Today, The Straits Times starts an occasional series that looks at the people, firepower and capabilities of special units in the Singapore Armed Forces and Singapore Police Force. To kick off the series, Defence Correspondent DAVID BOEY takes a look at an elite SAF unit on the front line against chemical, biological, radiological and explosive threats
SINGAPORE's decision to build up its chemical-biological defence capabilities from scratch claimed an early 'casualty' in the late 1980s. It caused Captain Ho Kong Wai to lose the deposit he had paid for his wedding dinner. Worse still, he wasn't allowed to tell his wife-to-be that the wedding had to be postponed because he had to attend a chemical defence course in the United States. He and another man were the first SAF officers handpicked for the course in May 1988.
To the young officer, the honour was a bombshell.
'My marriage was to be held at a local hotel in the same month. The down payment had already been paid. Then, out of the blue, my chief called me up and said: 'You're going overseas. It's a classified course and you can't tell people about it.' It was so hush-hush,' he said.
Now 43 and a colonel, he heads the SAF's Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosives (CBRE) Defence Group. Formed several years ago, it was unveiled only last January.
The US course Col Ho attended laid the foundation for the group's capabilities in preventing chem-bio, radiological or explosive threats to Singapore's interests.
As one of the national authorities on such threats, the group must ensure various parties - from police and civil defence staff to defence scientists - work together. Its mission is supported by homefront security agencies such as the Home Affairs Ministry, police and civil defence force.
The Defence Science and Technology Agency, DSO National Laboratories and the Defence Medical and Environmental Research Institute also help CBRE acquire and maintain chem-bio defence skills.
CBRE has to contain such threats and mitigate their impact on life and property. It also has to handle the consequences of incidents involving chem-bio agents, and help the authorities clean up contaminated sites.
The catalyst that spurred the SAF to study such capabilities was the impact chem-bio agents had on cities during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War. The 1995 Sarin gas attack in a Tokyo subway, which killed 12 people and injured more than 5,500 others, proved it was a far-sighted decision.
With terror threats around the world, CBRE capabilities are much in demand and the group has been fully trained, organised and equipped to handle such threats for three years.
Three specialised units with complementary skills form the CBRE Defence Group:
36th Battalion Singapore Combat Engineers (36 SCE). This battalion handles explosive threats such as unexploded ordnance, disposal of war relics and preventive sweeps for home-made bombs, otherwise known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, and chem-bio IEDs.
39 SCE handles surveillance and detection of chem-bio and radiological threats and also decontamination, if there is an incident.
Medical Response Force is a specialised group of military doctors and combat medics trained to evacuate and treat chem-bio casualties.
These units are staffed mainly by full-time national servicemen (NSFs), and women SAF regulars also serve. As late as the mid-1990s, SAF chem-bio defence capabilities were so secret NSFs posted to the battalion got only an Armed Forces Post Number as a reference number. These NSFs couldn't tell family members what they were trained to do, or even the name of their unit.
So it was with some pride that CBRE soldiers told their loved ones what they had been trained for, after the announcement made page one headlines in various newspapers a year ago.
Private Conrad Ho, 19, an NSF chem-bio defence trooper with 39 SCE, said: 'When I enlisted, I wasn't aware of this capability. I was quite surprised to know about the chemical defence battalion and feel rather proud of what we're trained to do. And special, especially when we go for training with our gas masks on.'
The veil of secrecy cloaking the CBRE enhanced its mystique, and chem-bio troops training in their chemical defence kit and gas masks caught the imagination of others who saw them train, including Third Sergeant Shawn Lim, 19, an NSF combat medic with the Medical Response Force (MRF).
He said: 'When I was a trainee with the School of Military Medicine, I used to see the MRF medics train in their chemical defence gear and I told myself I must get into this force no matter what.'
When the SAF began to build its chem-bio defences, there were bigger problems to tackle, including training.
'In those days, chemical defence training was still classified, very sensitive...so we had to purposely look for a training area away from the public eye,' Col Ho said.
'A lot of exercises were done on Saturdays and Sundays and at night when people weren't around. If you ask me, those were the challenges.'
The Defence Ministry gave Col Ho several options after 39 SCE was formed. For one of the SAF's newest battalions, the colonel picked one of the oldest camps. It had few facilities, such as swimming pools or running tracks, found in more modern complexes.
However, it was far from public view and in an inaccessible part of the island, which suited Col Ho's purposes. Moreover, its lush surroundings reminded him of a British army camp where he had gone on a chem-bio defence course.
Other specialised training facilities are the SAF's smoke training facilities, where CS gas or tear gas is used to teach soldiers how to respond to chemical incidents. Since the gas can drift downwind and affect civilians, it's used for training only in confined spaces, said Col Ho.
From an observation room attached to the chamber, safety officers can monitor what goes on inside. The smoke chambers are fitted with powerful fans and air filters to scrub the air clean before it's released.
Another training aid, a decontamination facility, is built on a concrete platform once used by the air force's Bloodhound long-range anti-aircraft missiles. This facility is special too, as the chemicals used during clean-ups can't be allowed to spill into roadside drains.
Such facilities offer CBRE troopers regular opportunities to test their equipment in a realistic setting - and prepare for the worst.
-ST
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