SINGAPORE - Graduation parades have long been a prized feature of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) but Third Sergeant (3SG) Maisarah Abdul Raof and her squad mates had a low-key version instead because of the pandemic.
3SG Maisarah, 22, attended one of the smaller-scale ceremonies - with no invited guests - on Thursday (May 21) to mark the completion of her 22-week course at the Specialist Cadet School.
Bayonets were handed out as well as awards to members of her 969-strong cohort.
She was allowed to bring her ceremonial uniform home so her parents could affix her new rank for her, a ritual traditionally done at the graduation parade.
3SG Maisarah also received a video featuring photos of the cohort during training, footage from a previous graduation parade and a message from the graduation parade's reviewing officer, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs Sun Xueling.
3SG Maisarah said: "At first, it was disheartening to find out that we weren't having a parade, but I feel that we were lucky to still have a ceremony to receive our bayonets and awards.
"We were also able to bring home our uniform to take photos with our families, so I think that's a memorable touch by the army to still allow us to have an experience in donning the rank and having it celebrated with our loved ones."
This was the first time that no plans were made for a specialist cadet graduation parade, a decision that stemmed from Covid-19 restrictions.
Training continued for the Specialist Cadet School with precautionary measures in place throughout the two-month circuit breaker period.
Ms Sun told the cadets in a video message that the military has been helping during the pandemic by packing masks and helping with contact tracing: "The SAF has once again risen to the occasion in helping Singapore combat Covid-19."
The SAF has also deployed servicemen in recent weeks to help take care of migrant workers in dormitories and to prepare vacant facilities in its camps for them.
Ms Sun said that security and defending the homeland remain of the highest importance. Terrorist groups may see a window of opportunity to strike given the focus on the pandemic and sea robbery incidences in the Singapore Strait have also increased.
"I am therefore assured and heartened to see that the SAF continues to maintain a high level of operational readiness to defend Singapore's peace and security, even as it supports whole-of-government efforts against Covid-19," she said.
The absence of a parade did not dampen the sense of pride felt by 3SG Yash Santosh Talekar, an 18-year-old deck weapons operator in the Navy who won the Golden Bayonet awarded to top specialist cadets from each vocation.
The full-time national serviceman said he learnt time management, resilience and teamwork from the course, adding: "My parents felt very proud they could still have that experience of seeing me wearing the (ceremonial) uniform and donning on the rank."
