Most books/ articles by military spouses are never focused on the impact of the military partner’s deployment on their spouse’s psychological health. Nation First dwells into mental and physical well-being, depression and issues arising out of family relationships, especially daughter-in-law Vs mother-in-law. My salute to Shikha for being candid and straight faced – which many military spouses will bury in deep sand.
Shikha has narrated her experiences with a poker face. She has brought out the shock of the first combat deployment of her spouse, that too soon after the wedding. She has explained well as to how she coped with separation though the mother-in-law finds fault with her and blames her for all the ordeals her son had to undergo.
Kudos to Shikha for taking it on and forgiving her mother-in-law for all her taunts. That takes a lot of courage, magnanimity, and commitment to her spouse.
The life of a military spouse, the duties she is expected to carryout and her role in a Regimental life is all truthfully narrated. A military spouse spends nearly the entire time at the current duty station speculating about where you will go next.
The book rolls out the metamorphosis of a young girl with no military exposure into a military spouse. To be a military spouse, it is all about imbibing the Regimental spirit, learning acronyms and abbreviations, hearing about the escapades of her spouse while at the National Defence Academy and as a Lieutenant in the Regiment – it is endless.
The author brings out the difficulties a military spouse faces to remain unemployed after being an entrepreneur prior to wedding. Shikha has listed out the tasks a military spouse can execute, especially during intense combat like the Kargil War.
For Shikha, homecoming was like being on a blind date. First comes the honeymoon phase, and then it just gets awkward, especially when the soldier receives his posting order to nowhere. She explains the loneliness she felt and the turmoil in her mind as to what in the world she was doing with her life.
True to the indomitable spirit of a military spouse, she too went through the highest of highs and lowest of lows emotionally. She deftly handled tough situations and rose exponentially.
Whatever a military spouse narrates, it is difficult to understand her mind, the turmoil she underwent and the support she gave to her husband. Resilience, strength, and courage are the core of a military spouse.
The book covers in detail the planning and conduct of tactical battles with a micro perspective. The accounts of the operations for the capture of Tololing and Three Pimples and many other such battles, told the story of human endeavour, perseverance, grit and determination. Shikha has described in detail the anatomy of a herculean challenge, the nuances of fighting in extreme rugged high-altitude terrain, inclement weather and an entrenched enemy.
Shikha has codified the emotions of her husband who was stepping into an arduous task knowing very well that there may be no return. It tells the story of fortitude, of agony and ecstasy, of raw courage and exemplary leadership, particularly as a Forward Observation Officer with attacking Infantry Battalions.
The only aspect the book does not dwell into is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD.)Akhilesh suffered many injuries – both physical and psychological – but there is no mention about PTSD in the book. May that the Indian Army is yet to recognise the existence of PTSD amongst the soldiers.
The military marriage always grows apart, back together over and over and it will turn the two into a strong couple.
While preparing for the entrance examination for the Long Gunnery Staff Course (LGSC) in 1988, the prescribed book on basic physics had a question – Recoil of a gun is based on which of Newton’s Laws of Motion? The options were:-
First Law
Second Law
Third Law
None of the above.
Based on my previous knowledge, I presumed that the answer is the Third Law, but the book stated that it is the Second Law. I sought help of our senior officers who had graduated from LGSC and they all said that it’s the Third Law. I concluded then that it might be a typo error in the book.
In 1996, I attended Technical Staff Course. Those of us without any technical qualifications like B Tech had a six months scientific orientation course prior to the commencement of the course. This orientation course covered basic sciences and mathematics.
During the class on Newton’s Laws of Motion by Dr Ganesh, a young scientist, I queried about Newton’s Laws and Gun’s Recoil to clear my mind of the lingering doubt. Dr Ganesh explained it in detail.
The gun with the bullet/ shell housed inside prior to pressing of the trigger, total momentum of the system equals zero.
On pressing the trigger, the bullet gains velocity and the gun recoils. Here too the total momentum of the system does not change. Momentum is the product of the Mass and Velocity.
That is why we calculate recoil by equating the momentum of the Gun and the bullet by the formula – Mg X vg = mb x Vb where
Mg is Mass of the Gun
vg is Velocity of the Gun
mb is Mass of the Bullet
vB is Velocity of the Bullet
We account for both the forward momentum of the bullet and the rearward momentum of the gun. Here the sum of the magnitude and direction of the momentum of both the bodies involved does not change being in opposite direction. Hence, momentum of the system is conserved.
This conservation of momentum is why gun recoil occurs in the opposite direction of bullet projection – the mass times velocity of the projectile in the positive direction equals the mass times velocity of the gun in the negative direction. Thus the sum of momentum before the trigger is pulled or when the gun fires remains the same.
Thus, the recoil of a gun is attributed to the Law of Conservation of Momentum – that is the Second Law.
Now I realised that the basic Physics book I read while preparing for LGSC was correct.
My first close encounter with the 81mm Mortar happened in 1993 when I had to organise Inter-Battalion Mortar Competition as the Brigade Major of the Artillery Brigade. I wanted to have a first-hand feel of it and requested the Mortar Platoon of one of the battalions for a demonstration of their drills.
81mm mortar is a joint design by the UK and Canada and was introduced into service in 1965–66, replacing the 3-inch Mortar. To match and then overwhelm German firepower during World War I, British engineer Sir Wilfred Stokes invented the Stokes 3-inch Mortar System.
81mm Mortar can be man-packed by the mortar detachment, in which case the ammunition is to be carried by other soldiers of the battalion. In addition to their normal equipment, each soldier carries four bombs. These mortars are the Infantry Battalion’s organic firepower, better known as the Commanding Officer’s Artillery and can be used to deliver a heavy volume of fire down on an objective in an extremely short period.
As the mortar was being brought into action, the detachment was heard shouting “Mathy, Mathy, Mathy.” I interpreted it to be ‘Maththi’ (മത്തി) – Sardine in Malayalam. The shouting subsided and the chaos settled with the mortar set in action.
I wanted to know why the clamour was all about and what they were shouting. A Mallu officer came out – he must have realised my confusion – and said “Sir, it is Madhya (मध्य)” -meaning centre. It appeared that the detachment shouted “Madhya, Madhya, Madhya” as they brought the bubbles of the spirit levels on the two axes on the dial-sight in the centre to level the mortar on a horizontal plane.
Now I had a closer look at the dial-sight to find neither bubble was centered. I asked as to what the shouting was all around. (Gunners do not shout while levelling the bubbles.)
“That’s the drill sir,” replied the officer. (A standard reply to most questions in the Army!!)
As we progressed through the competition, I realised that all Platoon Commanders assembled their platoons to indicate the AP (Aiming Point.) He said “Door se door, sahi pehachan, achcha laying edge – Abhi keliye 100-meter pe jhanda.” (दूर से दूर, सही पहचान, अच्छा laying edge – अभी केलिए 100-meter पे झंडा.)
An Aiming Point provides a point of angular reference to aim a gun in the required horizontal direction. An aiming point must be as far as possible, sharply defined and easily distinguished feature, such as the edge of a building. The Platoon Commander was correct in the definition which all Platoon commanders rattled out, but everyone used the Flag @ 100 meter.
Was the flag designated as Aiming Point at 100 meter?? No way! Even if I stretched my imagination beyond its elastic limits – it could at most be 100 feet. May be, an Infantry soldier can stretch a foot to a meter!!
I knew that selection and use of an Aiming Point on ground presents problems in featureless areas, in bad visibility or at night as putting lights on distant aiming points is seldom practical. Therefore, modern guns employ a ‘Collimator’ to simulate an Aiming Point at artificial infinity on the principle of parallel lines meet at infinity. Many Gunners – including officers – call it colli-METER.
The Flag @100 meter baffled me, and my gunnery brain cells worked on hypersonic speed to resolve the riddle. Unsuccessful, I gave it up and summoned the very same Platoon Commander who first demonstrated the functioning of a Mortar Platoon. He claimed that he was an instructor at Infantry School. He failed to convince me as all his explanations were illogical and unscientific.
“Where do you conduct your Mortar Platoon training at Infantry School? Is the area surrounded by buildings?” I asked. “Yes,” said the Platoon Commander
Now I realised that the Flag @ 100 meter (feet) was creating the artificial infinity at Infantry School, and it was being carried to all the battalions by the Platoon commanders trained at Infantry School.
Infantry will make parallel lines to meet even @ 100 feet.
On return to our regiment – 75 Medium Regiment – after completion of the ‘Computer Course’ in August 1991, our then Commanding Officer (CO) Colonel Rajan Anand appointed me as the Battery Commander (BC) of 751 Medium Battery. 75 Medium Regiment then had three batteries with fixed class composition. 751 Medium Battery consisted of Brahmins from North India, 752 Medium Battery had Jats and our 753 Medium Battery had South Indians.
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That was the first time I became the BC of the Brahmin Battery and always commanded the same Battery during the rest of my service with the unit. Our Regiment was then located at Udhampur (Jammu & Kashmir). The Regiment was tasked to display the newly acquired 155mm Bofors Gun for the Gunners’ Day on Saturday, 28 September 1991 for everyone in the station and school children. Our CO gave the task of the equipment display to me. The previous day, I briefed everyone about the task at hand and the next morning at 8AM, we marched off to the stadium where the display was being conducted. The event was organised under the aegis of 8 Artillery Brigade, who were then staging at Udhampur on their induction into the Kashmir Valley. Our Regiment was under 39 Artillery Brigade. On reaching the stadium, I was shown the area where the Bofors gun and allied equipment was to be displayed by the Deputy Commander of 8 Artillery Brigade. The Deputy Commander was a Colonel with over 25 years of service, while I had eight years behind me.
I took Havildar (Sergeant) Major Lekh Ram and the Gun Detachment Commander – Havildar Chaman Prakash – and briefed them about the placement of the Gun and other equipment and various boards and charts defining the characteristics of the equipment. By 8:30AM, I moved to the tent where the Deputy Commander was sitting, pulled a chair and sat next to him. From his body language, it was evident that he did not approve of my action a wee bit. All the officers of other Regiments, mostly from 8 Artillery Brigade, were busy supervising the equipment display and were all near their detachments.
The Deputy Commander now asked me as to why I was not next to the detachment supervising their actions. I told him that I had briefed everyone well about the impending task and the Havildar Major would do his job and report to me on completion of the task and my job would commence then. I had faith in my soldiers and NCOs and I was sure that they would do an excellent job. I also said that everyone is going to see the Bofors Gun, being in the news for wrong reasons then, and not many would be interested in the field guns and mortars displayed by 8 Artillery Brigade.
Adjacent to our Bofors Gun was the detachment of the 105mm Light Field Gun, from a field regiment of 8 Artillery Brigade. By 9 AM, when the field gun detachment got ready, the Subedar Major (Master Warrant Officer) of that regiment held a practice of bringing the gun into action. This entailed the detachment of five soldiers heaving the gun on to a circular metallic platform. Due to heavy downpour for the previous four days, the ground was soggy and the detachment had to heave hard to pull the gun on to the platform. While pulling the gun on to the platform, the detachment would shout in chorus “All together heave!”
