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DRILL AND POP REHEARSALS
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FOURTEEN
II. TIGER TERRITORY
Drill in ‘A’ Company was the personal fiefdom of Company Warrant Officer, WO1 ‘Tiger’
Hong. Tiger had come from 1 SIR and his association with then MAJ John Morrice, OC ‘A’
Company, went back to the time when he had asked to be transferred out of clerical duties in
the unit to combat assignment and ended up in LTAMorrice’s platoon. Partly due to fortuitous
turns of events, but mainly due to his own drive, energy and ability, he had become Section
Leader, Platoon Sergeant and Company Sergeant Major in blinding succession. Excelling
in sports, especially in marathon walking and boxing (SMF bantam weight champion and
qualified South East Asia Games referee), his rapid advancement made him an obvious
candidate for the First Instructors’ Preparatory Course. Initially assigned to ‘B’ Company
for two or three weeks, once again circumstances intervened: WO1 Mokhtar, the first CWO
of ‘A’ Company, was granted a Quartermaster Commission and Tiger succeeded him. Drill
was religion to Tiger: when he was present in ‘A’ Company premises, no cadet would dare
saunter across the parade square. If one had to be on it, he had better march, or run or he
would hear the dreaded summons: “You there, Officer Cadet!”
The format of the company parade during officer cadet days essentially meant platoons
forming up under their respective Cadet Platoon Sergeants who reported to the Cadet
Sergeant Major, who in turn reported to the Cadet Under-Officer, who in turn reported to
the Inspecting Officer. The CUO would then issue the command for open order to permit
inspection by rows and about face. This was a practice by the cadet appointment holders
on mornings that a company muster parade was stipulated in the training programme.
Forming up the whole company by trainees had not been required during the recruit and
section training phases. In fact, whereas drill had been a process of inculcating precise drill
movements and orderly assembly or movement of the troops from point-to-point in pre-
officer cadet training, in the officer cadet phase, drill focused on the roles played by officers
in a variety of regimental duties or ceremonial occasions. The passing out parade would be
effectively the last time cadets would form up as a peer group in a marching body. From the
time they marched off the parade ground at the Commissioning Parade, they would only
appear on parade in an individual capacity, as a leader of a body of troops, as a Parade 2I/C
or as a Colour Ensign (a role which is restricted to a Second Lieutenant).
Sentry Drill and Guard Mounting applied directly to the expected tasks of a subaltern in a
unit, as Duty Officer and Duty Field Officer, both of which involved mounting, checking,
turning out and dismounting the unit guards, as well as the required surprise and mandatory
2200 hrs Staff Parades during the duty period. Cadets were subsequently assigned as SAFTI
guards for one night in pickets as camp quarterguards during which they manned the
guardroom and did sentry and prowler duty to get a feel of what guard duty entailed.