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SJI NPCC

Newsletter 2015

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Table of Contents

Foreword…………………………………………………………………………………………………pg3

End of Year Reviews…………………………………………………………………………………pg5

.22 Revolver Shooting Competition………………………………….………………………pg7

Inter-Area .38 Revolver Shooting Competition……………………….………………..pg8

X-Challenge………………………………………………………………………………………………pg9

Inter Unit Games………………………………………………………………………..…………..pg10

Adventure Training Camp………………………………………………………………………..pg11

Survival Training Camp………………………………….…………………………………………pg12

VIA…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..pg13

Enrichment Courses…………………………………………………………………………………pg15

Moving Forward……………….………………………...……………………………..………..…pg17

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Foreword

By OC Unit, Ms Lynette Lin

Good Afternoon,

It is an honour to be writing this address as the new OC Unit 2015 to lead the Unit. I would like to

personally thank Mr Winston Chew who has gone way and above his all last year as the OC Unit to

have made me transit in this year so smoothly. This year we would also like to officially welcome our

new Teacher officers, Mr Koh Chee Yeong and Ms Melissa Lim. Mr Koh will be taking charge of the

Secondary 1 squad and will be in charge of all events and competitions, together with Mr Chew. Ms

Melissa Lim will be taking charge of the current Secondary 2 squad and will be in charge of all

Values-in-Action (VIA) and Community Safety and Security Programs (CSSP) matters.

This year, we also have the honor to have 2 capable Cadet Inspectors (CI) joining us, Ong Jun Feng

Jeremy and Tan Hong Liang Ryan. We are very thankful that they have chosen to come back and

serve the Unit.

It has been a very good start for us this year with a big haul for us as our Unit has been awarded the

Sustained Achievement Award and for a continuous 5 years of attaining the Gold award for the Overall

Unit Proficiency Award (UOPA). As a result of achieving the Gold Award for 5 consecutive years, SJI is

one of the 6 schools who received the Outstanding Achievement Award and the Silver Cane.

We should thank firstly, all the batches beforehand who have put in their hard work, up to our current

Batches which includes all of you who have made this possible. It has not been easy but we have

made it yet again.

Secondly, our dedicated pool of volunteers, the Honorary Officer and past and present Cadet

Inspectors, for their unstinting effort and time to the Unit on top of their own challenges of

post-secondary education. They are certainly a vital cog in the Unit’s functions and play an

instrumental role in ensuring the success of their program.

Last but not least, our Teacher Officers, Mrs Mishaelle Chua for overseeing the administrative

elements of running the Unit, Ms Chew Huifang for guiding and mentoring her cadets and

accompanying her cadets for their NPCC activities and most importantly, Mr Winston Chew, the OC

Unit for 2014, who put everything together, overseeing the entire running of the Unit from training to

administration. Our success in 2014 is a result in of everyone’s effort in ensuring the smooth running of

our program.

With the publication of our annual newsletter, it brings the close of another year. A year filled with tears

and joy, sadness and bliss, trials and tribulations, success and victory. A look back at the year would

present us with many things to be proud about, with respectable finishing positions in the X-Challenge

Competition and .22 Shooting Competition and the Unit Overall Proficiency Award (UOPA) Gold

Award for the fifth consecutive year just being some of the highlights.

It feels like a very short period of time from when Batch 42 took over Batch 41 in July 2014. Stepping

up as Cadet Leaders with its many challenges and wading into uncharted waters, they were unfamiliar

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at first to their new roles and responsibilities. However, in a short span of time, the cadets were able to

quickly function as an extremely effective team, led by Muhammad Riaz Bin Jamalullah, Tan Qi Sheng

and Koh Yang Kai. With their hard work and sheer determination, they have successfully brought the

Unit to the next level and certainly improved every aspect of the Unit, from the overall standard of the

cadets to the minute details on the blog. We would like to once again thank Batch 42 for all the

memories they have made with us and also for their effort to the Unit!

