Military displaying guns at airport

[taxico]

these gurkhas aren't part of KINS units i think!

[zzm9980]

Yeah that's the one. DPM Teo's house near Holland Village (down the street from the Vietnamese Embassy) always has Ghurkas with MP5s sitting outside. I imagine other bigshots have the same.

[the lynx]

these gurkhas aren't part of KINS units i think!

Was he vying for a cool pose or was he trying to stop you from taking his picture?

[Sambivalent]

Ah, yes, the infamous Gurkhas. They're generally used for the more important stuff.

Not sure about the police force's stance on shotguns, but the military certainly wouldn't be wielding it.


The PTU currently wears the red beret, so I'm guessing that could be it. Like the Gurkhas, I think they're only called upon when something high-key is going on, but I could be wrong.

@zzm9980: I actually walked past MM Lee Kuan Yew's house one night without knowing it was his house. Was puzzled by the substantial police presence at the house gates and had to go look it up later that night. Former-President S R Nathan's house also has a small guard post outside of it manned by a Gurkha.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I am always slightly peeved when I see a guy carrying the rifle near-parallel to the ground in the airport. That puts the barrel in a position which effectively sweeps all passers-by on one side of him. The photo posted by zzm9980 is the proper form, with the barrel pointed almost directly downwards.

[movingtospore]

I had no idea about the ghurkas until I read this thread and went and lookedit up. Learn something new every day! A foreign police force...

[ecureilx]

pre 911 a westerner visiting my country felt threatened to see so many armed guards in the airport

post 911 same guy says now he feels safe to see armed guards in Changi ...

how things have changed post 911 .....

[zzm9980]

@zzm9980: I actually walked past MM Lee Kuan Yew's house one night without knowing it was his house. Was puzzled by the substantial police presence at the house gates and had to go look it up later that night.

Which brings up an interesting completely unrelated side point: His street is not covered by Google Street View, and it was very obviously intentional. The closest you can get is down the block where you can see an interesting gate blocking the rest of the road.

[taxico]

I had no idea about the ghurkas until I read this thread and went and lookedit up. Learn something new every day! A foreign police force...

commander of the singapore gurkha contingent is a... brit! (always)

[maneo]

Gurkhas were posted at the American Club for a few years after 9/11.

SMS, That would make perfect sense if Singapore was under threat, but it's not.

Have also seen the security presence at the airport.
Also noticed that they weren't so obvious before, but am actually glad to see them.

There is always a threat.
More so when we are complacent and unprepared.

[sundaymorningstaple]

^^This.

[PNGMK]

Gurkhas were posted at the American Club for a few years after 9/11.

SMS, That would make perfect sense if Singapore was under threat, but it's not.

Have also seen the security presence at the airport.
Also noticed that they weren't so obvious before, but am actually glad to see them.

There is always a threat.
More so when we are complacent and unprepared.

The American Club petitioned to have all the street parking opposite and next to the club removed.

[FaeLLe]

I had no idea about the ghurkas until I read this thread and went and lookedit up. Learn something new every day! A foreign police force...

Former british colonies usually have a respect for the gurkhas and their pride and valour.

The Brigade of Gurkhas and Royal Gurkha Rifles is still in operation in the UK to date.

[Steve1960]

A related question which has puzzled me. If since 9/11 there have been more armed patrols in the airport why is it still possible to enter the airport and have no security check until arriving at the departure gate?

[bro75]

A related question which has puzzled me. If since 9/11 there have been more armed patrols in the airport why is it still possible to enter the airport and have no security check until arriving at the departure gate?

Just a guess, but they may consider it low risk since there will be additional inspections on checked and carry-on baggage later. And they may also want to drive some traffic in the pre immigration areas of the airport for business purposes.

[zzm9980]

A related question which has puzzled me. If since 9/11 there have been more armed patrols in the airport why is it still possible to enter the airport and have no security check until arriving at the departure gate?

Security checks are bottle necks. Bottle-necks with lots of people milling about are obvious attack targets. The closer it is to the front of the airport/entry, the easier it is for a suicide bomber to walk right up and kill hundreds queued up at this bottle neck. Singapore's design of moving the gates farther back is a mitigation to this threat.