LEST WE FORGET
A few months ago, the Star Newspaper published a list of Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa(SP) holders accompanied with each individual’s citations. The government came up with a timely decision to increase the allowances for these heroes, which would help alleviate any financial woes faced by them. A number of suggestions and comments were forwarded to the media, but nothing conclusive came from these suggestions.
What is S/P and what it takes to win it. Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa is the highest award bestowed upon an individual in Malaysia for bravery. S/P can be compared to its equivalent counterpart from USA the Medal of Honor (MoH) and Victoria Cross (VC) of United Kingdom. Whereas the MoH and VC can only be awarded to the member of armed forces in the face of enemy action, S/P is not restricted to Armed Forces alone, its been awarded to policemen and private individuals for heroism. However 98% of the recipients are members of our Security Forces, who were bestowed this award in the face of enemy action or while discharging their duties.
The main criteria in awarding an individual the S/P is for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty “. Soldiers and policemen take an oath to defend this nation, even if it means sacrificing oneself in the process. Therefore merely dying for the nation would not automatically entitle the personnel for this award. Death is part of the job hazard that soldiers and policemen encounter, in the course of executing their duties. It should be “above and beyond the call of duty” in most cases the citation for this award, involves examples listed below:-
1) Charging against an enemy machine guns nest single handedly and neutralizing it, thereby saving fellow comrades from being decimated by its suppressing fire.
2) Hurling oneself onto a live grenade that falls close to the foxholes, thereby absorbing its impact and reducing the risk of injury to your men.
3) Attending to the wounded, while exposed to enemy gunfire, and shells falling around precariously close.
4) Involves policemen completely disregarding their safety, in order to protect the general public from harms way.
The above examples clearly show, it involves an act of bravery that is neither pre- meditated nor calculated, but an act that spurs at the heat of the moment. These heroes do not have bulging muscles or gung-ho type character like Rambo, Rambo would not last a minute in a firefight. These fearless groups of individuals are ordinary people from all walks of life, who rose up to the challenge, stood their grounds when the time came, and many did not return. The number of posthumous award for S/P is quite substantial, death while carrying out duties in service of the nation is the ultimate form of sacrifice and only a few had this honour and privilege. However there are still few S/P winners who are alive today, and one of them mentioned in the article published in Star, that most Malaysian don’t know what the SP behind his name stood for. The public knowledge on the S/P award is either minimal or non-existent. The lack of knowledge arose mainly due to the fact that there are no distinctions, apart from the medal and the allowance that are allotted to these distinguished men. In the United Kingdom for example, statutes of Victoria Cross together with a plaque which reads their citation are erected in each recipients hometown by its Town Council. In the USA, a building in Pueblo, Colorado was dedicated to Medal of Honour winners and aptly named Home of Heroes. Pueblo has the highest number of MoH winners than any town in USA, hence the building.
Our government should consider similar approach in ensuring the sacrifices of the S/P winners and their name does not fade into oblivion. It will also inspire youths to emulate them as role models and help start a proud tradition of honouring our heroes. A soldier from the closest military base should sound the bugle of retreat everyday at dawn at the site. Further a title such as “Seri Pahlawan” or Datuk Taming Sari named after the most feared weapon of yesteryear should be formally bestowed before the name of all S/P winners. These are some of the gratitude that we can show to our heroes, in return for all that they have given.
The followings words taken from the Ode of Remembrance befits our S/P winners,
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Lest we forget.
Regards,
Jeyaganesh Gopalsamy
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Berets of Distinction
Berets of Distinction
“Kedatangan Anda Tidak Di Undang, Jika Ragu Silalah Pulang” (you are not welcomed, if you have any doubts, please leave). This menacing greeting is the first thing you will read once you enter the Special Warfare Training Centre in Sungai Udang, Melaka. The simple two line statement clearly illustrates the intensity of what is going on inside. Recently there has been an unprecedented trend of awarding headgears especially berets exclusively belonging to special forces to VVIPs. Notwithstanding the motives of the awarder and the recipient, giving away berets belonging to special operation forces to non members for whatever reason is unjustifiable and uncalled for.
