Some of the incidents here are eerily similar to those I have
experienced, especially vleelee's. Maybe the same cockups occur
over and over again because those who experienced it had ROD'ed
leaving the fresh NS people to cockup themselves.
vleelee talked about smallpox interupting his training - I was in
Tekong doing BMT donkey years ago (early 80's) when some in a
company (I think it was E Coy) got smallpox. The whole island was
quarantined and we were not allowed to go back to Singapore for a
month and training continued. However, the lucky people who got the
smallpox did not have to training, and what is more, they get to go
back to Singapore to the medical facilities for checkups.
Cockup 1 vleelee also talked about a trainee acting as
section commander charging up a hill alone in Safincos. During my
Safincos training, in a section training exercise, another trainee
was acting as the section leader leading us on a patrol. The enemy
was in a knoll and we leap frogged half-way up the knoll when the
section leader gave the order to charge. However, most of us were
very shacked at that time and did not move leaving the section
leader to charge up to the top of the knoll screaming 'charge' all
the way. When he reached the top and looked around, found out he
was the only one, gave a loud 'aaarrrggghhh' and 'die', fell back
with arms and legs wide apart and played dead.
Cockup 2In another section training exercise in Safincos, my
section was charging up a hill with bayonets fixed when the person
behind me tripped. His bayonet tip penetrated my uniform and poked
me on my back, luckily without drawing blood.
Cockup 3I was an M71 gun commander during NS days. During
deployment, we had to run in front of our 7-ton MAN truck towing
the M71 to lead the vehicle to the site (I remember times when we
had to run a couple of hundred metres with truck chasing after me).
At the last couple of days of the Battalion's proficiency test
exercise, we had to deploy in the early morning, and boy was I
tired and sleepy. Anyway, I got out of the truck and started
running on an unpaved tracked in front of truck. My driver was
driving quickly because timing is critical to pass the test. All of
a sudden, I felt rumbling just behind me and realised that the
heavy vehicle and gun was almost upon me. I just managed to siam on
time to avoid being runned over. I have to say that my driver was
not entirely at fault. Admittedly, he was also tired and sleepy and
therefore not as alert as he should be. The problem was that I fell
asleep when running !!! (I didn't realise that anyone can be as
tired as that :-)
Cockup 4The battery convoy stops just outside the deployment
area so that the commanders can disembark and lead their vehicles
to their positions. We were travelling fast because timing for the
deployment was taken. It was raining, the area was wet and muddy
and my 7-tonner could not stop on time crashing into the M71 in
front demolishing the pneumatic rammer. I understand it cost over
20k to replace. SAF have this funny habit of charging the driver
and vehicle commander when anything happens. I expected to be
seeing a guardroom from the wrong side, but fortunately, my battery
commander (BC) did not take action against me. However, my driver
was charged and ended up in the guardroom.
Cockup 5This happened in Thailand or Taiwan (can't remember
which). Something was wrong with that M71 assigned to me and I
received a lot of flak from my BC during live firings. For some
reason, when the gun is fired, it rocked and behaved a little bit
like a see-saw; obviously the accuracy of the live firing leaves a
lot to be desired. The BC thought that the trail spade was not
emplaced deep enough so we dug deeper and deeper, without solving
the problem. During one deployment, my gunners lifted up the trail
(in this days of mechanisation, who would believe that we use
man-power to operate a 9ton piece of equipment) which normally
requires a lot of effort. But on this occassion, the gun was light
and did not stop going up when we stopped lifting. The result is
that the muzzle brake touching the ground while the two trails
pointed up at the heavens ;-). Now that it had been established
that my detachment was not at fault, but the gun's, I stop
receiving flak from my BC.
Cockup 6During the convoy movement in a battery exercise, we
were travelling past Khatib Camp when Gun 3, which was not properly
hookedup to the 7ton truck detached itself from the truck and
slammed onto the road in the middle of the junction. Taffic had to
be blocked off for a few minutes to allow the gun to be hooked up
again.
Cockup 7My battery had the responsibility of operating the
25pounder during the 21 gun salute in National Day. During a
rehersal, one of the 25pounders became unhooked from the LandRover
in a traffic junction near Hougang. Unlike the previous incident,
we do not have to stop the traffic to hook up the gun because the
gun is light and because of the LandRover's speed. After the gun
detached, it slammed onto the road and obliging move by itself
(through momentum) past the junction to the stopped LandRover
:-)
Cockup 8In a battalion exercise, in another battery, a gun
commander was appointed acting battery sergeant-major (BSM) and had
to lead his convoy to the deployment area (near Woodlands).
