Commando or not, no heavy lifting at home. Just stay focused on your new job.

That was the order the wife of Second Warrant Officer Teo Yeow Thiam gave him when she found out he had a "new job" - making the 3,000m parachute jump at yesterday's National Day Parade.

It was the 38-year-old's maiden performance with the Red Lions skydiving commandos. Their display is a yearly crowd-pleaser during the pre-parade segment.

Their difficult manoeuvres became apparent yesterday when it drizzled heavily - the first time in 40 years it rained on the parade - and the weather turned windy.

The adverse condition could explain why one of the 11 commandos took a tumble upon landing.

But the extra loud cheers from the crowd got the jumper back on his feet and leaping right back into the enthusiastic crowd for high-fives.

Up in the skies, the heart-stopping aerial stunts by the six Black Knights in their F-16s drew gasps from the crowd as they swooped towards Marina Bay at 13km a minute.

Shutterbugs like Mr Nicholas Foo, 23, who had his video camera trained on the entire parade, leapt to their feet.

"I'm recording it all and taking photographs so I can put them on my blog and Facebook. My friends won't miss anything then," said the secondary school teacher.