One of a Kind (2nd Edition)

DRILL AND POP REHEARSALS

302

FOURTEEN

VI. DESIGNING A RITUAL

The POP rehearsals initially involved the three platoons and were conducted in the newly

completed parade ground of what was to become the School of Section Leaders, with the

occasional one in the old main square beside the QM/MT complex. Closer to the date of

the parade, ‘B’ and ‘C’ Companies joined for combined rehearsals and the venue had to be

the parade ground of the School of Section Leaders, where the POP would take place on

July, 1966. Tiger choreographed the parade in conjunction with SAFTI RSM Sng Cheng

Chye, as three subunits of SAFTI were involved and the function would be a presentation

by SAFTI as a whole. It was almost entirely adopted from the Commissioning Parade at the

Federation Military College, which itself was a copy of the Sandhurst model. The concept

was that the supporting contingents (‘B’ and ‘C’ Companies) were next in succession to take

over from the current cohort of officer cadets, as the latter marched off, leaving the parade

ground to them. At the start of the parade, the Contingent Commanders would be the

commanders of the cadet platoons, with OC ‘A’ and his 2I/C as the Parade Commander and

Parade 2I/C respectively and SAFTI RSM as the Parade Sergeant Major. After the inspection

by the Reviewing Officer, the cadet supernumeraries would take over.

It was a complicated parade. There were slow and quick times and wheeling into review

order as part of the march past, followed by an advance in review order for a final salute by

the cadets. There would be the presentation of the Sword of Honour and the cadets would

have to split into a single line on either side of the review stand as they marched off the

square to the traditional strains of Auld Lang Syne. The SIR Band led by LTA Abdullah,

ARCM, would be in attendance and was present for all the final rehearsals. Interestingly,

even ironically, one of the two scores for the inspection by the Reviewing Officer, was to be

the Triumphal March from Aida, which had been adopted as the national anthem of Egypt,

which had declined to take up the request to help train the SAF. If this was an oversight, it

had escaped the eagle eye of the Reviewing Officer, Dr. Goh Keng Swee, an aficionado of

classical music, who was to create the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Then again, it may

not have been an oversight.