MEDALS FOR 28 DEPLOYED IN SAF'S FINAL AFGHAN OPERATIONS

Twenty-eight soldiers now hold in their hands the last Overseas Service Medals awarded for the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF's) operations in Afghanistan. In what has been its longest and most complex overseas mission to date, the SAF sent about 500 personnel over six years to the war-torn country.

Speaking at the medal presentation ceremony, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen said: "As Defence Minister, I was conscious that we were putting our soldiers in harm's way. But the decision for the SAF to be part of international efforts against terrorism in Afghanistan, even though it was difficult and dangerous, was a right one."

He added: "The SAF was there as part of the larger multinational effort to prevent extremists from using Afghanistan as a base to export terrorism to the rest of the world. The SAF was in Afghanistan to protect Singaporeans in Singapore too." The SAF also emerged a sharper force from its operations there, said Dr Ng.

Among the 28 who received their medals from Dr Ng at the SAFTI Military Institute on 19 Jul was Military Expert (ME) 3 Yap Chee Meng. He served as part of an Imagery Analysis Team, providing critical information to the international coalition forces stationed there. "We looked through real-time video footage for suspicious activities such as vehicles carrying suspicious loads. We interpret the images and we reported anything suspicious."

Reports prepared by the six-man team, for example, could be used to inform coalition forces of the layout of buildings they were going to investigate. This information gave the multinational forces an additional layer of safety when they went out on patrols.

"It was 24/7 for a good five months but it was important work. Though our team was small, the information we provided was valuable to the ground forces and saved lives,"added ME3 Yap.

Even while these SAF personnel were doing their jobs in the Afghan province of Oruzgan, there were also other soldiers like 1st Warrant Officer (1WO) Alex Poh, who was stationed in Kuwait as part of the Forward Support Team. His role was to help SAF soldiers adjust to the harsh conditions in Afghanistan, and he worked with the coalition forces to provide training to SAF soldiers before they entered the country.

"The (training) slots were very precious as there were also other forces who were expected in Afghanistan," explained 1WO Poh.

As the SAF drew back its forces, soldiers like ME3-1 Hamzah Bin Idris spent some six weeks coordinating the massive logistics to move all SAF assets back to Singapore. Part of a six-man Redeployment Task Force, he went to the various locations in Afghanistan where the SAF had assets.

"As a lean six-man team, we had to ask the international forces who were there for their help to move some of our equipment. Thankfully, with the strong working relationship that the SAF had built up, we had all the help we needed," said ME3-1 Hamzah.

In all, the medal recipients included two six-man Imagery Analysis Teams who provided imagery interpretation and analysis support in Oruzgan as well as a six-man Re-deployment Task Force who provided support for the recovery of equipment from Afghanistan to Singapore.

There were also four servicemen who served as National Liaison Officers, two servicemen who served in the Combined Team-Oruzgan Headquarters, and four servicemen who served in the National Support Element and Forward Support Team. These servicemen provided logistics and liaison support for all SAF personnel deployed in Afghanistan.

During the medal presentation ceremony, Dr Ng launched the Operations Blue Ridge (OBR) exhibition. Currently located in Warriors Hall at SAFTI Military Institute, the exhibition will travel to various parts of the island so that more Singaporeans will have the opportunity to learn about the SAF's contributions against global terrorism in Afghanistan. The exhibition will eventually be housed at the Army Museum.