GUNNING FOR CLOSER TIES

Last December, Majulah Singapura was played in Doha, Qatar at the Asian Games, when our athletes won gold medals. But some 5,500 kilometres away in Hanoi, Vietnam, our national anthem was also being played at the 16th ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet (AARM). Our SAF Shooting Contingent (SSC) was taking part in the annual shooting meet. More importantly, apart from winning medals and doing our country proud, SSC also made a lot of friends with their ASEAN counterparts.

Walking around the AARM Village in Mieu Mon Training Centre, what this writer experienced was not an atmosphere of unfamiliarity but more of one filled with friendly greetings like "Hello!", "Apa Khabar?" and "Xin chao!" (Vietnamese for Hello).

Sure, there was an air of competitiveness at the ranges since this was a shooting meet. But beyond that, participants from each contingent seemed to know one another, and wanted to befriend those they had just met.

Learning from friends

"Last time I learnt from you, but today, you want to learn from me? Sure or not?" said SSC's GPMG team coach, 2WO Lee Aik Shiong as he told PIONEER the private joke he shared with some of his ASEAN counterparts when they approached him to share his coaching experiences.

Such exchanges of pointers and tips were very common during the entire meet as participants as well as coaching staff had informal discussions about their training processes and weapon technology.

The Philippine Army rifle team captain Sergeant (SGT) Roweno Baquiroza summed it up best: "Winning is secondary. Gathering and making friends is number one!"

Praise for SSC

PIONEER spoke to several members from the other countries, and all of them praised the SSC shooters.

Major Pg Sharifuddin, who was the team manager of the Royal Brunei Land Force, said: "Singapore has done well in this competition. There were some close fights involving Singapore and you managed to achieve some good results."

Captain Farid Arifeen bin Mohd Arip from the Malaysian Armed Forces also held his Singaporean counterparts in high regard.

"Singapore has some of the latest technology and the shooters have better skills too!" he said.

Modest but respectable performance

Despite the accolades showered upon our team, the competition was evenly matched among all the contingents and SSC managed to come out tops in the Pistol (Men) Individual Championship and GPMG single team championship.

The Pistol (Men) Individual title was SSG On Shaw Ming s third consecutive win. He edged out fellow commando MSG Poh Lip Meng, who had to settle for second spot. It was a close battle in the GPMG single team championship, but the team of 2SG Sean Wales and CPL Trotsky Junior managed to pip the Vietnamese and Filipino team to clinch the title.

Then-team manager LTC Johan bin Mohd Haron felt that SSC "met its target" by securing two trophies.

"The competition is getting tougher, and we re glad that we are in the competition with a fight and in contention for the titles," he said.

Goodbye, Vietnam, Hello, Thailand!
After almost two weeks of intense competition, the event ended with a bonfire, with each contingent putting up a performance.

The SSC performed a dikir barat (Malay song item) which was made up of familiar tunes from our multi-racial groups.

SSC s GPMG team in jubilation after being crowned champions of a match.

Their performance was very well-received and many of the spectators joined them in the festivities.

A fantastic display of fireworks brought the evening (and competition) to a memorable close. It was time to bid beautiful Vietnam farewell, and look forward to more exciting action and closer ASEAN ties at AARM 2007 in Thailand.

Lady hotshots

The SSC's ladies team - LTA Karen Low, MSG Pheong Siew Shya, SSG Lee Choon Eng, SSG Lee Siok San 1SG Jasmine Lim and 1SG Masita Muzafar - are all hotshots.

They were amongst the top 30 female pistol shooters in AARM 06. MSG Pheong was placed the highest, coming in fifth in a field of 45.

The team was a mix of seasoned shooters and debutants, and they only started training for the competition last June.

But their short time together did not stop them from becoming very close. Said SSG Lee Choon Eng: "We're like sisters."

1SG Masita agreed: "Everything we do together is memorable, even small things like playing pool together or going to Tiong Bahru to tailor our blouses for AARM."

On their experience at the annual competition, the team felt that they learnt more than just technical know-how.

"Every individual has a different character," said SSG Lee Siok San. "So during the competition, we focused and put aside our differences and worked towards the common goal."

1SG Masita added: "We learnt to support one another no matter what happened."

In the team competition, the SSC ladies team finished fifth, which team coach 2WO Sulni bin Sulaiman reckoned was a good performance for the debutants.

"They've performed better than other first-timers and their performance surpassed that of last year," he said.

"Overall, I'm happy with their performance but a bit sad that we didn't do a bit better. But I'm sure if the team stick together for next year, they will do well!"

Glory comes first

Two extraordinary gentlemen extended their ORD dates by slightly more than a month to take part in the AARM.

CPL (NS) Li Xiaofeng and CPL (NS) Wee Hongyuan were members of the rifle team and they revealed to PIONEER that their decision to extend was pretty straightforward.

"We've trained for this competition for such a long time, so it was a really easy decision in the end," said CPL (NS) Wee.

CPL (NS) Li added: "Furthermore, going overseas to represent your country is a special achievement for us NSFs. Not many will get the chance."

For the record, they were not given additional bonuses to extend their stay in the SAF. Everything was done out of their own free will.

Their decision to put country before self was certainly one to be applauded and was well-appreciated by the team.

Team coach MSG Normanshah bin Mohd Sah had nothing but praise for the two 21-year-olds.

"CPL (NS) Li was ranked 27th out of the top 100 shooters in the ASEAN armies," he said. "The two of them have very good attitude - I dare say the best attitude in the entire contingent."

The duo will be starting life in university later this year, and with such dedication, PIONEER is sure that the future for CPL (NS) Li and CPL (NS) Wee will be nothing short of spectacular. All the best, guys!