At this time Havildar Major Lekh Ram reported to me that everything is ready. After seeing the entire arrangement, I summoned everyone and said a few words of appreciation for executing the assigned task well. I ordered everyone to have a tea break, change into their ceremonial uniform and to be ready by 9:45 AM as the demonstrations were to commence at 10 AM.
After ten minutes, it was the turn of the Adjutant (Captain) of the field regiment and he too ordered the detachment into action. The detachment pulled the gun on to the platform “All together heave!” Now came the Battery Commander (Major) and the same drill was repeated. With each practice, the ground beneath the platform sank in more, making it overly difficult for the detachment.
I now told the Deputy Commander sitting beside me that with so many practices, the detachment will be tired and any more practice will surely sink the ground furthermore. He gave me a frown. Next was the turn of the CO (Colonel) of that regiment and the soldiers became even more tired.
At 9:45 AM, the Brigade Commander of 8 Artillery Brigade arrived and his first question (as expected) was as to where our CO was. I said that he was busy with other important commitments and hence had deputed me for the task. The Brigade Commander wanted me to convey his displeasure to our CO for his absence, which I dutifully agreed.
The Brigade Commander now moved on to the field gun and ordered the detachment into action. It was again “All together heave!” It left the detachment in a state of exhaustion, with their ceremonial uniforms all crumbled.
At the appointed time, the Army Commander of Northern Command arrived and he headed straight to the Bofors Gun. We gave an excellent demonstration of the capabilities of the gun and briefed about the computers for ballistic calculations, Scania gun towing vehicle and other equipment. The Army Commander complimented all our soldiers for their smart turnout, actions and briefing and moved on to the field gun.
“All together heave!” the detachment commander shouted at the top of his voice, the overly tired soldiers pulled with all their might, but the gun refused to climb on the platform as the ground beneath it had sunk in.
Once the Army Commander left, all visitors made a beeline to the Bofors gun as expected and hardly anyone cared for the field guns and mortars.
“All together heave!” and similar cries during Gun Drill has a colonial linkage. It may soon be changed to Hindi cries.
Col Manu Satti bid farewell to this world to be with his creator on January 25, 2023 at his home in Kakinada due to cardiac arrest. It came as a shock to me as I have been interacting with him through my blogs on various subjects.
He was a gentleman to the core who cherished great values, but was physically one among the toughest soldiers I came across.
Colonel Manu Satti graduated from Army Cadet College (ACC) and was a course senior to us at the Indian Military Academy. He was ever smiling and quiet. He was competing in the final bout of the inter-company boxing championship. His opponent was Gentleman Cadet (GC) Hamilton from Botswana. GC Hamilton was better built than GC Satti.
There was a psychological game being played against GC Satti – both by the GCs from the Hamilton’s company and by fellow GCs from Botswana – by claiming that GC Satti will not last the first round. Many made fun of him, teased him and he replied with his charming smile. GC Satti remained cool as a cucumber but was obviously boiling inside which everyone realised after what happened on the boxing ring.
Within five seconds of the gong sounding the commencement of the first round, GC Hamilton was on the mat, writhing in pain. Luckily the medical specialist at the Military Hospital Dehradun realised the seriousness of the injury suffered by GC Hamilton. He was immediately evacuated by helicopter to Command Hospital, Lucknow, and GC Hamilton’s life was saved. GC Satti’s punch was so powerful that GC Hamilton had a rupture of his small intestine and suffered heavy internal bleeding.
Colonel Satti was commissioned to 36 (Maratha) Medium Regiment in June 1982 when the Regiment was located at Meerut. We shared a good bonhomie as we were Second Lieutenants in the same Artillery Brigade. We competed fiercely on the games field and during various technical competitions, but our friendship was everlasting.
Generally, our Regiment, 75 Medium Regiment (Basantar River) used to comfortably win basketball and other games against 36 (M) Medium Regiment. But for a change, in 1985, 36 (M) Medium convincingly defeated 75 Medium. Colonel Satti was the Team Captain and the Marathas slogged for almost three months, practising morning and evening, ultimately to win the inter-regiment championship.
Colonel Mahavir Singh, our Commanding Officer played with our team. He had developed an immense liking for Colonel Satti – could be that he saw us, the Subalterns of our Regiment enjoying the company of Colonel Satti and that he was leading and coaching most sports teams of 36 (M) Medium Regiment.
In the year 1986, Colonel Satti’s father’s leg was amputated and required an artificial limp at Artificial Limb Centre (ALC) Pune. At that time, a vacancy for an officer to attend Field Engineering (FE) Course at College of Military Engineering (CME) Pune, was allotted to our Regiment. During a Commanding Officers’ conference, Colonel Mahavir came to know about his case and our Brigade Commander wanted a change of the course allotment from 75 Medium to 36 Medium.
Colonel Mahavir readily agreed once he came to know that it was Colonel Satti’s father. Such type of Commanding Officers is rare to be found. I was the nominated officer for the course and I was very happy that I could help Colonel Satti at a crucial time.
Now, Colonel Satti must be smiling at us from the heavens. Rest In Peace Buddy. We will cherish the memories and live on.
By Veteran Colonel Josey Joseph(Army Service Corps)
One Monday morning of 1995, all hell broke loose at the Northern Command HQ during the Army Commander’s morning prayer. Many Major Generals thundered that a Major had hijacked the Transit Camp Bus, leaving behind their PAs and Clerks. “How can the officer leave the soldiers behind. The officer got to be fixed. It should be a lesson for all,” opined various two starred Generals.
What lead to all these upheavals?
The young officers of Udhampur station were always critical of the Officers’ Transit Camp Bus plying between Udhampur and Jammu. Their grudge was that the senior officers, Colonels and above, travelled to Jammu on leave in Jeep, leaving the lesser mortals to travel by the Army Bus starting from the Officers’ Transit camp.
This bus was preferred by the sizeable number of clerical staff and sahayaks (helpers) of Command HQ. Every Saturday, they travelled by this bus to Jammu, spent the weekend with their families and returned Monday morning.
On Saturdays, by the time the officers reached the transit camp, all seats were occupied by these VIPs and it was a herculean task to remove them. The VIPs were stuck to their seats with bond stronger than that of Fevicol. If an officer requested for a seat, these VIPs turned their head in the opposite direction. Fevicol was not allowing them to get up and their ego of being the personal staff of Generals did not permit them to move. The bus driver and conductor remained helpless and the transit camp NCO responsible for allotment of seats tactically vanished from the scene. No one wanted to annoy the VIPs, typically following the famous Malayalam saying, You must be equally scared of the elephant shit as much as the real elephant.
On social occasions, after a few drinks, young officers of Udhampur did vent their ire on Army Service Corps (ASC) Officers and after few more drinks cursed the ASC as the bus was from one of the ASC battalions in Udhampur. It made no difference to them if the officer was from the Animal Transport Battalion. They said “Yes, AT and MT are same. Both are transport only.” Now, who would argue that Animal Transport had mules and that the technology was ages behind Motor Transport?
On that fateful Saturday, this Major reached the transit camp to travel to Jammu to see off his four-year-old daughter who had joined him for a week during Dussehra holidays. His wife, staying in SF accommodation in Delhi, had boarded her at the Delhi airport as an unaccompanied minor.
As the Major got into the bus, he found all seats occupied by the VIPs. His request to provide him a seat fell on deaf ears and the bus driver pleaded helplessness. Officers senior to him, seated in the bus did not take any action. The Major took a command decision and ordered all the JCOs/OR to get down. Reluctantly and expecting this to be some sort of prank, one by one, they came down from the bus. Finally, with the last VIP disembarked, the Major ordered the driver to start the bus and leave for Jammu. So, the officer, his daughter and another five officers left for Jammu in a bus with a seating capacity of 42 passengers.
The VIPs had been wronged! They vowed to fight together and avenge insult to their status!
“Mera 25 saal naukri mein aisa kabhi nahin hua,” (In my 25 years of service, it never happened like this,) declared the PA of Brig A. The rest nodded in agreement. “Iska kuch karna hoga,” (We got to do something about it,) and the rest again agreed. They then boarded a Shakthiman truck from the JCOs/OR transit camp, fuming at the insult to their status.
Bad news spreads fast but gossip spreads faster. My Company Second-in-Command (2IC,) receiver, and broadcaster of all gossip in Udhampur, came to me with the news that a Major had hijacked the Officer’s Bus and was moving to Jammu with the bus.
I laughed. The 2IC lost his senses. He stared at me as if I was also a hijacker. In between laughter, I assured him that the Major will come out of it. He still could not understand. He said, “Do you know, PA of Brig A had to travel in a Shakthiman truck?” I was soon identified as course-mate of the hijacker.
On that Monday, I was summoned by the DDST to enquire about the Major. With a straight face, I answered all his queries and found him to be appreciative of the Major. The Generals and Brigadiers wanted to order a Court of Inquiry and fix the officer. The Major requested for the same under Army Rule 180, wherein the person against whom allegations have been made has to be present and ask questions to the witnesses.
Since there were many loose ends and it was revealed that many of the Command HQ staff did not have official leave approval; the case was left to die a natural death.
The happiest were the ASC officers as we did not have to listen to complaints on social occasions. The ASC Branch was happy that someone had the guts to take such an action. Orders were passed that the Officers’ Transit Camp Bus was meant only for Officers and all the VIP JCOs and NCOs were barred from travelling in it, giving some relief and respect to young officers.
Two weeks later, the hijacker proceeded on Technical Staff Course at AIT, Pune and the case was finally closed.
You must be itching to know who the officer was?
None other than Reji Koduvath nick named ‘Kaduva’ (Meaning Tiger in Malayalam,) a veteran of several such battles. As a Lieutenant, while serving in Delhi, he had thrashed a Superintendent of Police and sorted out many senior Police officials.
Historically armies practised drill to prepare soldiers for battle. Drill enabled commanders to quickly move their forces from one point to another, mass their forces into a battle formation that afforded concentration of both human effort and firepower and maneuver the forces as the situation developed – akin to our school morning assembly.
The first lesson of Drill or Foot Drill for most of us was the school morning assembly. We trooped into the Assembly Hall/ Ground, wearing our school uniform, from our classrooms in single file, mostly led by our class teacher. The files then assembled, aligning in a straight line from the front and to our sides. We stood at ‘Attention’ for the prayer and the national anthem and for the rest of the assembly was in ‘Stand at Ease’ position.
The drill was employed to train soldiers over and over until a task became second nature and everyone knew how the whole formation moved at any given time. It was in fact Drilled into every soldier that they reacted to commands than thought. The Greeks and Romans had the phalanx involving the soldiers standing side by side in ranks. Just before contact with the enemy, the soldiers moved in very close together so that each man’s shield helped to protect the man on his left. In the beginning, drill gave the soldiers the ability to lock their shields together and form a moving wall of swords and spears. Today, this drill is employed by police across the globe for riot control by locking their shields.
Mahabharata describes Chakravyuh (nodal point defence), Kamalvyuh (lotus array formation), Ardh-Chandravyuh (half-moon array formation) and Shakaatvyuh (T shape formation with a Chakra on it.) Vyuh is a geometrical shape formed for battle with battle drills by maneuvering foot-soldiers, horses, chariots, and elephants. To beat any formation, it was by Makarvyuh (assaulting human waves) which the Indian Army employed during Kargil War. The origin of chess is attributed to these arrays so that the new maneuvers and formations could be war-gamed to surround the enemies.
