Parachute Training Wing

The Parachute Training Wing (abbreviation: PTW) is one of two training wings in the School of Commandos of the Singapore Armed Forces in Singapore specialising in airborne courses for the Commando Formation. Courses conducted include the Basic Airborne Course, a compulsory course for all Commando trainees, as well as more advanced courses such as the Parachute Jump Instructor Course and the Military Free Fall Course.

History

The PTW was established in March 1974 as the Parachute Training School (PTS), with its Parachute Jump Instructors having received intensive training in the United States and New Zealand. The fully-Commando affair saw its first batch of national service trainees graduating on 19 October 1974, before opening up the course for non-Commandos. It has also trained non-Singaporeans, with its first trainees being 12 men from the 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment. In August 1982, the school came under the fold of the Commando Training Centre, and was renamed the PTW.

ilver Wings

The Parachutist Badge, known as the Silver Wings, is awarded upon successful completion of the Basic Airborne Course. First awarded to the pioneering graduating batch of 27 NSFs from Second Company, 1st Commando Battalion (1 Cdo Bn), it comprises a pair of outspread wings on both wigs of a deployed parachute, with the words "SINGAPURA" below the canopy. With the design sanctioned by 1 Cdo Bn's Commanding Officer, Tan Kim Peng Clarence, it is differentiated by a crimson velvet backing for Commandos, while those of the Commando Parachute Jump Instructors have a golden velvet backing. Non-Commandos wear the badge without any backing.

Basic training

The Basic Airborne Course (BAC) has about 120 to 160 trainees per class, involving largely Commandos as well as their counterparts from the rest of the SAF or beyond. With the primary task of teaching trainees to execute static line parachuting, they introduce the three most important aspects affecting their performance, namely the Exit, the Flight, and the Landing. The need for quick reactive actions during these aspects of the jump required intensive training over ten days.

Commando trainees taking part in the course have to complete seven jumps, with two conducted after dusk. From the fourth jump, they are also required to do so with their battle equipment on. Each jump is executed at most 3 months apart, and any trainee who have not completed a jump in the space of six months will have to attend an Airborne Refresher Training class.

References

*For Honour and Glory: A Celebration of Commando History (1969 - 1994)

ee also

*Commando Training Wing