With Batch 42 stepping down from the Unit, their leadership appointments will now be taken up by

Batch 43, spearheaded by SGT Tan Yi Long, SGT Lim Ji Xuan and SGT Yeo Yu Jun.

The Unit also sees the completion of CI Michael Loh’s two year stint as Cadet Inspector. We would like

to personally thank him for all the time, effort and contributions he has made to our Unit and we wish

him all the best for his future endeavors!

Our NPCC Unit has been consistently producing capable leaders despite our relatively young age

compared to the other Uniformed Groups in SJI. Despite many challenges that our Unit has faced, we

have managed to exceed our goals and targets that we have set as a Unit. However, we should remain

humble and aim to do better than what we did before. With the year 2016 fast approaching, we should

gear ourselves towards affirming our position among other Units, going strength to strength in

competitions and events and also aim towards developing our cadets to competent leaders.

I am confident that the Unit will move forth and scale to greater heights.

Ora et Labora,

A/ASP (NPCC) Lynette Lin

OC Unit

St Joseph’s Institution

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End of Year reviews

By Head of Publicity, SSGT (NPCC) Samuel Chang Jung Tao

The Silver Cane

This year, Saint Joseph’s Institution National Police

Cadet Corps (SJI NPCC) attained the prestigious

Silver Cane award for the second time. This award is

given to NPCC Units for the achievement of attaining

the Unit Overall Proficiency Award (UOPA) Gold

Award for 5 consecutive years. SJI NPCC has

delightfully received this award through its hard work

and determination over the last 5 years. This award

will serve as an important milestone and will drive

SJI NPCC to continue its work towards bringing glory

to SJI and the Unit in the years to come. The Unit will

work towards the Excellence Achievement Award

(10 years) with the help of our newly appointed

Cadet Leaders, Cadet Inspectors and Teacher Officers.

Enrichment Courses

As a Unit, SJI NPCC strives to deliver a program that encourages holistic development of all its cadets.

SJI NPCC is thus, proud to introduce an array of enrichment courses this year to supplement its

weekly training schedule to bolster the robustness of its program. With a wide selection of courses,

from archery to baking, these new courses will certainly be something that the cadets will enjoy. These

enrichment courses will also serve as a platform to forge bonds between the different batches and

create unforgettable memories. Despite only being its first year, the enrichment courses has seen

much success among the cadets and will continue to remain popular in the coming years.

Carrying on the Flame

With reflective hearts and open minds, we look back on the year of 2015 to analyse and review our

mistakes and successes as well as those of our seniors. We will learn from our past mistakes and

strive towards excellence in the coming year. Moreover, we will do our best to nurture all cadets into

men that will do SJI proud as well as Cadet Leaders (CLs) who will provide care and concern for their

juniors. This year was also the second time that SJI NPCC obtained the Silver Cane. Therefore, we

hope that the next batch of CLs will continue to guide the Unit to greater heights and enjoy similar, if not

greater, success that our batch as well as the previous batches have enjoyed.

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Station Inspector Riaz leading the Supporting Contingent at the Annual Parade.

Teacher Officers having a break during Unit Training Camp.

Cadets receiving the Best Cadet Award for their respective squads from the Guest of

Honour at the Annual Parade.

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Competitions

.22 Revolver Shooting Competition

By Deputy Head of Logistics, CPL (NPCC) Zacc Koh De Wei

One of the flagship events of NPCC is the annual .22 revolver shooting competition. The competition is

held by NPCC HQ at the Home Team Academy range and consists of three rounds. The first round

consisted of 8 rounds being fired at a Figure 2 target, at a distance of 15 meters with a time limit of 20

seconds. The target is then switched to the NRA centre-fire target for the second and third rounds and

involved firing 8 bullets, at 9 and 15 metres respectively in 30 seconds. A maximum score of 200 points

can be earned from the three rounds of shooting. For the Figure 2 target, there are two areas - within

and out of the boxed area. 5 points are awarded for hitting within the box and 2 points for the area out

of the box. For the NRA target, it is similar to a bullseye target, and points are awarded in incremental

values of 2 based on distance from the centre, up to a maximum of 10 points per shot.