The hallmarks of military drill are efficiency, precision, and dignity. These qualities are developed through self-discipline and practice. They lead to unit pride and cohesion. Military troops which display constant competence in drill are considered highly trained, well-disciplined, and professional. Drill develops individual pride, mental alertness, precision, and esprit-de-corps which will assist the soldiers to always carry out orders instinctively. Good drill, well-rehearsed, closely supervised, and precise, is an exercise in obedience and alertness. It builds a sense of confidence between commanders and subordinates that is essential to high morale.
The personal qualities developed on the parade ground must be maintained in all aspects of military life. Commanders must insist on the same high standards both on and off parade, to instill these qualities strongly enough to endure the strain of military duty in peace or war. The systematic correction of minor errors strengthens these characteristics and improves both individual and unit standards.
Goose Stepping, throwing their legs as high as they could while marching was a form of extreme marching held by German, Prussian, and Russian militaries to be an ultimate display of the unbreakable will and discipline of its soldiers. While marching, they do not dig their heels hard. Most modern armies have done away with this ‘fascist’ approach to marching as being too extreme. Only a few countries use it as a powerful display of military discipline.
Today, foot drill is a fundamental activity of the military and is practised regularly during initial military training. Foot drill involves marching with an exaggerated heel strike, and regimented manoeuvres performed while marching and standing characterised by an exaggerated stamping of one foot into the ground.
High levels of bone strain caused by such exaggerated drills results in stress fracture. It may also cause micro-damage to bones. Digging down of heels, especially with the foot raised over the head may cause severe strain to the neck and spine and brain damage. These soldiers may also end up with joint pains, migraines, and headaches.
A recent post on the social media that the large number of stress fracture of the hips among Lady Cadets in OTA was attributed was the difference in bone structure of women and the fact that the female hips are not meant to take the same stress as males because they have widened pelvis to enable childbearing. This made me research into the subject of stress fracture during military training.
Stress fractures represent one of the most common and potentially serious overuse injuries, especially among recruits and Officer Cadets the world over. Repetitive weight-bearing activities such as running and marching are the most frequently reported causes of stress fracture. Stress fractures have been reported in most bones of the limbs, as well as the ribs and the spine, but the most common location is the lower limb.
Military foot drill generates higher forces, loading rates and accelerations on the human body and especially the lower limbs compared to running and load carriage. This large biomechanical loading of foot drill may contribute to the high rate of stress fracture during initial military training. Lower limb injury rates, in particular stress fractures, are reportedly higher for running in women compared with men. [i]
A US Army study found that 14% of women suffered stress fractures[ii] compared to 2.3% of men. Women have an anatomical disadvantage that increase their risk of developing stress fractures. Women have wider pelvic breadths, which negatively alter loading strains. A wider pelvis alters the angular tilt on the hips and knees, increasing the stress on these bones and on those of the lower leg and foot. This anatomical difference may explain the greater distribution of stress fractures in the pelvis and hip observed in female recruits.[iii]
In female Army cadets, women who had fewer than 10 menstrual cycles in the year preceding training had significantly lower spine and hip Bone Mineral Density (BMD) than women with at least 10 cycles. In studies of elite Australian female athletes, those who suffered from stress fractures had significantly fewer menstrual cycles/year. Thus, female bones may be more sensitive to severe energy deficiencies that cause depressed estrogen levels and altered bone remodeling.[iv]
3,025 US Marine recruits were studied for 12 weeks of training at Parris Island, South Carolina. Polymer and standard mesh insoles were systematically distributed in boots that were issued to members of odd and even numbered platoons. The most important finding was that an elastic polymer insole with good shock absorbency properties did not prevent stress reactions of bone during a 12-week period of vigorous physical training.[v]
Another study that examined 1,299,332 US Soldiers found that female soldiers had a 3.6-fold higher incidence of stress fracture than male soldiers. They examined age, sex, Body Mass Index (BMI,) and race-origin of stress fracture cases. In both sexes, non-Hispanic white men and women had the highest risk of stress fracture, with a 59% and 92% higher risk respectively, than non-Hispanic blacks. The second highest risk group was Hispanics, with Hispanic men and women having a 19% and 65% greater risk respectively, than non-Hispanic black men and women. Among Native Americans /Native Alaskans and Asians, only women showed increased stress fracture risk compared with their non-Hispanic black counterparts. Asian women had 32%, higher risk of stress fracture than non-Hispanic black women.[vi]
Notwithstanding women joining the Indian Army, it is time to revisit the training norms – both for drill and Physical Training (PT.)
That brings me to the Gun Drill of the Regiment of Artillery where the detachments are trained to bring the gun into/ out of action and engagement of targets, as if in a war situation. Here too, over a period, exaggerated movements did creep in, causing skeletal damage to soldiers.
[i] Force and acceleration characteristics of military foot drill: implications for injury risk in recruits : Patrick P J Carden, Rachel M Izard, Julie P Greeves, Jason P Lake, Stephen D Myers
[ii] The impact of lifestyle factors on stress-fractures in female Army recruits: Lappe JM , Stegman MR , Recker RR :.
[iii] Females Have a Greater Incidence of Stress Fractures Than Males in Both Military and Athletic Populations: A Systemic Review Laurel Wentz , MS, RD ; Pei-Yang Liu , PhD, RD ; Emily Haymes , PhD ; Jasminka Z. Ilich , PhD, RD
[iv] Bone density of elite female athletes with stress-fractures : Carbon R , Sambrook PN , Deakin V , et al :. Med J Aust 1990..
[v] Prevention of lower extremity stress fractures: a controlled trial of a shock absorbent insole. L I Gardner, Jr, J E Dziados, B H Jones, J F Brundage, J M Harris, R Sullivan, and P Gill
[vi] Risk of Stress Fracture Varies by Race/Ethnic Origin in a Cohort Study of 1.3 Million US Army Soldiers. Lakmini Bulathsinhala, Julie M Hughes, Craig J McKinnon, Joseph R Kardouni, Katelyn I Guerriere, Kristin L Popp, Ronald W Matheny Jr, Mary L Bouxsein
I was commissioned into 75 Medium Regiment (Basantar River,) a great unit which participated in 1971 war with elan and earned laurels. The Regiment had a unique combination of soldiers, Brahmin, Jat and South Indian Class. Being a Medium Regiment, the unit had all tall and well-built gunners. The unit won most of the sports trophies and excelled in all training competitions. The unit had moved from J & K to Gurgaon. Due to its proximity to New Delhi, unit was posted with full complement of officers. During those days it was an honour and privilege to be the Adjutant of the Regiment.
Adjutant of the Artillery unit is responsible for administration and assist the Commanding Officer in administration, training and discipline. In the battle and training, the Adjutant’s duty is to control and coordinate fire of 18 guns of the Regiment.
I was lucky to have all three officer GPOs (Gun Position Officers) responsible to control fire of each battery and ready to assist me in all regimental duties. The first one was Captain Paramjit Singh Ralhan, a handsome sardar who graduated from IMA as Direct Entry. He had decent manners and a smiling face. Second was Lieutenant Koduvath Reji, Sainik School and NDA brat, who was enthusiastic and bubbling with energy, sometimes exceeded limit of his enthusiasm. The third one was Lieutenant Gulshan Rai Kausik, matured service entry officer with boxer built and red eyes. His looks were sufficient to make any soldier to behave. All three were josh machines and when ordered can produce anything.
Ralhan was of a great help to control discipline of Brahmin battery and to organize any event in the unit or officer’s mess. Ralhan with his diligence and demure resolved any kind of situation or indiscipline with his cool mind and report “Sir, no problem, matter is resolved.” I remember one incident, where the problem was created by a rogue soldier. Ralhan handled the situation exceedingly well and disciplinary action was taken against the defaulter.
Reji used to follow the dictum that as youngster commit any mistake but keep Adjutant informed. Therefore, it was quite often that I used to jump from the chair when he used to come and inform “Sir, chhotasa galati ho gaya.(Sir,I Committed a small mistake.)” The so-called small mistake used to be slapping Superintendent of Police or bashing up BSF Dy Commandant. It wasn’t for the wrong reasons, but we had to sort out the issues.
On 31 Oct 1984, Regiment’s column was ordered to move and take responsibility of security of Teen Murty Bhawan, where mortal remains of our late Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi were kept. Regiment was also responsible for controlling VIP visitors, who came there to pay homage to late Prime Minister. Reji, stopped Inspector General of Delhi Police, who along with family was sneaking through VIP gate. This resulted into arguments with the Police Officer asking, “What are you doing here and who are you to stop me?” Reji told that officer, “Had police been working properly, Army would not have come to control this.” This was being heard and observed by Minister-in-Charge there Mr Shivraj Patil and he appreciated Reji for his dedication to duty and rebuked Police Officer. Later, the Regiment received an appreciation letter and cash prize from the Minister.
Kaushik, with his presence of mind could handle any situation. Once the Regiment was playing final match of Kabaddi with Rocket Regiment, the hosts. They had arranged referees who were biased and obvious that they were helping Rocket Regiment. Our soldiers could not tolerate that injustice and warned referees. But referees again gave a wrong decision in favour of Rocket Regiment and our soldiers could no longer bear this injustice. They entered ground and caught hold of one of the referees. This resulted into commotion and big fight broke out between the soldiers of both Regiments. Adjutant of Rocket Regiment and I intervened to control the situation but we too faced the wrath of fighting soldiers. Lieutenant Kaushik fearlessly entered mob and with his commanding voice ordered Savdhan. To everyone’s surprise, we found all soldiers stood to attention. Then he ordered “Rocket Regiment dahine mood and Medium Regiment baye mood; tej chal.(Rocker Regiment Right Turn and Medium Regiment Left Turn; Quick March.)” Soldiers followed the orders and moved out of the field. The worst was averted.
All three officers were real assets in our Regimental life and during the training too. During firing of those monster 130 mm guns, I had to be careful and watchful as in Artillery they say that, once ordered and fired round/rounds of gun/guns cannot be corrected and result is depicted on the target. As an Adjutant, whenever all guns were ordered to fire together, I had to control my GPOs to ensure all guns fired accurately and in unison. As soon as I used to pass order for firing and report ready. Reji, who was most chatak(quick,) reacted and made his guns ready and report, thereafter, would not stop to point out mistakes of others if any. Ralhan, who was as cool as penguin checked, rechecked and took his time. To keep an atmosphere warm in his command post, I used to pass on heat online of fire control net. Kaushik, with good sense of hearing and watchful eyes used to take time and get ready. The end result was accurate and coordinated fire.
There is lot to write about them. I can never forget their contribution to maintain josh, discipline, and winning competitions. All three are now well settled – Ralhan in USA, Reji in Canada, and Kaushik in South Delhi. I wish them very best for their endeavours.
Can you ever imagine that the survey of the Trans-Himalayan Region was done mostly on foot? That a human being walked all the way through the Himalayas, while counting each step he took to calculate the distances between places.
