56 OVERSEAS SERVICE MEDALS AWARDED; FURTHER AFGHAN DEPLOYMENTS UNVEILED

It was a tough decision to postpone her wedding by five months, but nursing officer Military Expert (ME) 4 See Yen Ling figured that the experience gained in Afghanistan would be well worth it. Of course, that was after she got the blessings of her other half.

ME4 See was one of 56 Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) personnel who received the Overseas Service Medal from Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen at Pasir Laba Camp on 18 Nov for their professionalism and dedication in carrying out SAF's missions in Afghanistan and Timor-Leste.

Recounting her experience as part of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) medical deployment to Multinational Base Tarin Kowt in the Oruzgan province from April to August, ME4 See said: "We saw and attended to casualties with traumatic injuries from IED (Improvised Explosive Device) blasts and gunshots. These wounds were not what we usually see in Singapore."

She added that "such experiences further strengthen the competency of the SAF emergency medical system" as the lessons learnt are shared with others back in Singapore.

Commending the personnel for their efforts, Dr Ng said: "You have all faced up to the challenging missions in Afghanistan and Timor-Leste with confidence and competence. You have discharged your duties professionally, and done Singapore and the SAF proud."

Of the medal recipients, 54 personnel were deployed to Afghanistan as part of the medical teams, military institutional trainers (MITs), Image Analysis Teams and the National Command Element. The other two recipients were officers deployed to Timor-Leste as part of the United Nations Integrated Mission there.

At the ceremony, Dr Ng announced that the SAF would continue to participate in the multinational stabilisation and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan next year, as there remained important work to be done before the International Security Assistance Forces could fully hand over the security responsibility to the Afghan National Security Forces in 2014.

The SAF will deploy five Military Institutional Trainers (MITs) to Oruzgan from February to November next year to partner the Australian Defence Force in training the Afghan National Army commanders to detect and identify IEDs; and two staff officers to the Combined Team-Oruzgan Headquarters from January to December.

It will also extend the deployment of the 10 MITs in the artillery school in Kabul and the six-man Imagery Analysis Team (IAT) in Oruzgan till December 2012.

For MIT 1st Warrant Officer Desmond Tan, overcoming language and cultural differences was one of the biggest challenges he encountered while mentoring the Afghan instructors at the artillery school.

"I learnt that being patient in guiding them was the best solution. They were willing to learn, and they appreciated our presence," he said. Prior to the MITs' departure, the Afghan instructors and trainees at the artillery school organised a farewell ceremony for them as a gesture of gratitude for their guidance.

The shared experience overseas brought ME2 Jeevarathinam s/o Subramaniam and his IAT teammates closer. For instance, upon knowing that his peers missed local signature dishes after having deployed for a period of time, he took the initiative to call home and check out the recipes.

"I spoke to my mother, who told me over the phone what ingredients to buy and what cooking methods to use. My team mates loved the dishes and I'm pretty happy about it!" he enthused.

In addition to family members of the medal recipients, Chief of Army Major-General Ravinder Singh, Chief of Air Force Major-General Ng Chee Meng and other senior officers from the SAF were also present at the ceremony.