15-month deployment, the Weapon Locating Radar team detected every one of the incoming rockets in their assigned sector. Because they rose up to the challenge of successfully tracking incoming rockets, ISAF members at Tarin Kowt Multinational Base had the reassurance to go about their duties with confidence and the knowledge that they will have the critical seconds needed to get to safety when the alarm is sounded.

This afternoon, we also recognise two other servicemen who have served in SAF overseas missions over the past year - LTC Jason Yee, whom we deployed to the Combined Maritime Force HQ in Bahrain as the SAF's Senior National Representative in support of the multinational counter-piracy effort in the Gulf of Aden from September 2009 to December 2010; and ME3 Selvaraj, who served as a UN Disaster Assessment Coordinator in Pakistan from August to September 2010 to assist in humanitarian efforts for the Pakistan floods.

Our servicemen who are deployed overseas, whether for multinational peace support, humanitarian assistance, or counter-piracy operations, are selected for their high standards of professionalism and dedication. They perform well, reinforce their confidence in their training and equipment, and bring back invaluable operational experience that will benefit not only themselves but also the SAF. Many have returned to assume key command, instructional and staff appointments in the SAF.

It leaves me now to congratulate all 139 of you for a job well done. I am also very pleased to award the Unit Citation to 24th Battalion Singapore Artillery and 128 Squadron for their contributions to the successful completion of the Weapon Locating Radar and UAV Task Group deployments in Afghanistan, respectively.

All of you have done the SAF and Singapore proud. In successfully carrying out your missions and fulfilling your responsibilities, you have enhanced the reputation of the SAF as an operationally ready and competent force. So, on behalf of the people of Singapore, I express our gratitude to each and every one of you, and to all your families who have supported you while you were away. Thank you very much.

More Resources

139 SAF Personnel Honoured for Overseas Contributions