Reading a 36-page document by Dr Kapil Raj, When Human Travellers Become Instruments: The Indo-British Exploration of Central Asia in the Nineteenth Century, I was fascinated by the ability of the human body and mind to find methods to overcome any difficult situation.
British India in the aftermath of the 1857 mutiny went into mapping and stabilising its surrounding territories. The British needed to bring the Trans-Himalayan region into the ambit of British trade, followed by military intervention. The first step was to map the area of the Kashmir Kingdom, some surrounding areas under the Chinese Empire and some areas in Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan.
Captain Thomas George Montgomerie of the Royal Engineers was entrusted with the task of mapping Kashmir. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1849, arrived in India in 1851, and joined the Great Trigonometrical Survey. The Great Trigonometrical Survey was a project which aimed to survey the entire Indian subcontinent which was begun in 1802 by William Lambton. Under his successor, George Everest, the project was made the responsibility of the Survey of India.
After the survey of Kashmir, Montgomerie had to survey and map Tibet, an autonomous region. Tibetans were very suspicious of the Europeans. Thus, he had to enroll the services of locals who could travel as part of trade caravans to Tibet. Even if he found locals for the task, how could they be trained to use conventional surveying techniques and instruments?
Captain Montgomerie trained the natives, drilled them night and day for weeks, to take a stride of exactly 31.5 inches whatever the terrain or incline. At 63360 inches to a mile, every 2,000 such paces marked a mile.
As his first ‘human instrument’, Montgomerie nominated Mahomed-i-Hameed, aka Moonshee who reached Leh on 4 July 1863 after meticulously mapping his route from Kashmir. On 24 August Hameed, disguised as a merchant and accompanied by two servants and a pony-load of merchandise, joined a caravan heading for Yarkand, a major oasis city on the trade route between China, India, and Central Asia.
The party arrived at Yarkand on 30 September. Hameed had precisely traced the entire route, carefully noting all that he had observed, especially the vegetation and human dwellings. He drew a map of the city and the region and transcribed the history of the region as narrated by locals.
On 27 March 1864 the party commenced their return journey to Leh, but Hameed died en route, after eating poisonous rhubarb, according to his companions. Montgomerie’s assistant, William Johnson, was the first to reach the scene of the tragedy. Hameed’s entourage had meanwhile made off with his most saleable belongings. Fortunately, no one had touched his notes. Armed with Hameed’s notes, Montgomerie sailed for England on 20 February 1865 after thirteen years in India. Using this leisure, he drew a map of the route between Leh and Yarkand.
This new mission was entrusted to two Kumaoni Bhotiya cousins, schoolteacher Nain Singh, and Mani Singh, the patwari, the village record-keeper. They had already taken part in topographical surveys and were familiar with geodesic and astronomical instruments and could handle any hurdles in crossing the frontier from Kumaon.
Disguised as Lamas, they carried a prayer wheel and a rosary, perfectly normal adjuncts for the pilgrimage to the holy city of Lhasa. The prayer wheel concealed a small compass, and other miniature survey instruments. Rudraksh Rosary helped count paces, one bead for every hundred paces. The Buddhist rosary has 108 coral beads; those of the cousins only had a hundred, every tenth bead being much larger than the others. A complete round of the Rosary represented exactly 10,000 paces or five miles.
After months of rigorous drilling in the use of the sextant, compass and other survey instruments and techniques, Nain Singh and Mani Singh left for Tibet in March 1864 and returned to DehraDun on 27 October 1866. They were turned back at the Tibeto-Kumaoni border, so they tried to enter Tibet through Nepal, all the while charting the route they followed. Despite the advantage of their origin, they had to adopt different guises and resort to devious ploys for entering Tibet: passing off as merchants with the survey instruments cleverly hidden in their wares, or even as healers curing people of minor ailments!
During a two-and-a-half-year expedition, Nain Singh walked 1,200 miles at a steadily maintained pace. He counted 2.5 million paces on his rosary! He not only succeeded in pinpointing the location of Lhasa, but also measuring the distance between several important Tibetan cities, thirty-one stations in all. He also mapped the 700-mile upper-course of the Tsangpo River from its source to Lhasa and reported that Tsangpo and the Brahmaputra were the same river.
Nain Singh also gave a detailed account of Tibet’s general climatic conditions, demographics, its cities and monasteries, army, agricultural production, economy, the state of its roads, transportation, communications, and most importantly, Tibet’s trade with China and Kashmir. . The Royal Geographical Society awarded Nain Singh a gold watch in 1868 and the Victoria gold medal in 1875.
Kishen Singh, alias AK, a cousin of Nain Singh, travelled across the Tibetan plains and the Kunlun Mountains between 1878 and 1882. In Lhasa, AK was delayed for over a year waiting for his caravan to leave. He was robbed twice, and even imprisoned by the Mongolians! He was freed by a Tibetan merchant who forced him. to ride a horse, which prevented him from counting his strides. Undeterred and innovative, he got round the problem by measuring the length of the horse’s pace and counting each time the right foreleg hit the ground. When he returned to British India in 1882, he had travelled 2,800 miles and counted an incredible 5.5 million paces!
This confidence in natives to record and narrate facts so vital for the survival of the British Empire is especially surprising when one remembers that geography in the nineteenth century consisted not only in taking topographical readings but also in collecting cultural, ethnolographic, political, and commercial information.
Though the survey instruments used then have long become museum pieces, these measurements are accurate and still the basis on which the maps are made in times of GoogleEarth, GPS, and satellite,
Back-to-School period usually starts and ends in August before the school year starts in Canada, United States, and Europe. In Australia and New Zealand – being in the Southern Hemisphere, this occurs in February, after their summer break.
In merchandising, Back-to-School is the period in which students and their parents purchase school supplies and clothes for the coming school year. At many Canadian Malls, Back-to-School sales are held for school supplies, children and young adults’ clothing, office supplies, back-packs, laptop computers and so on.
Labour Day, which falls on the first Monday of September, a holiday in Canada and the US, marks the end of Back-to-School shopping. Labour Day also marks the unofficial end of summer, though Fall (Autumn) begins only on September 22 – Fall Equinox. The day after Labour Day – first Tuesday of September – marks the beginning of a new school year.
Back-to-School shopping tradition caught on in North America as women flocked to colleges and universities in the early twentieth century. These young women were trend setters for new fashions. Many clothing stores started special lines to cater to college going women. Every September, college these women shopped for their clothing needs and the stores obliged by setting up discounted sales.
Every student is excited about the new academic year they are entering. The first day of school is one of the most important day in the academic year as they show off their latest clothing and discussing as to what about their escapades during the summer holidays. Gossips too are as important.
There is an inherent discomfort at the bottom of the stomach of each student on the first day at school. About 2.5% of school children suffer from acute fear of going to school and this fear is called Didaskaleinophobia– derived from Greek Didasko meaning to teach and Phobos meaning fear. Equivalent Latin term is Scholionophobia.
Am I competing with Mr Tharoor??No way!!!
It is a North American tradition to gift an apple to the teacher by the students on the first day of school when school opened in September as it coincided with the ripening of apples in North America. This tradition of gifting apples to teachers dates to the 16th century when parents in Denmark and Sweden often gifted teachers with baskets of apples and other food to help compensate for their low wages. Tradition of bringing apples to teachers carried on even after schools were modernised.
In the 1920s, apple polishing was used as a slang for trying to curry favour to the teacher. Bing Crosby and Connie Boswell sang in 1939:-
“An apple for the teacher that seems the thing to do because I want to learn about romance from you.
An apple for the teacher to show I’m meek and mild If you insist on saying that I’m just a problem child.
An apple for the teacher will always do the trick when you don’t know your lesson in arithmetic.
We have other words that mean the same thing. We also call this type of person a kiss-up, toady or boot-licker. Another popular one is teacher’s pet.
It is an apple-polisher’s dream to become the teacher’s pet – much to the anger of fellow classmates.”
Nothing much has changed to this day. We were all mortally scared on our first day of school. Our stomachs were churning. We all went through it and so did our children. Now it is the turn of our grandchildren.
The only change is that today Apple denotes not the fruit for the young generations.
On assuming command of our Regiment in June 2002, I gifted an umbrella to all school going children of our Regiment when the schools opened. Please Click Here to read about it. At that time, I was unaware of the Back-to-School traditions.
In 2003, I ordered our Religious Teacher [Regimental Chaplin- a Hindu Pundit] to prepare a packet for each school going children of the Regiment with necessary school supplies and gift the same to the children. Our Religious Teacher was a bit reluctant initially, having never heard of such a practice during his two decades of military service. On completion of the assigned task, he reported, “Sir, this is the apt method to spend the Mandir Fund. It will inspire all our children to put in their best at school.”
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela
Those were the days when Selections ruled the roost at School of Artillery Devlali. It was skimming at the highest level of the Regiment of Artillery.
When we passed out of Indian Military Academy in 1982, we were forced to return our Blue Patrols for mere Rs 100 – all because the Artillery version had a red stripe on the trousers’ side which was half an inch thicker than what was provided by Kapoor & Co at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. While officers commissioned to all other arms/ services retained their Blue Patrols, we the Gunners had to return them to Kapoor & Co.
On joining Young Officers Course at School of Artillery, Devlali, every student officer had to get a new pair of Blue Patrol and winter ceremonial uniform or Service Dress (SD) stitched – costing over a thousand rupees those days – only from Selections. The reasons – obvious. A Second Lieutenant’s pay was much less than a thousand rupees a month then. Free rations was not entitled then and monthly mess bill ate into over half a month’s salary.
Service Dress is the style of khaki serge dress uniform introduced by the British Army for use in the field from the early 1902, following the experiences of a number of imperial wars and conflicts, including the Second Boer War. The uniform was originally issued as a field uniform, later designated as SD. Variant of this uniform continues to be worn today, although only in a formal role, as No. 2 Pattern dress by the British and the Commonwealth Armies. Indian Army too continued with a similar winter SD for the officers until 1990s. Today the Indian Army officers wear a similar uniform designated as Dress No. 5SD.
No. 1 Dress , sometimes referred to as ‘blues’ or ‘blue patrol,’ is a universal ceremonial uniform which is almost consistent throughout the Commonwealth Armies. For most regiments and corps, this No. 1 dress consists of dark blue tunic and trousers. Different units are distinguished by the colouring of the cap, piping on the tunic and of the welts or stripes on the trousers, as well as badges and in certain Cavalry Regiments by the colour of the collar.
Indian Army Blue Patrol consists of a ‘bandgala’ tunic and a trouser. The shoulder pips are embroidered along with ranks on the coat except for Armoured Corps officers who wear a chain mail along with their ranks on the shoulders.
Veteran Colonel SP Mudholkar. He now leads a retired life at Pune
It was not until 1981 when Second Lieutenant SP Mudholkar issued a show-cause notice and raised the issue with the School of Artillery against the order of getting the SD and Blue Patrl stitched only from Selections, inclusion of a private firm in the Offices’ Mess Bills for recovery . In those days, Mess Bills of various messes at School of Artillery had a serial dedicated to Selections. You can well imagine as to the patronage Selections enjoyed from the highest levels of the Regiment of Artillery – mostly occupied by officers belonging to the Khlan.
