Training
The Guards are infantry soldiers who are proficient in helicopter operations. All Guardsmen are taught and trained to be comfortable working with helicopters. They are proficient in Terminal Air Guidance, in the setting up of landing sites as well as communicating with the pilots.
To achieve such high standards, trainees are put through some of the most rigorous training within the Singapore Armed Forces. To be worthy of donning the coveted "Guards" shoulder tab and the Khaki beret, trainees have to go through the gruelling Guards Officers Conversion Course for officers and Guards Specialist Conversion Course for Specialists. The enlisted men go through the Guards Advanced Infantry Training (GAIT) to earn their mark as Guardsmen. These conversion courses signify the conversion from regular infantry to the elite Guardsmen and push every soldier physically and mentally to the limit. Only those who qualify will be given the right to be called a "Guardsman", wearing the coveted khaki beret. In Dec 2011, the Ministry of Defence (Singapore) released a 7-part web series on the Guards Conversion Course, titled Making The Cut: Guards Conversion Course.
Part of the conversion requires the soldier to undergo a timed 12 km fast march, a 2 km coastal swim and an advanced obstacle course known as the Guards Assault Course (GAC). The GAC is a team course that requires the group of soldiers to swim 50 meters, to climb a high tower, rappel down a tower and complete a 5 km run with a standard SAF obstacle course and carry an "injured" teammate on a stretcher for the last 1.5 kilometers. The entire course is done in full battle order (FBO) with packs packed with sandbags to reach the required weight requirement. Guardsmen are also required to maintain a strict physical fitness regime throughout their careers.
The Guards are trained to be inserted and extracted from the combat zone by helicopter, hence the term "heliborne". They can do this either by rapid disembarkation while the helicopter is landing, or by "rappelling" (descending by rope while the helicopter hovers) and fast roping straight into battle zones, or onto rooftops. As a nice landing area may not always be available, the Guards have to master many kinds of rappelling from cliffs and buildings. In one method, they come down a cliff head-downwards. In case they are wounded in a leg and cannot use their legs to brace themselves against the cliff face, they also learn to come down with their backs facing the cliff, and also in a stretcher. Another dangerous method, but at times necessary for a fast and decisive strike, would be "running" down a cliff. This method is known as the "Australian rappel".
Guards are also specialised in seaborne assault such as coastal hook, which is an offensive manoeuvre initiated by army forces and executed by forces embarked in surface water craft using the coastal sea or river as an axis of movement, to outflank the enemy in order to accomplish the assigned tactical mission.
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