SJI NPCC sent two teams to the preliminary rounds of the shooting competition this year. Despite the

intense competition, Team 1 managed to achieve a score that placed them within the Top 10 for the

preliminaries, and thus proceeded to the finals. Team 2 gave their best and was placed at a

respectable 22nd position out of 160 teams that took part in the competition.

On the day of the finals, it was a nerve-wracking wait as our boys waited for their turn. Nervousness

and anticipation could be seen from their faces as they waited, but as their turn came, they stepped up

to the plate and gave their best. Our boys eventually fired SJI to 9th overall in the face of fierce

competition from traditional powerhouses, which was an achievement testament to their hard work

and belief. We hope to build on our results and perform better in 2016.

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Shooting Team 1: SI(NPCC) Koh Yang Kai, SI(NPCC)Tan Qi Sheng, SSGT(NPCC) Lachlan Pang ,

SGT(NPCC)Zacc Koh, SSGT(NPCC) Ivan Neo (9th Position)

Shooting Team 2: SSGT(NPCC) Yeo Yu Jun, SSGT(NPCC) Lim Ji Xuan, SSGT(NPCC) Tan Yi Long,

SSGT(NPCC) Na Byung Hee, SGT(NPCC) John Paul Lim Jie Min (22nd Position)

Inter-Area .38 Revolver Shooting Competition

By CI (NPCC) Jeremy Ong

The experience of shooting with the revolver at the Cadet Inspector (CI) and Officer level

may not be an entirely new experience, considering the fact that all cadets go through the

.22 Classification Shoot in Secondary 3, but the excitement and thrill of handling the firearm

are one and the same.

As a civilian in Singapore, having the opportunity to use the .38 Taurus revolver is indeed

rare, not to mention the fact that it is also the same weapon carried by the Singapore Police

Force. Handling the .38 revolver as compared to the .22 revolver used by cadets is actually

quite a different experience. Having a greater calibre, the revolver can only hold 5 bullets

instead of 8, and the increase in the recoil of firing is definitely noticeable.

Shooting a total of 30 rounds, 20 for the Figure 2 target and 10 for the NRA target, the

experience has allowed me to apply the techniques learnt when I was a cadet to shoot

accurately. Things such as body positioning, breathing techniques, proper sighting, and

pulling of the trigger, could only be truly understood when one actually held the revolver.

This year in particular, our area has done especially well, with full representation at the finals

for all individual and team categories at both CI and Officers level. Perhaps with a certain

degree of luck, since the dry practice just before the actual shoot was the only chance I had

at practicing, I had also managed to attain the fifth position in the Individual Male CI

category.

I look forward to participating in the shooting competition again next year, and I wish all

Secondary 3 cadets who will be shooting for their Marksmanship Badge in due time all the

best.

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X-Challenge

By CPL (NPCC) Julian Chua Wei En

Newly launched in 2014, the National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) Inter-Unit X-Challenge was a

competition that sought to test NPCC cadets in their proficiency in various areas, namely campcraft

activities, physical endurance, as well as general knowledge about NPCC itself.

Two teams were sent to represent Saint Joseph’s Institution (SJI) in the X-Challenge this year, and

although they were unable to reach the finals, the cadets who participated in the competition came

away with something more valuable than the medals given out to the champions: companionship with

one another. The X-Challenge has not only served to sharpen their minds and strengthen their

resilience as a squad, it has also developed esprit de corps among the cadets. Their indomitable spirits

and unwavering determination in the face of the many difficult challenges in the competition enabled

them to pull through in the toughest of situations and forged many memorable moments with everyone

in the team.

Communication and clarity were also key aspects in the teams that were enhanced after the

competition, as the cadets who participated had to coordinate their movements and actions together to

overcome the obstacles they faced in the challenges.