Special forces or commandos as they are popularly known are small band of highly trained and highly motivated troops who had undergone rigorous, grueling and often brutal selection process in order to be a member of this exclusive fraternity.
Irregardless of service the special forces originates be it the army, navy, airforce or police, the beret sets them apart from regular troops as a mark of distinction. Soldiers understand how hard it is to obtain this beret, the sacrifices, the unforgiving training regime and above all the never quit mentality. Normal soldiers would tremble to hold it, let alone wear it, since you need to perform some of the followings before given the privilege of wearing the beret:-
1) Run everywhere you need to go even for the most trivial matter for 3 months.
2) Sleeping on hard ground exposed to elements during camp phase and being manhandled by instructors at will.
3) Swim 250m with feet and hand bound
4) Depraved of sleep for three days in a row, only to continue a 160 miles forced march with 30kg of combat gear.
5) Survive jungle phase naked and live off the land with your knife to hunt and protection in solitary.
6) Crawl under live GPMG 7.62mm fire just inches above your head.
The above may just be 10% of what special forces training is all about and most of the selection process is still shrouded in secrecy but suffice to say hellish. It is designed to push each trainee to the limit and beyond the envelope of human endurance. In short when your limbs are shouting to stop, your mind keeps pushing it not to. Many quit, the attrition rate is high on average of 100 hopeful candidates only 3-5 would succeed and earn the beret. The unforgiving selection process is vital in order to weed out the undesirables who would put a mission in jeopardy. In war special forces would usually be inserted by parachute or submarine under cover of darkness deep behind enemy lines miles away from friendly forces without any provision for reinforcement or replenishment. Their mission once in enemy territory ranges from intelligence gathering, reconnaissance, sabotage of key installation / high value target, laser designation for air strikes, assassination / capture of top enemy echelons, diversionary raid and multitude of demanding missions, with the sole objective of wreaking havoc on enemy ranks. The gravity of the mission is further magnified by the fact they operate in small 5 man team and usually without dog tags to avoid identification in case captured which would otherwise give them protection under Geneva Convention. They are privy to highly classified tactical information during war, if caught they are not accorded the same treatment as POW laid by Geneva Convention, an enemy is at liberty to torture in order to extract information from them and more often than not they are executed for refusing to divulge classified information.
The occupational hazard lingers on even in peace time since simulating wartime exercise never ceases. Special forces training is continuous and all operators will undergo advance courses on a number of specialties within the special operation modules such as freefalling, underwater operations, amphibious, sniper, demolition, close quarter battle (CQB) and variety of unconventional warfare expertise. They hone their deadly skills on daily basis and regularly conduct joint training exercises with elite forces of other nations.
Special operation troops shun publicity, you will never find a genuine special forces trooper bragging about his exploits, they are deceptively innocuous and it’s easy to mistake them as your next door neighbour. However once they put on their berets and paint their face with the ghostly looking black/green camouflage you don’t want to be in their line of fire for they rarely miss with their trademark double tap shot and it is futile to run for you will only die tired.
The beret of the special operation forces whether it’s the green beret of Army’s RGK, maroon beret of Navy’s PASKAL, blue beret of Air force PASKAU, beige beret of Police VAT 69 is an amulet for those who earn it. It belongs to a special breed of men have met the challenge and stood their ground, if you are not a member and you understand what it takes to win the beret you would not wear it.
VVIPs are given special privilege, titles, honours, adulation and countless other things for their contribution and development of this nation. As for the few special operation men Malaysia’s finest they only have their beret, don’t saturate it, think of the special forces trooper who went through hell to wear it.