Unfortunately for him, he got lost and led his convoy of 4 guns to
the causeway, went past immigration before he can make a U-turn.
The Malaysians must have gotton a shock to see a Singapore
Artillery battery on the causeway :-), especially it was a period
of tension when some Isreali big shots visited Singapore.
Not really a Cockup 9In another message, someone posted
about people stuck in the mud. During a battery exercise, one of
our officers was walking around the deployment area in Simpang.
Arty deployment grounds were typically wide open muddy places.
Unwittingly, he veered off to the side of the track and sank up to
his waist in very soft mud and was unable to move. A few of the
guys had help him out.
Cockup 10I was involved in weapon testing in Project L****n
conducted in Thailand. The 155 *** gun was test fired. On one
occassion, instead of the barrel just recoiling, the barrel rotated
from about 45 degrees to about 70 degrees before coming to a rest
about -5 degrees. The bolts on the trunnion had sheared off during
the firing.
The next three cockups happened in Thailand during battalion
FATEP (an artillery test that involves live firing that determines
our combat readiness). It was our first live firing exercise and
that there are cockups is not surprising
Cockup 11During the test, on one live firing mission, all
the guns except for mine were ready. My gun had problems with the
main sight, and we had to use a spare sight. However, the spare
cannot be secured firmly and so I had to waste time getting another
standby from the command post. All this time, my BC was repeatedly
calling for "Gun 1, check ready". My layer install the sight, laid
the gun to the specified line and quadrant, and I reported ready.
The safety NCO performed a cursory check on the laying but I was so
pressured at the time that I did not check on the layer.
Immediately after my gun fired we were ordered to 'standfast',
meaning that everyboby in my detachment was to act as mannequins
(i.e. not allowed to move). Officers came to my position and
performed a check. Apparently, the forward observer, positioned up
a hill looking at the target area had heard the whining of the 155
round as it flew past his location and called for a 'stop' (he
should not be close enough to hear the passge of the shell). It was
found that while the settings on the sight was correct, the sight
was not secured properly (a few degrees deviation can mean that the
impact is kilometers away from target). It took them a few hours to
find the impact area as the FO was focused on the target area, and
the shell had landed elsewhere (maybe he had his head down when he
heard the shell coming!). My shell had apparently landed in a padi
field and took out a cow in the process. Needless to say, I felt
down and worried for the rest of the exercise anticpating a charge
and spending time in the guardroom. Fortunately, my BC and the CO
did not take further action. (Wheww :-)
Cockup 12Gun 2 was the pivot piece and as such they fire the
most shells. The normal procedure is that once a gun is laid, we
wait for the GPO to order to fire. However, in this occassion, the
gun commander fired the shell immediately after loading without the
order to be given. Gun 2 commander was chastised but luckily, was
not charged. The had to fire an additional round because the FO did
not anticipate the firing and therefore did not see where the round
landed.
Cockup 13Gun 4 was given the order to load. It was during
the test and timing is important. Just after the order to fire was
given, gun 4 commander realised that the wrong charge was loaded
(the charge comprises bags of propellant (explosive) that
determines, along with the angle (quadrant), how far the round
goes). He checked with the safety officer, who happened to be our
RSM. For some reason, the RSM asked the commander to fire, and the
round obviously landed in the wrong position (don't know if it was
over or short of target). The RSM was almost charged for this
incident (ALMOST).
The battery commander,a captain then, was a nice guy, a scholar who
was seldom in battery line because he had some duties with regards
to the President. He is now a high ranking General holding a top
post in Mindef.
Not really a cockup 14During the ANCO (Arty NCO) course one
of the fellow trainee was operating the breech blok of the M71when
it closed, chopping off the index finger. When we opened up the
breech block, his finger was found, but cannot be reattached. He
was downgraded and became a clerk in the school.
Not really a cockup 15A batch of OCS cadets were undergoing
an Arty course during the same period. In a training exercise, a
cadet was holding on to an iron picket while his course mate were
to hammer the iron picket into the ground with a monkey ram. The
cadet was holding the iron picket too high up and when the monkey
ram came down, all the fingers (I think only on one hand) were
chopped off.
Not really a cockup 16The batch of OCS prior to the above
incident had a cadet who got it worse. He was standing between the
gun and the truck just before setting out for exercise. He was
runned down by the gun when the truck moved off and died.![image]()
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