By the time we went to Devlali to attend our Young Officers’ Course in 1983, Blue Patrol and SD procurement was done away with – thanks to Second Lieutenant SP Mudholkar – else I too would have succumbed to the pressure from the Chief/ Senior Instructor. In those good-old days, any Young Officer refusing to procure their SD and Blue Patrol were marched up to the Chief/ Senior Instructor until they relented. Another tactic was to blackmail the Young Officer with a poor grading, though most ended up with a C grading. The Great Good-Old Days!!! Who wants to begin their military career on the wrong foot?
Selections appeared on the Mess Bills during our course- luckily for us it remained at zero value.
Three years later, Lieutenant General Sood, Commandant, School of Artillery, was appointed the Director General of Artillery – and away went Selections. The ‘baby‘ of the erstwhile higher-ups of Regiment of Artillery was thrown out with the tub, water, soap, and loofah to land in Devlali market.
Mortal remains of Lance Naik Chandra Shekhar of 19 Kumaon Regiment, who died in Siachen in May 1984 was found in an old bunker on August 13, 2022.
He was part of a team that was tasked to capture Point 5965 in the glacier. This was one of the earliest actions by the Indian Army as part of Operation Meghdoot to occupy Siachen Glacier. The team, while halting for the night, was caught in an avalanche in which 18 soldiers led by Second Lieutenant PS Pundir, were killed. Chandra Shekhar’s body was discovered on August 13 at an elevation of over 16,000 feet. It was identified with the help of a disc with the army number found on the skeletal remains.
This incident goes to prove the necessity and functionality of the Disc Identity used by soldiers world over.
The Identity Discs bear the personal number, name, regiment, religion and blood group of the soldier and serve the twin purpose as both a recorded evidence of a soldier’s death in action as well as for the eventual recognition of the body, in case there is a need. When there are a large number of fatal casualties over a short duration, it serves a purpose of keeping a record of death.
On a philosophical note, the Discs remind every soldier that martyrdom is just around the corner. However, at the practical level, it has a specific purpose.
It must be sounding a bit eerie to the uninitiated.
These discs hanging close to the soldiers’ chests, remind them as to who they are. It gives the soldier facing death, ready to make the ultimate sacrifice, the confidence that He will not be forgotten. Some spouses of US soldiers deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq wore their soldier-spouse’s discs as a reminder of their true love and commitment.
In the Indian Army we had to wear these Identity Discs while on operations and during various training exercises. Actually, there are two discs – an oval disc with holes punched on either end and a round one with a single hole. Our soldiers wore the oval disc on their left wrist and the round one around their neck. On inquiry they said that it is to ensure that one disc will remain with the body even if the hand shears off. The logic did not appeal to me at all, but I could not find any instructions regarding the proper way of wearing the discs. Surely we were not fighting a battle with swords to have either our heads or hands to shear off. I had no difficulty wearing the round disc around my neck, but the oval disc around my wrist was always a worry. I lost them during most training exercises and had to get a new one made every time. Obviously there was something amiss – I thought.
When we joined the Regiment, the Armourer had a punching set for punching the blank Identity Disc issued to soldiers with their particulars. Of late, the soldiers got them engraved by the unit contractor who used the engraving tool he used to engrave steel vessels.
In 1988, I had to appear for a promotion examination in which ‘Military Administration’ was a subject. Disposal of the mortal remains of a soldier killed in action was an issue on which I often had many questions. Our Battery Commander was Major VN Singh, a 1971 Indo-Pak War veteran. He was well known for his knowledge and meticulous military administration skills and had just been posted to our Regiment after a stint as an administration and logistics staff officer of an infantry brigade. I approached him and he clarified the mystery and explained to me the procedure and the proper way of wearing Identity Discs.
The oval disc, through one hole a cord 24 inches long is passed through and the chain is worn around the neck. Using a small cord of about six inches, the round disc is attached to the bottom hole of the oval disc. In case of death in war, the round disc is removed to identify the dead and the oval disc is left on the body for identifying it whenever the body is recovered. The round disc along with the soldier’s personal belongings is despatched to the Depot Regiment of the Regimental Centre of the soldier and the oval disc is removed at the time of cremation/ burial or despatch of the dead body to the soldier’s home and kept for records.
Identity Discs of the Indian Army owe its origin to the British Army. The first British ‘Disc Identity’ was introduced in 1907. It was a single identity disc, fitted with a cord to be worn around the neck underneath the clothing. The single-disc led to many postmortem problems in identification of the dead in that the disc was being removed for administrative purposes, leaving the body devoid of identification.
In May 1916 the second disc was introduced – octagonal in shape – known as “Disc, Identity, No.1, Green,” with the original disc becoming “Disc, Identity, No.2, Red.” The No.1 disc was to be attached to the long cord around the neck, with the No.2 being threaded on a 6 inch cord from this disc. No.1 Disc was intended to remain on the body whereas No.2 Disc was to be removed for administration.
US Army Identity Discs consist of two discs. One disc is on a 24 inch chain and the other is attached to the main chain by a four inch chain.
There is an interesting history to the US Army Discs. During WWII the discs were rectangular shaped with round ends and a notch at one end with name and details stamped by a machine. It was rumoured that the notch was put on the disc so that the disc could be placed in a dead soldier’s mouth and would hold it open so that the gasses would escape and prevent the body from bloating. In reality, the stamping machine required a notch to hold the blank disc in place while it was stamped. During the Vietnam War, new stamping machines were used and the notch was eliminated. Soldiers realised that the clinging of the metal discs gave away their location. Hence rubber covers were provided to keep the discs silent.
During the Vietnam War, some American soldiers tied one disc to their bootlaces. They believed that it could facilitate identification in case their body was dismembered.
Canadian soldiers’ Identity Disc is scored by a horizontal groove so that the lower portion may be detached. If the wearer becomes a fatal casualty, the lower portion of the disc shall be detached and returned to the Headquarters with the soldier’s personal documents. The chain and upper section of the disc shall not be removed from the body.
In the case of Lance Naik Chandra Sekhar, the Identity Disc helped identify his skeletal remains. In future, Identity Discs may become more symbolic as technology advances in the days of DNA sampling to identify deceased soldiers.
In Canada and USA, some military spouses and fiancés wear their partner’s Identity Discs as a symbol of love towards their partner deployed in a far away land. Some Veterans post retirement continue to wear their Discs.
Having had a look at the Identity Discs worn by soldiers, isn’t it high time, Indian Army designed a meaningful Identity Disc worthy of being worn by the soldiers with pride – and even their spouses?
An object that fascinated me while in military service was the Jerrycan. This 20 Litre can was used for storage of fuel and lubricants and at times for water. As a young officer in 1984, it was the time of Operation Meghdoot when India gained dominance in Siachen Glacier, the world’s highest battlefield. In the glacier, kerosene is the lifeline and was delivered in jerrycans by helicopters to various posts. The cost of each jerrycan with its precious contents can well be calculated with each helicopter sortie ferrying about 10 jerrycans. It must be the costliest fuel in the world!!
Jerrycans get their name from the Germans who invented them. The original steel fuel cans (Wehrmacht-Einheitskanister, in German for Armed Forces Unit Canister) were a huge improvement over the square cans used by Allied Forces. These jerrycans were easier to carry, easier to pour and more durable.
The term ‘Jerry,’ is a slang term for Germans used by Allied forces. In preparation for the war, the Germans had thousands of jerrycans in stock and they effectively used them during the war. In 1942 the British Army in North Africa captured some of these cans from the Germans. These cans were sent to England, where they were soon reverse-engineered and put into production.
In preparation for the war, Hitler came up with a novel idea of holding a design competition for the slickest can for carriage of fuel and water. Hitler realised the need to keep his men and machines effectively lubricated and hydrated. He also knew how critical a smoother, more efficient way to move fuel and water would be to win the war.
Vinzenz Grünvogel, chief engineer with the firm Müller of Schwelm, is credited with devising the winning can. This simple looking can has more to the design than meets the eye. Developed under the utmost secrecy, the jerrycan featured flat sides that were rectangular in shape and was made in two halves that were welded together like an automobile fuel tank.
It had three handles, which allowed it to be easily passed from one man to another. The handles were designed in a way of enabling four empty cans to be carried by one person using the outside handles, or two full cans using the middle handle.
An air chamber at the top ensured buoyancy and a short spout which was secured by a snap cover and could be popped open for pouring, eliminating the need for a funnel. A gasket made the mouth leak-proof. An air-breathing tube from the spout to the air space facilitated easy and smooth pouring.
The design ensured that it was easy to make, easy to handle, easy to stack, easy to transport, durable, and efficient. 20 liters capacity made it easy to calculate bulk amounts.
The two flat sides of the can were stamped with a large X shape, providing better strength and ability to weather changing temperatures, along with the gas volume fluctuations that came with them. It facilitated up to five jerrycans to be stacked in a row.
The Allied forces used containers nicknamed flimsies. It was made of light-gauge sheet metal pieces poorly welded together. They were a hassle to carry and ruptured quite easily. The flimsies required a wrench to open, a spout to pour and a funnel to receive the liquid.
There is an Indian connection to the jerrycans landing in Washington. Paul Pleiss, an American engineer who worked in Berlin, persuaded his German colleague to join him on a vacation trip overland to India by car. As they prepared to leave on their journey, they realised that they had no provision for emergency water. The German engineer took three jerrycans stored at Tempelhof Airport and mounted them on the underside of the car.
When the two were halfway across to India, Field Marshal Goering sent a plane to take the German engineer back home. Before departing, the engineer gave Pleiss complete specifications for the jerrycan’s manufacture. Pleiss continued alone to Calcutta where he put the car in storage and returned to Philadelphia.
Back in the US, Pleiss told military officials about the container, but without a sample can, he could stir no interest. The risk involved in having the cans removed from the car and shipped from Calcutta seemed too great, so he eventually had the complete vehicle shipped. It arrived in New York in the summer of 1940 with the three jerrycans intact. Pleiss immediately sent one of the cans to Washington. The War Department looked at it but unwisely decided that an updated version of their container would be good enough.
As the Americans did not listen to Pleiss, the British showed keen interest as they were scavenging all the jerrycans they could. Pleiss got the second of his three jerrycans flown to London. The British immediately reverse engineered the jerrycan and commenced production on a war footing.
Meanwhile, the US was using flimsies with slight modifications to the previous versions, but they still leaked and exploded and required a wrench to open and a funnel to pour.
It was reported that 40 percent of fuel was lost in transport because of the cans. It raised an alarm and the flimsies were scrapped as the US conceded production to Britain, which by 1944 had set up many factories manufacturing jerrycans out in the tens of millions.
In 1944, President Roosevelt stated that “without these cans it would have been impossible for our armies to cut their way across France at a lightning pace, which exceeded the German Blitz of 1940.”
For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, the horse was lost. For want of a horse, the rider was lost. For want of a rider, the battle was lost. For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost, And all for the want of a horseshoe nail. Benjamin Franklin included a version of this proverb, preceded by the words, A little neglect may breed great mischief, in Poor Richard’s Almanack in 1758.