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Inter-Unit Games

by Head of Operations, SSGT (NPCC) Ivan Neo

The Hai Sing Catholic National Police Cadet Corps’ (NPCC) “Can you Escape?” Competition was interesting as it was themed as an escape room, a very different theme as compared to the usual sports Inter Unit Games(IUGs). I participated in this competition with 3 seniors, Arif, Sean and Byung Hee, who made this experience more entertaining.

We first had to create a team flag to represent our school using NPCC skills such as campcraft etc. As it would be difficult for everyone to agree on one design, we made something each and put them together to form our team flag.

Eventually it was our turn to enter the escape room. Searching every single corner of the classroom, we only gathered a few numbers to solve the puzzle. Hence, we tried random combinations with the numbers we found, solving it in 16 minutes out of the 30-minute limit. We were excited when we were told that we were the fastest group so far.

Later, we found out that another school had attained a timing of 13 minutes. Nevertheless, we were extremely happy to be 2nd in the competition. I learnt to work as a team efficiently, from creating the team flag to solving the puzzle. I felt that this was one of the best IUGs I have participated in, and I hope to be able to join a similar IUG again.

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Adventure Training Camp

By CPL (NPCC) Dylan Peh Hong Kah

For my first time at Camp Resilience at Pulau Ubin, I had imagined the Adventure Training Camp (ATC) to be extremely tiresome and rigid. However, I learnt that ATC was not only to help us as Secondary 2 Cadets to build upon the National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) core values but also to help us go out of our comfort zones and to experience new things.

I had a memorable experience and learned much in Area 15's ATC on Pulau Ubin. For example, through meeting new cadets from other squads in Area 15, I managed to become friends with them and got through many gruelling activities such as the Land Expedition on Day 2 of the Camp.

The camp has also underpinned a new sense of discipline which I felt had been diluted for too long. On one occasion, as we were walking back to Camp Resilience, our Cadet Inspectors sounded the 'hornet alarm' to apprise us of the presence of hornets. Upon hearing this alarm, some of us, myself included, broke from the group and ran for our lives. We later learned that it was a false alarm meant to solidify our adherence to commands from our seniors, and we were berated for our loose discipline. Instead of dropping to the ground and covering our necks, following standard procedure, we had let our hearts conquer our heads and legs. This incident made me realize the importance of following orders as a proper cadet should do.

On the whole, ATC has taught us how to embrace the unexpected and have the confidence to try new things. ATC has also built upon the core values of NPCC which our Cadet Leaders had already instilled in us.

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Survival Training Camp

By Deputy Head of Publicity, SGT (NPCC) Sean Teo Pang Boon

This being the second camp that I had attended at Camp Resilience on Pulau Ubin, I had expected

that this camp was something that I just had to pass through to get a badge. However, that was not the

case at all.

Throughout the camp, I came into contact with many people whom I would never thought of talking to.

This included both some of my squadmates as well as cadets from other schools.

The aim of the camp was to hone our leadership skills as well as our communication so that we would

be able to lead our Unit as incoming Cadet Leaders(CLs). But, I felt that it taught us much more than

that. I believe that the camp also taught us the importance of teamwork and that we need each other

for the whole Unit to function properly.

This was enforced through the activities that we had to go through for the 3 days and 2 nights camp.

The first day was started off by ice breakers where we got split up into different groups and got to

socialise with cadets from other squads. I was quite nervous as I was separated from my usual friends

in my squad and placed in a totally different environment. But, the group that I was in welcomed

everyone as friends and we forged bonds that lasted throughout the camp and these bonds helped us

to overcome the challenges we faced in the form of activities such as the High Ropes Challenge(HRC)

and deciding on the skit we were to perform on Campfire Night.