“Kedatangan Anda Tidak Di Undang, Jika Ragu Silalah Pulang” (you are not welcomed, if you have any doubts, please leave). This menacing greeting is the first thing you will read once you enter the Special Warfare Training Centre in Sungai Udang, Melaka. The simple two line statement clearly illustrates the intensity of what is going on inside. Recently there has been an unprecedented trend of awarding headgears especially berets exclusively belonging to special forces to VVIPs. Notwithstanding the motives of the awarder and the recipient, giving away berets belonging to special operation forces to non members for whatever reason is unjustifiable and uncalled for.
Special forces or commandos as they are popularly known are small band of highly trained and highly motivated troops who had undergone rigorous, grueling and often brutal selection process in order to be a member of this exclusive fraternity.
Irregardless of service the special forces originates be it the army, navy, airforce or police, the beret sets them apart from regular troops as a mark of distinction. Soldiers understand how hard it is to obtain this beret, the sacrifices, the unforgiving training regime and above all the never quit mentality. Normal soldiers would tremble to hold it, let alone wear it, since you need to perform some of the followings before given the privilege of wearing the beret:-
1) Run everywhere you need to go even for the most trivial matter for 3 months.
2) Sleeping on hard ground exposed to elements during camp phase and being manhandled by instructors at will.
3) Swim 250m with feet and hand bound
4) Depraved of sleep for three days in a row, only to continue a 160 miles forced march with 30kg of combat gear.
5) Survive jungle phase naked and live off the land with your knife to hunt and protection in solitary.
6) Crawl under live GPMG 7.62mm fire just inches above your head.
The above may just be 10% of what special forces training is all about and most of the selection process is still shrouded in secrecy but suffice to say hellish. It is designed to push each trainee to the limit and beyond the envelope of human endurance. In short when your limbs are shouting to stop, your mind keeps pushing it not to. Many quit, the attrition rate is high on average of 100 hopeful candidates only 3-5 would succeed and earn the beret. The unforgiving selection process is vital in order to weed out the undesirables who would put a mission in jeopardy. In war special forces would usually be inserted by parachute or submarine under cover of darkness deep behind enemy lines miles away from friendly forces without any provision for reinforcement or replenishment. Their mission once in enemy territory ranges from intelligence gathering, reconnaissance, sabotage of key installation / high value target, laser designation for air strikes, assassination / capture of top enemy echelons, diversionary raid and multitude of demanding missions, with the sole objective of wreaking havoc on enemy ranks. The gravity of the mission is further magnified by the fact they operate in small 5 man team and usually without dog tags to avoid identification in case captured which would otherwise give them protection under Geneva Convention. They are privy to highly classified tactical information during war, if caught they are not accorded the same treatment as POW laid by Geneva Convention, an enemy is at liberty to torture in order to extract information from them and more often than not they are executed for refusing to divulge classified information.
The occupational hazard lingers on even in peace time since simulating wartime exercise never ceases. Special forces training is continuous and all operators will undergo advance courses on a number of specialties within the special operation modules such as freefalling, underwater operations, amphibious, sniper, demolition, close quarter battle (CQB) and variety of unconventional warfare expertise. They hone their deadly skills on daily basis and regularly conduct joint training exercises with elite forces of other nations.
Special operation troops shun publicity, you will never find a genuine special forces trooper bragging about his exploits, they are deceptively innocuous and it’s easy to mistake them as your next door neighbour. However once they put on their berets and paint their face with the ghostly looking black/green camouflage you don’t want to be in their line of fire for they rarely miss with their trademark double tap shot and it is futile to run for you will only die tired.
The beret of the special operation forces whether it’s the green beret of Army’s RGK, maroon beret of Navy’s PASKAL, blue beret of Air force PASKAU, beige beret of Police VAT 69 is an amulet for those who earn it. It belongs to a special breed of men have met the challenge and stood their ground, if you are not a member and you understand what it takes to win the beret you would not wear it.
VVIPs are given special privilege, titles, honours, adulation and countless other things for their contribution and development of this nation. As for the few special operation men Malaysia’s finest they only have their beret, don’t saturate it, think of the special forces trooper who went through hell to wear it.
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