During World War II, this verse was framed and hung on the wall of the Anglo-American Supply Headquarters in London to remind everyone the importance of seemingly trivial repair parts and inventory replenishment.
We attended the Junior Command Course at Mhow, India in 1993 and after the course went to our home at Kottayam, Kerala for a month’s vacation. In those days, we travelled on vacation by train and the journey took over 48 hours and two train changes at the most awkward hours of night. You can imagine my plight with Marina and our two-year daughter Nidhi in tow, with paraphernalia of assorted baggage – in all sizes and shapes.
We reached home and my next ordeal was to get a return reservation from Kottayam to Delhi and onward to Jammu. During summers, the seats in the trains from Kerala to anywhere in the country were lapped up the moment the reservation counters opened on the exact 60th day before the date of journey. The only option for me was to contact our Member of Parliament, Mr Suresh Kurup, who always obliged with his emergency quota. Mr. Kurup is well known for his soft corner and respect for all soldiers.
Armed with the allotment of Emergency Quota and my Warrant (Military form authorising travel by Indian Railways,) I reached Kottayam railway station. At the reservation counter the booking clerk refused to book the seats – Why? Our Regimental clerk had committed a grave sin!! He spelt KoTTayam with one T.
I contacted the Station Master and the Reservation Supervisor. All expressed both sympathy and empathy a soldier deserved, but the cardinal sin of spelling KoTTayam with only one T, they could not condone.
While at Sainik School Amaravathinagar, Thamizh Nadu, our nearest railway station (NRS) was Udumalaipettai – with one P and two Ts. In Thamizh and Hindi, it has two Ps, but in English only one – Any reasonable reasons?
The town was known amongst the locals as (உடுமலை) Udumalai and all the bus boards read so. The British called it Udumalpet and that too caught on, but no one ever used Udumalipettai, other than the Indian Railways and some Military clerk sitting in the remote border, preparing a warrant for a soldier from Udumalpet – counting the Ps and Ts.
When we filled our application for the National Defence Academy (NDA,) our teachers insisted that we spelt Udumalaipettai with the correct number of Ps and Ts as the Indian Railways insisted.
To return to the Regiment on time, the only option to me was to buy two tickets and claim the cost later from the Comptroller Defence Accounts (CDA.) I requested the Reservation Supervisor to block the seats until I either got a fresh warrant or bought the tickets by paying cash. He agreed saying that he got to finalise the reservation chart two days before the date of journey.
I shot off a letter to our Adjutant, narrating my agony. Major Ranjan Deb (now a Veteran Colonel,) an Aviator with an uncanny sense of humour was in chair and he despatched a soldier to Kottayam with a fresh warrant with two Ts for KoTTayam. Unfortunately, the soldier could reach Kottayam a day prior to my journey and by that time, I had to buy the tickets by paying cash.
On reaching the Regiment stationed in Jammu & Kashmir, I sent the forms for claiming the cost of the tickets to CDA, explaining the reasons as to why I had to buy the railway tickets by paying cash. The reasons I stated appeared beyond reasonable doubt to the powers at the CDA, but how can they allow such a claim without raising any objection? It will go against the ethos of the Accounts Department anywhere in India.
My claim was approved in principle, but the CDA raised a query “How did the Officer and his wife make the onward journey from Jammu Tawi to Kottayam?”
Beyond reasonable doubt, Major Ranjan Deb promptly replied “By walking.” In a week’s time my bank account was credited with full reimbursement for the cost of tickets.
Now let us fast forward to 2016. Our family is in Canada – Marina, Nidhi, Nikhil and myself – all Canadian citizens.
Nikhil decided to travel to Kolkata to serve in Mother Teresa’s Ashram for a month. I said to him “If you find time, visit Veteran Colonel Ranjan Deb, our Regimental Officer who lives in Barrackpore.” I had narrated many incidents about Colonel Deb, especially when he was our Battery Commander with 75 Medium Regiment (Basantar River.)
On a Wednesday, when Nikhil had a day off from Mother Theresa’s Ashram, he took a cab to Barrackpore. Colonel Deb and Nikhil spend a day together and at the end of it Colonel Deb remarked “Reji, I spent a few hours with Nikhil. I was amazed at his all-round development at his age. No Indian student will be able to match up with Nikhil’s thought process. His education in Canada stands out distinctly. I am 63 and he is 19 years of age. I did not get bored for even a second of the six hrs we were together. Healthy engrossing discussion.
This is what is called Regimental spirit. A kid, not born – why – not even planned while we served together, comes all the way from Canada to meet us – a Veteran Colonel and his wife. What else can we ask for in life? What other recognition do we need? He made our day!!”
While commanding our Regiment – 125 Surveillance and Target Acquisition (SATA) Regiment, I attended office mostly on Friday afternoons. That was when I signed those official documents which required the Commanding Officer’s (CO) signatures like the Daily Parade State.
I was a single parent CO with Marina having migrated to Canada. Bringing up our two primary school going children, feeding them, sending them to school, ensuring that they did their homework, making them take bath, etc – all fell on my shoulders.
For the uninitiated, Daily Parade State is a large table giving out details of soldiers and officers authorised and posted to the Regiment and their daily whereabouts. This report is compiled daily by the Regiment/ Battery Havildar (Sergeant) Major (RHM/ BHM) the previous evening, showing the whereabouts of the soldiers as of the next morning at 8 AM.
Daily Parade State in the Regiment and Batteries is compiled by the Detail Master. He is the understudy to the RHM/ BHM and is a soldier with good handwriting and skill at mental maths. He provides all secretarial help to the RHM/ BHM. Battery Detail Masters prepare the Parade State of the Battery in the evening and hand it over to the Regimental Detail Master, who compiles the Regimental Parade State.
Our Regiment was then a cooperating unit with the School of Artillery, Devlali with a lot of station commitments and training commitments – called Range Detail. Unlike at many Schools of Instructions of the Indian Army, at School of Artillery, the student officers/ soldiers do not draw the equipment or ammunition and they do not clean/ maintain the equipment. It is the duty of the cooperating Regiments to provide the same. The details of manpower and equipment to be provided along with administrative details like pitching of tents, preparation of the Observation Posts, etc are given out a week prior to the beginning of the month. Thus, all soldiers are well aware of the commitments and duties.
We were always short of manpower as the soldiers had to avail their leave too. Our Section/ Platoon Commanders always managed the show – often with the radio operator or driver doubling up as radar operator or surveyor and so on. Clerks were well utilised as radio operators and surveyors or to assist the chefs in the kitchen, so were the tradesmen. Even the Religious Teacher was not spared.
Failure or a short-fall of the Range Detail meant the CO being summoned by the General – the Commandant, School of Artillery. Our RHM and BHMs ensured that all Range Details were executed well. They had their own methodology to deal with shortcomings. Whatever it was, I was never summoned by the General.
Every morning, the BHMs presented their Parade State to their Battery Commander while the RHM presented the same to the Adjutant and then to the Second-in-Command, finally to the CO. The Daily Parade state is an auditable document to account for ration drawn from the Supply Depot for the soldiers. Hence, it is mandatory for the CO to sign it.
Three months into command, RHM Kaptan Singh summoned all his courage and asked “Sir, how come you do not ask any question while you sign the Parade State? You tell me to turn the pages and place my finger where you are to sign. You do not even look at it.”
“Why this question now?” I asked, knowing the answer well.
“Your predecessor used to grill me for over ten minutes every morning about various figures in the Parade State like number of soldiers on leave, soldiers on various out-station duties, etc. I know that you know about every soldier,” RHM Kaptan Singh explained.
‘Thank God! You had to suffer this agony for only ten minutes; I had to over 30 minutes,’ I thought.
My mind raced back to my Battery Commander days. Then also, I hardly paid any attention to the figures reflected on the Parade State, but our CO wasn’t so. He believed that every figure reflected on the Parade State was the gospel truth.
He summoned each Battery Commander and questioned about the number of soldiers on leave or on out-station details, etc and I used to rattle out some numbers. Then he summoned our BHM and asked the very same question. What a pathetic example of command!
Our BHM’s figures never tallied with mine and the 30-minute ordeal ended with our CO’s remark “You do not know what is happening in your Battery.” This continued everyday, and my figures never matched our BHMs. Other Battery Commanders matched their figures with their BHM’s in the morning prior to being summoned by our CO. Luckily for me, I moved out of the Regiment in two months for the Staff Course.
Now I had to justify my blind signing of the Parade State to RHM Kaptan Singh.
“This document is a proverbial Elephant’s Teeth for show only. This Parade state was prepared by your Detail Master the previous evening giving out the likely state of all personnel of our Regiment including me the next morning. He put in herculean efforts and with a lot of erasing and rewriting, managed to tally all the figures. If this is accurate, then your Detail Master must be a genius and hell of a Prediction Master. Last evening, I did not know where I would be this morning. Hence these figures can never be accurate. If it is accurate, then the Detail Master must be sitting on my chair. Do you want me to grill you on it now?”
RHM Kaptan Singh passed his characteristic smile, saluted, and walked away fully convinced.
When I wrote about 37 (Coorg) Medium Regiment, I would be failing in my duties if I did not write about its sibling unit – 36 (Maratha) Medium Regiment.
When I joined our Regiment – 75 Medium Regiment (Basantar River) as a second Lieutenant in 1982, 36 (M) Medium was part of the same Artillery Brigade. They were located at Meerut and we at Gurgaon. The young officers of both regiments bonded well in that we stayed with the young officers of 36 (M) Medium whenever we visited Meerut. It was mostly for various competitions – both professional and sports.
The two Regiments competed vigorously on the field, but at the end of the day, we were friends again. I still cherish the nicest memories of our association with 36 (M) Medium, especially Veteran Colonels Manu Satti, Atul Mishra, Mitra and Mukherjee.
36 (M) Medium, well known among the Gunner fraternity as Chathis, meaning 36, is also known for most conversions an Indian Regiment has ever been through. The Regiment was raised as 7/5 Maratha Light Infantry at Faizabad on October 10, 1940, by Lt Col AL Collingwood.
Like all Maratha Infantry Battalions, 36 (M) Medium too have the battle cry – Bol Shivaji Maharaj ki Jai,, meaning ‘ Victory to Emperor Shivaji.’ This war cry is believed to have been conceived while the Marathas were fighting Italian forces in World War II in Gallabat, Sudan. It was in January 1941. An attack on an Italian garrison was not going as per plan with the Marathas on the verge of losing the battle. It was then that Captain Boomgart, the officer in charge, was advised to inspire the Marathas by reminding them of the Emperor Shivaji, the famous Maratha king who had the courage to stand against the Mughals’ misrule. Thus was coined the famous war cry, “Bol Shivaji Maharaj ki Jai.” Hearing the war cry, the Marathas lept forward with great aggression and overcame the Italian garrison.
Soon after raising, in 1942 the Regiment converted from an Infantry Battalion to 51 (M) Armoured Regiment. It was part of the 268 Indian Infantry Brigade which saw operations on the Japanese front during World War II.
