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SECTION TRAINING
162
NINE
Each trainee was responsible for a rifle (the serial number was listed against his name in
the armskote book), as well as the bayonet, which, together with the magazines drawn for
the day and the bipod which was then a standard issue with each rifle, had to be returned
to the armskote before the trainee could book out of camp, or at the end of the training
day.
1
It was a perpetual running battle between the procrastinator and the duty armskote
man. The chromed barrel of the M16 was easy enough to clean, though by the same token,
it was easy for the instructors to spot either pitting or ‘fornicating elephants inside’ except
that they used a more military adjective. The rifle came with a cleaning rod, not the pull-
through used for the SLR. The cleaning rod consisted of several detachable sections, the
ends of which were screwed into one another, the top piece having a slot for the flannelette
and an alternative one with a cylindrical wire brush like a miniature bottle brush. The joints
were not robust enough to withstand much wear and tear and frequently gave way. Nobody
remembers how it came about, but soon, some trainees began displaying a sturdy brass one-
piece cleaning rod which did the job and was worth the bother of packing in the backpack
on overnight field training, even though it tended to stick out awkwardly because it was a
little longer than the barrel of the rifle. Just about everybody else got into the act soon after
that so some enterprising metal worker in Sungei Road (where nearly any kind of military
knick-knack could be bought from the ‘Thieves Market’) must have made a tidy pile for his
initiative. In due course, a new 2-piece model of the cleaning rod evolved.
It was not only trainees who were excited by their new toys, but the officers and NCOs as
well, because the M16 was frequently seen on television in the hands of American GIs in
the news coverage of Vietnam and had gained universal admiration. Nearly everyone knew
the story of Eugene Stoner who had developed the weapon for Colt and the fact that he was
now developing another weapon under the Stoner brand name.
2
After a second zeroing exercise (the first being with the SLR during basic training), range
practices were to continue well into section training despite the intensive range lessons in
the basic phase. This was initially to satisfy the trainfire package that would fully qualify
the trainees to use the M16 and thereafter, at intervals during the course, to make the new
weapon a natural extension of their combat instincts. Range practice tailed off as live-
firing exercises became the major platform of tactical training. The M16 introduced new
capabilities, particularly with the full automatic mode permitting burst fire, which in turn
allowed for effective instinctive firing from the hip. The M16 also added realism to the
training, together with its other advantages over the SLR because a blank attachment could
be fitted after removing the flash hider. Obviously, with the first intake at SAFTI being the
first to use the M16, the trainfire package itself was experimental and essentially grounded
on the SLR syllabus, which did not fully exploit the capabilities of the new weapon. A major
transition, was in fact in the making. The SLR represented single aimed shots, a WWII
concept, while the M16 represented overwhelming firepower, with high velocity lightweight
rounds and a big increase in the combat load of ammunition. The operating doctrine had yet
to be formulated in the SAF.