Overall, the camp was very enjoyable as well as beneficial for a Secondary 3 cadet who was going to

take on much more responsibilities in the Unit as well in other areas. Even though the camp has

passed, the bonds made, memories created as well as skills improved have left a deep impression on

me. And so I continue to exhibit the qualities learnt at the camp even in my daily life.

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VIA Projects

By Head of Values-in-Action, SSGT (NPCC) Ralph Chester Alejanaria Pe

The Values-in-Action(VIA) that we organised is to provide fellow cadets the opportunity to earn Community Involvement Program(CIP) hours which would help them in the future. In addition, it allows cadets to make a difference within the communities that they are in. One project that we have organised is the Police Young Ambassador (PYA).

In PYA, we would go to the neighbouring flats and hand out flyers to raise awareness about the most common crimes in that area. We partnered with Bishan Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) to carry out the project. The project would have benefited the residents as it raised awareness of the common crimes. Another project that we have in our VIA is The Big Sweep.

This is the project in which we visit the houses of the elderly who are less fortunate than us and spend some time cleaning their houses and accompanying them for a while. This project allows us to have a glimpse into their lives while also reminding us that we are very fortunate. Additionally, this keeps in line with our school values that we should never forget the last the lost and the least.

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Enrichment Courses

By Deputy Head of Logistics, CPL(NPCC) Yuknavell S/O Thiyagarajan

Apart from engaging in strenuous trainings, Saint Joseph’s Institution National Police Cadet Corps (SJI NPCC) have also taken part in various courses designed for the cadets’ leisure and entertainment.

Cadets were offered a multitude of choices: They could opt to hone their marksmanship by taking part in either Laser-Tag or Archery, or they could decide to strengthen their bodies while kayaking at Kallang. Baking was also offered to the cadets as a chance for them to embrace the domestic aspects of their lives.

To foster closer ties and promote a sense of camaraderie among the cadets, team-based competitions were set up in both the Laser-Tag and Archery courses, allowing the cadets to effectively grasp the importance of leadership and teamwork.

Meanwhile, the kayaking course was designed to enable the cadets to toughen both mind and body, as they would have to familiarize themselves with the techniques and strokes to ensure they would succeed in obtaining the One Star award in kayaking. After going through a couple of grueling kayaking sessions, the cadets emerged from the course with tempered minds and robust physiques, along with the One Star certification in the water sport.

As for baking, the Secondary Three cadets were filled with mirth and elation as they led their juniors in the baking session, assisting them with their difficulties in operating the ovens and setting a benchmark for them in the standard of the buns they were to bake. At the end of the session, every cadet left delighted with their success in producing top quality buns.

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Moving Forward to 2016

By Station Inspector, SSGT(NPCC) Tan Yi Long

In the past year, our Unit has reached commendable milestones and achievements. Strong finishes in the annual .22 Shooting Competition and attaining the Silver Cane justifies that statement. With the year now behind us, we must look towards the future, building on the strong foundation laid by previous batches. Though we have done well in last year’s competitions, there is no room for complacency,

only room for improvement. A look into the new year would find three exciting

competitions for us to show improvements. High placings in the bi-annual Campcraft

Competition, .22 Shooting Competition and X- Challenge Competition, and adding another

UOPA Gold Award are lofty ambitions but at the same time well within our reach.

With dogged determination and unshakable faith in ourselves, I believe that this batch of cadets

will be able to hit our targets that we have set.

The cadets of SJI NPCC are ultimately what truly make the Unit. As such, we should, as a

Unit, focus on producing, not only a excellent cadet, but also people of values. Hard skills,

like campcraft and drills, are undeniably important to every NPCC cadet. However, without

the just morals and characteristics of a person, our cadets would not fit the profile of a

NPCC Cadet, becoming a substandard version of what we have envisioned them to be.

Therefore, our main goal is to groom our cadets into honest, sympathetic and humble

people, armed with the right attitude and values, who are capable and competent leaders

able to lead the Unit in the future.

Ora et Labora,

SGT (NPCC) Tan Yi Long

SJI NPCC Station Inspector