Looks like the British desert BDU. 
Contributing in a small way, with a big heart
Posted: 16 May 2007, 1830 hours (Time is GMT +8 hours)
In the three months ahead, Guards Officer Lieutenant-Colonel (LTC)
Lee Kuan Chung and Dental Officer Major (Dr) Lee Chee Wee know they
have their work cut out for them.
As part of a five-man medical team from the Singapore Armed Forces
(SAF), they will be looking to set up a dental clinic from scratch
in the Bamiyan Province in central Afghanistan, and train locals to
run the clinic on a long-term basis. On top of language and
cultural differences, they will also have to contend with logistic
challenges to obtain the supplies needed.
"Essentially, there's no one-man play here, no solo heroes," MAJ
(Dr) Lee told PIONEER.
"We work as a team, with each of us playing our individual roles
and to cover each other if someone is down."
"The five-man team is going to be just sufficient and the challenge
will be to make sure that this team can be up to the job," he
added.
The SAF team will be part of the New Zealand Defence Force's (NZDF)
Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) efforts in Bamiyan, and team
members look forward to making a difference to the lives of the
Afghans and to do Singaporeans proud by achieving something
worthwhile.
"Singapore is a very small country, but we want to be a responsible
member of the international community," said team leader LTC
Lee.
"It's a five-man team. I don't think it is a major contribution as
compared to the rest of the countries, but I think it is
significant because this is where we can contribute and setting up
a dental clinic is what we think is needed in the province of
Bamiyan."
The project was chosen after much deliberation and was deemed to be
most helpful to the Afghan people. The Afghan government, local
authorities and the NZDF were consulted on the choice of
projects.
To better prepare them for this deployment, the team had been sent
earlier to New Zealand for three weeks, to train with the NZDF.
Back in Singapore, they continued to brush up on their medical
skills and familiarised themselves with Afghanistan, its people and
culture.
"Our training has prepared us well for the mission; it's not
something that we take lightly," said LTC Lee.
"The training has been comprehensive, we put a lot of thought into
what we need to train, how we need to train, so as to make sure we
are well-prepared for the operation."
The SAF and NZDF are no strangers to each other, having previously
been deployed together in the UN mission in East Timor.
The NZDF has operated in Bamiyan Province since 2003 and their
personnel have built up a strong foundation of trust with the local
community and provincial government.
The SAF team left headed to Afghanistan on 16 May and Chief of
Staff (General Staff) Brigadier-General Hugh Lim presented the
country patch and state flag to the members on 3 May in a separate
ceremony at Nee Soon Camp.
This humanitarian assistance project is part of Singapore's overall
contribution to the international reconstruction efforts in
Afghanistan.
