Sunday Times 2
Two score years of elite soldiering
Almost to the date forty years ago, the Gazette notification giving birth to the then Commando Squadron was released with no pomp and pageantry.
Special Forces Regiment's founder Commander Sunil Peiris
Go back to the history of the Special Forces, and you find that in this long journey, they have from meagre beginnings of living in cadjan accommodation and borrowing resources for training from other regiments of the Army, today risen to stand tall as the best equipped military outfit to meet any contingency in the defence of the sovereignty of the nation. The Commando Regiment has even ventured into other countries wearing the light blue beret of the United Nations, to keep the peace between warring nations.
The men who laid the foundation for this Regiment had the vision of the need for a Special Forces outfit that would deliver the punch with sufficient force at the speed of greased lightning to destabilise and knock out any prospective threat. This cutting edge expertise, instilled with impeccable discipline and steel-like mental agility, the wisdom of a serpent and gentleness of a dove, has stood unshaken with the test of time.
As the man who guided the destiny of this regiment, whenever I spoke to the men, I would remind them that they were second to none. I would say, “When you walk, make sure you do so six inches off the ground’’. “Remember that once a Commando you are always a Commando.”
That unshakeable foundation is built on the regimental motto ‘Nothing Impossible’.
When a Commando is made, yes made, it is at a tremendous cost of time, money, sweat, blood and tears. He comes out as a man willing to face any challenge before him, with no holds barred, no quarter given and none taken, with no malice to anyone. His only objective is his mission. He can be gentle when required and above all, he is a man with great dedication and commitment. Talk to him on morale, on esprit de corps, on sacrifice and on self-discipline and he will convert you.
Once a commando always a commando
Forty years are but a short space of time. Flashing past my thoughts are the moments when I as the father lost my sons in the ugly face of conflict. The many instances when I watched the last breath from the son fallen by my side, the times when I would helplessly watch a son bleed to death, and hear of the commando who has gone missing never to return. What do I as the father of this outfit tell the parents, the spouse, and the children of a fallen commando? The thoughts of the moment when the mother or spouse of the commando pinned the commando badge on his lapel at the very solemn and moving graduation ceremony. They would then come to me and say, “Sir, now he is in your care, you are the father.”
Forty years and how many laid their lives down to safeguard the sovereignty of our beloved motherland.
So, as it is with all anniversaries where it is a time for stock taking, I would rather call upon those in service to look forward to another 40 years and dream of the ethos of the regiment as a superlative Army outfit that would stand for professionalism, courage, justice and righteousness. The tenets of the commando spirit were laid as its foundation — integrity, honesty, truthfulness and incorruptibility. Soldiering in an elite regiment as the commandos is unique in every sense — once a commando always a commando. Not simply for glamour, benefits or the outward show but standing up for the national cause with pride and glory.
I am proud to be the father of this elite regiment and I still stand tall walking six inches above the ground.