During the war, in 1943, the Regiment became 8 (M) Anti-Tank Regiment and served under 44 Indian Armoured Division, in Burma. The Regiment in 1944-45 was part of 33 Corps Troops and later participated in the Burmese operations in 1945 as part of 7 Indian Infantry Division.
At the end of 1945, 2 Indian Airborne Division was reorganised in preparation for the independence of India. This resulted in Indianisation of the Division. All British soldiers moved into 6 (British) Independent Parachute Brigade, though it remained part of the 2 Indian Airborne Division. 36 (M) Parachute Anti-Tank Regiment (Royal Indian Artillery) joined the Division in 1946.
On Indian independence, the Regiment was rechristened as 36 (M) Anti-Tank Regiment of the Regiment of Artillery of the Indian Army. In 1956, the Regiment converted to become 36 (M) Heavy Mortar Regiment.
The Regiment saw action in the Tsangdhar-Zimithang and the Tawang – Sela Sectors in the 1962 Sino-Indian conflict. 62 Bravehearts of the Regiment laid down their lives during this war.
In 1965 the Regiment converted to 36 (M) Light Regiment, equipped with 120 mm Mortars and was deployed in the Dera Baba Nanak and Amritsar sectors. The Regiment participated in the operations to occupy areas up to the Icchogil Canal and in the Battle of Dograi.
Before the 1971 Indo-Pak war, the Regiment reconverted to be 36 (M) Heavy Mortar Regiment with Tampella 160 mm Mortars and participated in operations in the Shakargarh Bulge and Sialkot sectors.
In 1981, the Regiment was equipped with the Russian made M-46 130 mm Medium Gun and subsequently converted to the 155mm Bofors gun.
When I joined our Regiment – 75 Medium Regiment (Basantar River) – in 1982, we had Subedar Chinnappa, Subedar Bidappa, Havildar Muthanna, etc in the South Indian Class (SIC) Battery. These Coorgis (Kodava community) were great soldiers and outstanding hockey players. By 1986, Coorgis stopped joining our Regiment and we did not have any Coorgi when I left the Regiment in 1997. It appeared that for the Coorgis, Indian Army was no more attractive.
Kodagu, also known as Coorg, is a rural district in the southwest Indian state of Karnataka. It is the birthplace of Cauvery, a river that local Kodavas consider sacred. Located on the Western Ghats, Kodagu is also referred to as the Scotland of India for its salubrious weather. Kodagu is the most beautiful hill station of Karnataka and is well known for its coffee, especially Robusta variety.
Most of the Coorgi soldiers in our Regiment came from 37 (Coorg) Medium Regiment. Until 1901, this Regiment was designated as the 11 Madras Infantry and in 1902, the Regiment was reorganised and the basis of recruitment changed from Thamizh and Telugu to only Coorgi soldiers.
In 1903, the restructured Regiment was then renamed the 71 Coorg Rifles. The Regiment was disbanded in 1904 because of insufficient recruits. In 1942, Coorgis were again recruited into the newly raised 1st Coorg Battalion. In 1946, it was converted to 37 Coorg Anti-Tank Regiment of the Royal Indian Artillery.
Today, the 37 (Coorg) Medium Regiment is part of the Regiment of Artillery with their war cry “Cauvery Mata ki Jai.”
Up to 1970s, this Regiment was manned by soldiers from Coorg. Now this Regiment is manned by soldiers from the South Indian States with hardly any Coorgis – still the name persists.
I did come across a few officers in the Indian Army from Coorg, and they proved their metal as most became Generals. Field Marshal K M Cariappa, the first Indian General and first Commander-in-Chief of India, first comes to my mind, followed by General Kodendera Subayya Thimayya. All the more because two Battalions of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) are named after them.
Lieutenant General PC Thimmaya, Lieutenant General CB Ponnappa and Lieutenant General CP Cariappa were all at the National Defence Academy and we trained together.
A total of eleven officers from Kodagu became Lieutenant Generals in the Army so far. This apart, from twenty Major Generals and four Air Marshals, which undoubtedly makes Kodagu, the Land of Generals.
Indian Hockey team too had many Coorgis, but now hardly anyone. Coorg produced more than 40 Hockey internationals and some of them like M P Ganesh and MM Somaiya captained the Indian team.
37 (Coorg) Medium Regiment maintains many of the traditions of the Kodava community. On the Regiment’s raising day, officers and soldiers, regardless of their ethnicity, wear the traditional ‘Kupya Chele’, which consists of a traditional jacket and headgear. The officers wear Peeche Kathi (a traditional dagger.) The ladies wear Kodava Podiya or Coorgi style saree.
The Coorg style of draping a sari involves tucking the pleats at the back of the waist, instead of the front. The end of the sari is brought below the left shoulder and secured over the right shoulder in a firm knot called ‘Molakattu.’
Peeche Kathi has a handle shaped like a parrot or peacock. The sheath may be made of pure silver, silver and wood, or silver/gold embedded with precious stones. The sheath is linked to an intricately designed long silver chain, which ends in an assortment of miniature replicas of Kodava weapons.
Unlike ‘Change of Baton’ followed by other artillery Regiments when a new the Commanding Officer takes over, a Peeche Kathi is handed over as a sign of change in command. The residence of the Commanding Officer is called Mercara house, named after the Mercara town in Coorg
37 (Coorg) Medium Regiment is so closely affiliated with the Kodagu community that it is a tradition for the unit to take part in the annual hockey tournament in Kodagu. For the Kodavas, the annual hockey tournament is very important it is part of their culture. In this tournament, various families of Kodagu compete against each other. The Regiment gives an award for the first goal scored in the tournament and it is a matter of pride for the people because the Regiment named after their community is taking keen interest.
During an outdoor tactical training exercise at the National Defence Academy, Captain Raj Mehta (now a Veteran Major General) was our instructor. It was all about section tactics in defence and we were expected to dig a three-man trench – four feet long and in depth and two feet wide. With the pickaxes and shovels, it was near impossible to dig on the stony mountains of Pune.
In the evening when Captain Mehta came on his rounds, he found our progress real slow. We blamed it on our blunt pickaxes and shovels and on the hard surface. Captain Mehta, not too pleased said “When bullets fly, you will dig down with your mess tins! Why? You will do it with your bare hands and dig much deeper than this rat hole in minutes!!”
Now what is this wonder tool called a Mess Tin?
A mess tin is an item of a soldier’s mess kit, designed to be used over a portable cooking apparatus. It’s a pair of rectangular-shaped tins of similar depth, one fits inside the other, both having extendable handles that are fixed to the tins by brackets. Mess tins were originally a military design but are also popular among civilian campers.
Mess tins are generally rectangular with rounded-off edges as the rounded edges make it easier to clean inside than sharp corners. Most mess tins are supplied as a set, with one slightly larger than the other, allowing them to nestle together for easy packing. This arrangement is also useful when using the tins for boiling, as the smaller tin can be used to hold the liquid, with the larger tin placed on top to act as a lid. It also uses space as efficiently as possible, especially as the space and weight are premium in a soldier’s haversack. The nesting mess tins in use with the British Indian Army during World War II, making them one of the longest serving items of equipment in the Indian and British Army.
The word ‘mess’ in the 14th Century meant ‘a supply or provision of food for one meal.’ The word came from Old French ‘mes’ meaning ‘portion of food, course at dinner,’ and was spelt ‘mes.’ By the 16th Century the word was spelt ‘mess’ with its meaning evolving from ‘a company of persons eating together at the same table’ to the current meaning ‘a communal eating place (especially a military one.)’
In a book published in 1916 ‘Camps, Billets, Cooking, Ceremonial,’ written by an Officer of the British Army and edited by Captain E John Solano lays out rules regarding health and hygiene; water supply; the inspection of food; preserving food, milk, and water from contamination; personal cleanliness and sanitation in billets, camps, and bivouacs. This is the most comprehensive document I read about camping and how to use the mess tin. I followed it post-retirement during various camping trips we undertook with our children. An extract from the book says:-
‘It is especially useful that men and cadets should know how to cook various articles of food in their service mess -tins, which are so designed that, besides serving as a cup or dish and plate to eat from, they can also be used to cook certain rations in the same manner as in the camp kettle of the field-kitchen.
Cooking in Mess Tins. – The capacity of the mess tin is 1 quart, and it will cook sufficient food for one person if the diet consists of meat and vegetables cooked together, as in the case of Irish stew or sea- pie. Variety in diet is both essential and desirable, and it can be obtained to some extent when cooking in mess -tins by dividing up the rations of, say, two men, so that one mess -tin is used for cooking their meat, and another mess -tin is used for cooking their vegetables. It will be possible in this manner to vary the food slightly, provided such dishes as meat puddings, plain stews, stewed steak, or curry and rice, are given. When this is done, the front -rank men prepare the meat, and the rear-rank men prepare the vegetables.’
As Cadets at the Academy, the mess tins were our best companions during tactical exercises as we collected our meals in them, ate in them, brewed our tea in them, etc. It was the most sacred place for the smokers to hide the cigarette packs during tactical exercises.
Mess Tin may be from the World War but is still popular with campers for similar reasons. It is unbreakable, light and occupies minimum space. You can use them to cook and eat out of, and they can be cleaned easily. You can barbecue, fry and cook in it.
Can you fall in love at 60? Why not?? We got to be in love at all stages of our life – with someone or the other, to make our existence meaningful. At 60, it is more for companionship, after the children have flown to greater heights.
This is the essence of this book – The Old Man & She! – by Veteran Indian Air Force Officer Avinash Chikte. We trained at the National Defence Academy and he was a year senior – 59th Course – E Squadron.
The book tells the story of Liz and Ravi – she’s 55 and he’s 60. The story confirms that love can begin at any age and stage and there is no place today for cultural or religious barriers. The author has explored the tornadoes that go through the minds of people in a relationship – that too across religions, cultures, and race. I have experienced it and I vouch for the authenticity of most situations well crafted in this book.
A good read, and a feel-good book for those who have an open mind, and are not moored by the chains of religion, caste, and race.
Third Pay Commission fixed the soldiers’ pension to 50% of last pay drawn. To complicate it, a clause of 33 years of qualifying service was added – in effect reducing the pension of a soldier. Here the soldier was betrayed.
