Saturday, 16 July 2011

Marksmanship

Shooting had been one of my favourite events during my cadet training days from 1967 to 1969. I had taken all aspects of training very seriously. I wanted to make sure I achieved what we were supposed to be when we were commissioned as Second Lieutenants. I wanted to be an all-round soldier who had the strength and stamina, stand the harsh battlefield conditions and have the courage to lead my men into battles. I had visualised these even before I joined the Army.

I had taken a great interest in weapon handling and shooting. I'm not bragging but I'm proud to say that I was a marksman in rifle shooting and I was a champion in the pistol category during the 1967 Rifle Meet in the Royal Military College.

I carried this confidence with me when I was posted to 3rd Rangers after I passed out from RMC in 1969. My successes in battles with the communist terrorists spoke of my shooting skill. I shot at least 5 CTs. You will never realise how much confidence your shooting prowess and skill can give you. That was how I felt, everytime I went for jungle operations looking for the CTs.

I'm standing second from the right. Picture courtesy of Zamri Ismail.
It shows the Champion Team (Abdul Rahman Coy) in RMC's Rifle Meet 1967.
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3 comments:

  1. Ensurai16 July 2011 at 18:22

    Just curious..in your jungle manoeuvres(spelling?) did you ever come across women CTs and their kids born in the jungle? What about their huts etc.? How many children CTs (if any) were actually killed according to the records?

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  2. Robert Rizal Abdullah16 July 2011 at 18:34

    In Sarawak, I have encountered women CTs. In Malaya, once in a battle with them in Kulim area. They fought fiercely and their voices could be clearly heard giving orders and another one somewhere in Kroh area, we heard women's voices and children crying. But no idea whether any were killed. The ones we encountered in Kulim were handed over to our Military Police / Intelligence men.

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  3. Anonymous6 March 2012 at 14:56

    When you see ex Guerillas from PARAKU and it's splinter group in Sarawak, do you ever think that these men and women were just plain lucky, and why didn't the Iban rise up and retaliate in the 60s and 70s when a couple of their Penghulus were shot by these Chinese guerillas?

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