‘Regardless of generation, the nation comes first’: RSAF pioneer

SINGAPORE — Retired Lieutenant-Colonel Leo Tin Boon will always remember how he spent his 21st birthday — amid crippling floods in Kuantan, where he was delivering food and support rations to starving villagers as the monsoon raged on.

It was January 1971 and the Republic’s newly-formed air force — then known as the Singapore Air Defence Command — was on one of its first disaster relief deployments.

“We were excited to be activated for the first time, but it was a challenging mission as weather conditions were very marginal… The maps we held were no longer reliable because all the physical landmarks had been covered with water. Even the roads and rivers were no longer the same shape,” recalled LTC (Ret) Leo in an interview with TODAY.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), with a series of activities lined up.

The 68-year-old had joined the air force to “find the answer to a burning question” he had as a child: How planes with such heavy engines could fly.

But more than satisfying a childhood curiosity, LTC (Ret) Leo was quickly brought up to speed with the importance of safeguarding Singapore’s skies after being drafted into the air force’s pioneer batch.

For him, the relief operations in Kuantan were a “baptism of fire”.

“We carried out 30 missions over 11 days, delivering gunny sacks of rice to the villagers...And we had to control the aircraft in such a way that supplies could be unloaded while it was hovering, to avoid being trapped in the flood ourselves,” said LTC (Ret) Leo, who piloted the Alouette III, a light transport helicopter.

“It probably rained for a good one month. I felt like I did not see the sun for a long time… (But) I was happy to be able to help many people in need,” he said.

One year later, he was confronted with another challenge: To rescue a casualty from an oil tanker that had caught fire in the South China Sea.

“It was a major challenge because the wind conditions were highly unstable and there was nowhere to land on the ship… But we eventually managed to evacuate him to the Singapore General Hospital,” he said.

Compared to the formative years, the RSAF’s assets have become far more sophisticated and integrated over the last five decades, said LTC (Ret) Leo.

“50 years ago, much of the focus was placed on honing individual skills...Then we learnt to work together with different aircraft, and today, soldiers have to collaborate across air, land and sea… Integration is a significant force multiplier that we need to defend Singapore on all fronts,” he said.

But one thing LTC (Ret) Leo hopes will never change, is the “nation-first mindset” that those who sign up for a military career ought to have.

“Regardless of your generation, the purpose of a military career is for the sake of the nation… When one has chosen to join the military...Your focus must be on your duty in defending the nation,” he said.

Quoting the late American five-star general Douglas MacArthur, he added: “In every battle, there is no substitute for victory.”