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DRILL AND POP REHEARSALS
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FOURTEEN
IV. THE TOUGHEST ASSIGNMENTS
The days moved on towards the final ten to eight weeks before the end of the course and
the Commissioning Parade. Somewhere at that point, Tiger, in consultation with the Platoon
NCOs and the ‘A’ company officers, nominated Officer Cadets S. Purushothaman, Khoo Kong
Ngian, Ng Seng Chan and Titus Stephen as ‘supernumeraries’ for the Commissioning Parade,
thereby signaling their clear-cut success in the course and began to rehearse them for their
roles as, Cadet Parade Commander and Cadet Platoon Commanders of Platoons 1, 2 and
3, respectively. When asked in an interview in March 2005, Tiger insisted that no alternate
supernumeraries were appointed and indeed, the cadets did not see anybody else practising
the words of command off duty. It was either a sign of extreme foolhardiness or confidence
in the availability of the only nominees on the day of the Commissioning Parade. Tiger’s only
concession to the guaranteed availability of the supernumeraries was that he gave them advice
on how to prevent losing their voice with some home remedies. But, the rest of the cadets were
treated to the amusing spectacle of four of their fellows conscientiously shouting out into the
empty parade square at night, the words of command that essentially amounted to the cadets
managing the parade themselves after the instructor staff fell out. If any other cadets envied
them, it was not apparent. The chosen ones were recognised as enjoying drill and being natty
in their turnout. The attitude of the majority was “Rather you than me, chum!”
The Cadet Platoon Commander of Platoon 3 for the Commissioning Parade, Titus Stephen,
who left the service as Lieutenant-Colonel in 1988 after commanding a brigade that he molded
into the Best Combat Unit for the year, recalls his selection for the job and the preparations
that went into it.
“I don’t know how the decision process worked. Obviously, it must have
involved the Platoon Sergeant, WO2 Omar Alsagoff, the Platoon Commander,
CPT Goh Lye Choon, the Company Warrant Officer, WO1 Hong Seng Mak,
the Company 2I/C CPT Daljeet Singh, and the Company Commander, MAJ
John Morrice. All my dealings on the matter were with Inche Omar. It began
when he sent for me and one or two others (I cannot recall who they were
now) from Platoon 3 and informed us that one of us would be selected as the
Cadet Platoon Commander for the Commissioning Parade because of the
standard of our drill, good command voice, smart turnout and overall good
performance in the course. The selection for the Cadet Parade Commander
took a separate path. We were told that he (Inche Omar), our Platoon
Commander, WO1 Hong and MAJ Morrice would be keeping an eye on us
and our performance on and off the parade square and only one would be
selected. We were given some parade commands to practise for a test.