It was entirely thrilling, though.

We were shuttled to our holding area by 0900, but not before bypassing the Indoor Stadium, with a glimpse of a massive mobile column parked neatly at the carpark. The F1 VIP pits are our holding areas for the marching contingents this year, a fact that no doubt impressed me. We unloaded right at the pit stops, beside the pit lanes where a plethora of LCD screens and high-tech devices always adorn it when the F1 comes around. The Guard Of Honor contingents were holed up in the Suntec City Convention Hall.

Lunch was from Pizza Hut; one small garlic bun, three wings and one big, thick slice of Hawaiian Pizza. I hear you get sick of fast food by the time you finish NDP.

Moving out, we walked past what we believed was more tentage for NDP rehearsals, but eventually turned out to be BeerFest. Our rifles slung in rusok position, we walked into the heart of the city attracting every stare from not just the locals but the occasional ang moh. Some were ready with DSLRs, others with compacts, and both were snapping away furiously.

First came the unmodified Leopard MBTs, followed closely behind by a much bulkier variant; this had thick armour skirts on its chassis, and it's turret was no longer so boxy-homogeneous armour had been added to it. My jaw dropped as I witnessed the tracked machines salute the President the only way they could; in a synchronised fashion, they turned their turrets towards City Hall, not unlike a Red Alert cutscene where tanks are about to simultaeneously bring a monument to the ground. This was followed by another timed dip of their barrels, as if the machines understood to respect the old building.

Followed behind were the Bionix IFVs, the Bronco, and the Terrex, which I was to later find out is a seriously silent vehicle, compared to the ominous growl of the Leopard engine. It's shape looks so composite and flat that one might have thought it was a plastic prototype.

Indeed, the mobile column was massive, and nearly every vehicle at the Army's disposal was on display. Towed Howitzers? Check. SAM platforms? Yep. Armored technicals? You bet. Minesweepers? Heck, why not? Early warning platforms? Also good. Mobile toilets? Join right in! Mobile 5-tonner washing machine platform? Hey-ho!

Later, we made our way back to the holding area once more, this time for an early dinner. At three o'clock. We moved out again around 5, where we waited at the junction right before Raffles City, with more by-standers gawking and mostly staying there to see what happened next. Of course, we were ourselves gawking... at the occasional girl who passed our column. Heh.

Their rewards for staying payed off when the first sign of action came from a Chinook flying high above the Swissotel. It made its way to the Padang, twin rotors spinning in opposing directions, offloading its payload of Parachutists before heading back. Up in the sky, (where the planes fly high) they looked like small dumped pieces of debris. Yet as the marching column moved up to take their places, their descent was anything but ungraceful.

Watching them descend on the telly is by no means thrilling, but seeing them come down in person is amazing. their steep descend and sharp turns made me have that heart-pumping feeling I had at G-Max, even though I was planted firmly on the ground. They've got nothing beneath their feet for reassurance, and I can only wonder what steel balls they were issued with during their flight trainings.

Then came the march-in, with the highly patriotic but heavily infectious Our Motherland, Singapore. If you haven't heard it, there's this one part that sounds right out of Soviet Russia:

Singapore Our Homeland

This is where we belong

Singapore is worth defending

United we'll be strong

Guardians of our country

Protectors of our land

Fearing nothing

Shielding all

De-fending Singapore

The fly-by by the F-15SG and F-16 was nothing short of amazing, with the F-15SGs definitely sounding much, much louder and intense than their single-engine counterparts as their afterburners blazed past City Hall.

As the President did his inspection, the ceremonial artillery pieces less than a kilometer away did short work of their rounds. The last round that was fired after the music had ended reverberated heavily against the windows of the buildings nearby; it's sound was so loud it seemed so close.

We did our part and moved off later, right beside the stand-by mobile column. Seeing the massive armoured Leopard, engine running, lights on and right at the foot of Swissotel waiting to move off is something I don't think I'll forget any time soon.

By that time, the crowd was in full force as spectators crammed against the plastic barricades, armed with all sorts of camera devices. As we waited at the footpath nearby, the mobile column took off, and so did the planes.

The four-minute aerial display had begun, and the F-15SGs were jetting about the city, at times in a deafening roar. More than once, the planes flew in the face of gravity and made a completely vertical plummet up into the sky, their twin afterburners a clear, visible burning orange. Yet even their limelight was stolen by the all-time favourite; five F-16s flying tip to tip, breaking out swiftly into a star formation with vapour trails in their wake.

We quickly moved off to our City March start point, having let the mobile column pass through the Suntec City parallel road first.

It was quirky knowing that the start point is where nearly all the previous Standard Chartered Marathon start points were; on the Esplanade bridge, fully closed off to vehicles, with a mass of soldiers and youths crammed into it. On your left side was the gawking public with more cameras, behind them, the towering and impressive Marina Bay Sands. On your right side, across the bridge in the other direction, the mobile column waited once more.

Our truncated march route home (it was around 1930 by then) was nothing short of thrilling, perhaps the best route march one could ever ask for. With the public cheering intermittently, we sang the Navy song proudly and loudly while the Engineer contingent in front of us sauntered silently. I can only say it must be because some of us actually miss the frequent route marches the Army undertakes every now and then. Of course, we don't actually miss it... haha.

Our high spirits were dampened though, when while the parade ended at 8pm for us, we only boarded the buses back to the Naval Base at 10:45. Traffic jams and the nearby Beerfest that had attracted cars and taxis alike were to blame, and by the time I reached the base, my eyes were dry and my body weary. My Saturday of marching had been preceded by a Friday of marching for SAF day at SAFTI MI.

Still, I definitely look forward to next week's rehearsal. If you're a military junkie like me, not catching it as a free spectator would be quite a mistake, I believe.

2 comments