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FOURTEEN
I. MILITARY BULL OR DEFINING TRAIT?
Drill was not an insignificant subject during the officer cadet phase. Fifty periods were
allocated to it. From a present day perspective, it is hard to decide whether drill should have
been given so much prominence. There was as yet no clear-cut model for the routine of the
SAF. Even though by Febuary 1967, National Service had been publicly announced by then-
PM Lee Kuan Yew, the impact it would have on unit life was anybody’s guess. Under British
administration, and to a great extent under Malaysia, peacetime unit life was essentially a half-
day of training and administration, with the other half mostly spent in sports, competitions
in soldierly skills and a variety of time-fillers designed to bond the unit, or provide for
the self-improvement of servicemen. In terms of public accountability, the military was a
reclusive affair until troops were deployed in earnest or appeared on ceremonial occasions.
In the latter case, without any clear evidence of a correlation, except perhaps with Gurkha
units, smartness in drill was somehow equated with competence in combat.
But, the officer cadet drill package addressed the role drill played in unit administration.
The lessons included sentry drill, guard mounting, sword drill, colour drill and the Company
Commander’s parade. This objective was never articulated as such; drill was left to the NCOs
under the CWO and its purpose was so self-evident to them that they did not see any
need for an explanation. While the cadets could readily appreciate the usefulness of the
other lessons, the role of the Company Commander’s parade was less evident. In fact, it
was a kind of power interface (
à la
school assembly), a format within which the Company
DRILL AND POP REHEARSALS
Ceremonial drill was a routine in military life in SMF days.