The National Police Cadet Corps celebrated 53 years of moulding builders of a safe and secure home during the NPCC Annual Parade 2012. It was held in commemoration of NPCC Day 2012 at the Home Team Academy on 31 March 2012, with the Reviewing Officer being Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister of State for Defence and Education.

My squadmates and I took part in the Parade, with 5 of us in the Guard-of-Honour Contingent and 2 in the Gold Unit Flag Party. In addition, one of our Unit’s Cadet Inspectors, P/CI (NPCC) Tan Poh Boon John, took part in the parade as one of the Contingent Commanders. Our Principal, Dr Hon, also received the Gold Award for the 2011 Unit Overall Proficiency Award from the Reviewing Officer at the Parade on behalf of the Unit, our 16th consecutive Gold Award.

However, it was not actually that one hour long parade that was etched in our hearts, that we remember, but it was the training we had, the time we spent together.

With long hours of training, many of us were exhausted and had to sacrifice much of our personal time, not to mention the 6 consecutive full day trainings we had during the March Holidays. Now, looking back, I can proudly say that we have managed to overcome what we previously thought as tiring, tough and practically impossible. Now, I can say with pride that we had gone through one of the best experience one could get in one’s NPCC journey.

Throughout the three weeks of non-stop trainings, we of course made many new friends. Some from our area and some from others, these friends were those we spent our time training and formed bonds with. They gave us moral support when we were tired, exhausted; they gave us the strength to continue. Awesome bunch of them I would say.

I can vividly remember how frightened and nervous we were at 2 very special occasions of our life, the receiving of the blanks and the receiving of the bayonets.

After getting used to the heavy M16 rifle as compared to our mock ones, we were soon given blanks to practice the Fire of Joy. Then, many of us were afraid as it was the first time shooting a real M16 rifle. I still can remember how many of us suddenly seemed so tensed up and serious about the parade, and how the feeling of our first shot was. Looking back, I can remember how the Contingent Commanders actually “forced” us to put down the rifle sharply yet gently at the command Order Arms. “Do not slam it on the ground or a chamber explosion might occur”, they said. Now, these words still echo in my mind even till today.

As the parade drew nearer, we were given bayonets to attach to our rifles. Many of us were worried then, thinking about how dangerous it was, how we can get a cut very easily, how certain drills should be done without injuring ourselves. We too were once again afraid but this time, of the bayonets. Fortunately, the bayonets were not as sharp and intimidating we thought they would have been and soon they were not a major worry for us.

And as time flies past, soon, it was already the parade itself, not those trainings, not the preview. We were no doubt nervous, afraid of doing the drills wrongly and afraid that we might spoil the parade we had trained so hard for. However, with the support of our contingent mates and commanders, we did it. We managed to execute the parade excellently, we manage to execute it with all our hearts, we managed to execute it with Pride, Honour and Unity!

SGT (NPCC) PHOE CHUAN BIN
SECONDARY 3 SQUAD CADET