cHyOrK: >>

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Nostalgia.

That summed up the feel of the air and atmosphere that lingered the Decommissioning Ceremony last evening.

Being very lucky to be the last crew of one of the 6 Decommissioning Missile GunBoats (MGB), I was invited to this formal ceremony, to gloriously retire these 6 state-of-the-art naval warships from their 32 years of active service.

'Very lucky', cos only the last ship crew of each of the 6 ships were invited. Not even the rest of my batchmates, whose ships were still in service until a few months after they ORD. RSS Sea Tiger stood down from active service about the same time I ORDed last November.

Anyway, Decommissioning took place together with the Sunset Ceremony, which included the hoisting down of the Jack, Sea Ensign and Harbour Ensign, to the playing of the National Anthem. Then, the special Commissioning Pennant was taken down amidst the solemn yet lonesome sounding of the Retreat, which I felt had a tinge of sadness within it.

And with a few other traditional procedures, the MGBs were officially taken out of the Fleet and retired from the service of the Navy.

The commemorative video was played afterwards, and it was a little heartening to see how the MGBs rose up in the 70s to be the most powerful ships in the region with missile-capabilities. I was very fortunate enough to be part of the crew to fire off the MGBs' last missile test last year, proving once-again the MGBs' lethal abilities even after 32 years. I could still remember that day when the missile took off deafeningly in front of my very eyes, hit the flying simulator and exploded. I must have been one of the luckiest NSFs in history.

If a person like me who had only served 1 year, could feel the pitiness and sadness at seeing them go, I'm sure those who've been onboard for longer periods of time would feel it at multiplied extents. I wonder how many 'pioneers' who had witnessed the Commissioning some 32 years ago were there last evening. I also wonder how many would still remember these great ships as time passes.

Nostalgia?

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Anyway, here's a short video from Mindef website.

Duration:1 min 11 secs

Author:Defence Information Television (DiTV)

mms://media.mindef.gov.sg/14may08_mgr_decom_hi.asf

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Sidenote: Though it's only about half a year, I realised how many things had actually happened. My Most Respected Chief onboard had actually went through an op to remove a brain tumour and looked visibly weaker. Hope all's well for everyone.

人生是黑白的.
11:59 PM <3

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