History of Military Pension
In 1873, the Indian Military Service Family Pension Fund was started. It was financed solely by compulsory contributions from officers of the Indian Army, who paid so much a month according to rank. There were what we would call to-day ‘special contributions’ on marriage, or when infants reported their arrival. That fund was used by the Government of India for financing various projects—for instance, the Kidderpore Docks on the Hooghly—and even to finance Frontier campaigns. The Government of India credited the fund with a rate of interest equal to current rates of interest on long-term Indian sterling securities. That pension fund was never popular, not because of what it did, or did not do, for widows and orphans, but by reason of the way in which it was administered. I think everyone had a grievance because they felt that a fund which was built up solely from their pockets ought to be treated as a trust fund, and that they should be represented on a board of trustees. Moreover, it was believed that if the fund had been invested in trustee securities in India, it would have received a higher rate of interest than was in fact accorded to it by the Government of India. (https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1949/mar/09/indian-army-pensions)
Formula for computing pension was substantially liberalised since the time of First Central Pay Commission. The pension was earlier payable at the rate of 30/80 (37.5%) of the average emoluments. This was later revised to 41.25% (33/80). From 31/3/1979, a slab system for payment of pension was introduced, wherein pension was paid at various rates ranging from 50% to 42.86%. The formula was further liberalised by the Fourth Central Pay Commission and from 1/1/1986, the pension was payable at the rate of 50% of the average emoluments comprising basic pay, dearness pay, non-practicing allowance and stagnation increments. (http://aicgpa.org/content/resc/bulletin/topicid44.pdf)
As per the Pension Regulations for the Army 2008, pension was calculated on actual qualifying service rendered by the individual plus a weightage of 10 years in the case of Sepoy, 8 years in the case of Naik and 6 years in the case of Havildar and 5 years in the case of Junior Commissioned Officer subject to the total qualifying service including weightage not exceeding 30 years in the case of Sepoy, Naik and Havildar and 33 years in the case a Junior Commissioned Officer. In other words, a soldier who served for 17 years was given an additional 10 years, making it 27 years. Now his pension was calculated by a factor of 27/33. Thus the soldiers ended with 80% of their pension in effect. This anomaly has been rectified in 2016 after many court cases.
All these ‘shortchanging’ of soldiers commenced soon after the famous victory achieved by the defence forces in liberating Bangladesh in 1971. After the war, General Manekshaw was elevated to the post of Field Marshal for sure but was sidelined and send home unceremoniously. Generals who followed did not make any effort to even raise an issue with the government. It could be because the officers, especially the Generals ‘trusted’ the government and were ‘dreaming’ that the government would take ‘care’ of the soldiers. The irony is that many officers, especially Brigadiers and above, are virtually unaware of any aspect of their own pay & allowances, let alone the of their soldiers. Many of them were and are shrouded with a mask of ‘too complicated and technical’ and often remarked that they were not ‘babus’ (clerks) to work out pay & allowances.’
A Field Marshal never retires, but Field Marshal Manekshaw was eased out post 1971 victory. Still, he was entitled for pay and allowances for life. The bureaucrats and the government cut all his pay and allowances for the next 36 years of his life. This was an award to the General who led the Indian Army to victory in the 1971 war for India, for a man who led his life with at most dignity and served India with all respect. He was paid his dues only in 2007, that too on his death bed by the then Defence Minister AK Antony.
It required a junior officer, Major Dhanapalan who took up the matter of ‘Rank Pay’ with the Kerala High Court and got a favourable verdict. It was contested at all levels, even up to the Supreme Court by the government. Obviously, it had no support from the Army Headquarters and the Ministry of Defence as is evident from various submissions by the government. The Fourth Central Pay Commission, in 1986, while introducing running pay scale for officers in the ranks of Captain to Brigadier introduced a rank pay in addition to the basic pay. However, the bureaucrats who drafted the orders managed to have the rank pay reduced from the basic pay while fixing the basic pay thus denied all the officers serving at that time their lawful dues. Worse, none of the 50,000 odd officers serving in the armed forces then never realised the treachery and the senior officers never allowed anyone to speak up on the matter.
Cruelty dealt by the Seventh Central Pay Commission is the Military Service Pay (MSP.) It is a meager Rs 15,900 for officers and Rs 5, 200 for soldiers, which is a compensation for the various aspects e.g., intangibles linked to special conditions of service, conducting full spectrum operation including force projection outside India’s boundaries, superannuation at a younger age and for the edge historically enjoyed by the Defence Forces over the civilian scales, will be admissible to the Defence forces personnel only. (https://doe.gov.in/sites/default/files/7cpc_report_eng.pdf) Para 6.1.28 (Page 103)
To top it all there is a rider to it. MSP will continue to be reckoned as Basic Pay for purposes of Dearness Allowance, as also in the computation of pension. MSP will however not be counted for purposes of House Rent Allowance, Composite Transfer Grant, and Annual Increment.
Now comes the One Rank One Pension (OROP.) The recent judgement will adversely affect the soldiers and officers below the rank of Colonel. In the early 1980s, Selection Grade Lieutenant Colonels were the Commanding Officers and many retired as Lieutenant Colonels as Colonel was an appointment then and not a rank. About a third of Lieutenant Colonels were promoted to Brigadier. In 2006, Lieutenant Colonels became a timescale promotion and there were no more Selection Grade Lieutenant Colonels in the Indian Army.
These Selection Grade Lieutenant Colonels who performed the duties of today’s Colonels and retired as Lieutenant Colonels are the most affected due to the current judgement of OROP and by the 6th & 7th Pay Commission. They should be clubbed with the Colonels for pension.
Has the soldier been betrayed by the Government or the Generals?
We were commissioned as Second Lieutenants from the Academies and joined our Regiments – eager to go- like an unguided and nuclear tipped missile.
While commanding our unit, our young officers often remarked that when they messed up something, however serious the matter was – I always said, “That’s all – Do not worry – I will handle it now on.” They now wanted an explanation as to why I neither rebuked them nor got involved in a ‘fault finding mission.’
One day on a lighter moment I gave out the answer. “When I was a Second Lieutenant, I messed up much more than you guys have put together done till now.”
They prodded me for ‘Dil Mange More’ and I obliged.
I joined our Regiment in 1983 at Gurgaon and during a deployment exercise of our battery, traffic was stopped for the 130mm gun towed by Kraz to pass through the Delhi-Jaipur Highway. In those days the highway was narrow and followed a different alignment. Superintend of Police of Gurgaon wanted to pass through but was refused and it ended in a physical bout. Whatever it was – I ended up with a criminal case of attempt to murder using lethal weapons and a Court of Inquiry – both I got saved from – Thanks to our then Commanding Officer, Colonel Mahaveer Singh.
On 31 October 1984, Prime Minister of India, Mrs Indira Gandhi, was assassinated, and her mortal remains lay in state at Teen Murthi Bhawan. By evening that day, our Battery was tasked to take over security of Teen Murthi Bhawan. Our Battery Commander was residing at Delhi, hence I marched the Battery and reported to General K Balaram, then Adjutant General, who was in command there. Anyone of that era would better know the qualities of General Balaram. He was the first and perhaps only AG to be granted Vice Chief status.
Late Lieutenant General K Balaram, PVSM
Our Battery Commander then – now Veteran Brigadier CM Nayyar, Sena Medal – was a student when General Balaram, Signals, was the Commandant at Wellington. He warned me by narrating many incidents about his conduct – that he even rode his scooter and never his staff car after office hours. I had some great moments with him as he and I smoked ‘Capstan‘ cigarettes then. All shops selling cigarettes had closed down due to riots in Delhi after the assassination. Naik (Corporal) Paul, my driver kept a good stock of it (Still do not know how he managed it) and supplied me regularly with it. Whenever the work pressure got on to General Balaram, he called me to the Operations Room which we had set up inside Teen Murthi Bhawan. He wanted to inhale a deep smoke and a cup of tea – that too the tea in a steel glass our soldiers made. Thus, whenever General Balaram summoned me, it was when the situation at the gate had gone awry or he wanted a break.
We were responsible for the VIP entrance gate through which all heads of states would pass. Whenever things would go wrong, General Balaram would shout at the top of his voice “Get that Second Lieutenant – only he can solve this chaos.”
In came Yasser Arafat with his four bodyguards – armed to their teeth – and I refused entry for the bodyguards saying that our boys would take care of Arafat’s security. He gave me a deep glance and ordered his bodyguards to stay put with me. Even Yasser Arafat did not want to take a chance with a Second Lieutenant!!!
Next on the receiving end was the Japanese delegation led by their Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. The delegation had over a hundred press people – journalists, reporters, photographers. I requested their liaison officer that I could only send in five persons with their PM. The liaison officer pleaded helplessness. I had to solve the issue. I assembled all their press crew outside the entrance and when the PM came in, I called out five people and send them inside. Now there was more chaos with everyone shouting, “My photographer is inside, but I am the reporter” or “My reporter is inside, but I am the photographer.” I told everyone that whosoever has gone inside will come out with the necessary material and you all can share the same.
Then came a person claiming to be the Commissioner of Police of Delhi. He too was denied entry through the VIP Gate. He shouted at me “Who are you to stop me? What are you doing here?” To this I calmly replied, “If you had done your duty, I need not have been here.”
With Veteran Colonel Mahaveer Singh during Golden Jubilee celebrations of 75 Medium Regiment in 2018
These were few of the highlights that happened at Teen Murthi Bhawan in those three days.
After a few weeks there was another altercation with a senior police officer from Delhi and again it was the same story of a Court of Inquiry – and again our CO managed to save me.
Now that was that when we were Second Lieutenants! Luckily for me – when I was in command (2002-2004,) the species had become extinct.
After a couple of years of my retirement from the Indian Army in 2004, my friend Colonel Josey Joseph, wanted to know what I would have done post-retirement had I been in India. I laid out my plans and he wanted to know why I did not implement a much smarter and better plan than immigrating to Canada.
My post retirement plan in case I had stayed in India was to become a Priest at our Church and start with many meditation sittings – all to impress the people.
In all mock seriousness, I replied “To begin with, there must be a few fair-skinned followers, especially good-looking blonde girls, in low cut blouses , and a few white guys. Whenever I paused during my sermons, they would chorus ‘Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!‘ Now watch the fun as to how my coffers fill up.”
“Why did you not work towards your plan?” Colonel Josey asked.
“The plan was great, but I just cannot sing! For such a plan to succeed, one has to be good at singing. Look at any of the ‘successful’ pastors or swamis – They are great singers and dancers too! A requirement to impress (fool) the poor masses and bhakthas,” I replied.
Colonel Josey said “Thank God! Your Dad did not put you through singing and dancing lessons, else you would have ended up selling your Dad first and then your God! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!“
Now I laid my plan bare.
Syrian Orthodox Priests can marry, only those who aspire to be promoted as a bishop remain a bachelor. Fluent in English, Malayalam, Thamizh, Hindi, Punjabi, indeed a rare combination for a Mallu Priest, I will be invited to all the International and Pan-Indian (NRI/NRK) weddings and showered in moolah. With my vast military experience and having travelled all over India, I will be invited as a speaker, a motivational speaker, as I specialise in impressing people.
A Syrian Orthodox priest is often allotted a Parish and he may be the Vicar or the Assistant Vicar. A Parish means a small administrative district or village, including all religions, typically having its own church and a priest or pastor. Vicar is derived from the English prefix ‘vice,’ similarly meaning ‘deputy‘ and here he is the deputy to the Bishop.
The Parish will be benefited in that every need of the Parishioners would be presented effectively to the District Collector or the Superintendent of Police. Naturally, they would be compelled by courtesy and etiquette to never refuse an audience to the Reverend Father-Veteran Colonel Reji Koduvath. The least I could do is to draft various complaints and applications for the Parish members.
There are various projects by the Central and State Governments for the benefit of the citizens. Many of them do not reach the public as people are unaware of the paperwork involved. Having written many Statements of Case while in service, and following it up to the Defence Ministry level, who else can do it better?
Employment opportunities for the youth, military, police (both central & state), bank, railways, state transport, UPSC, state PSC… I could have provided effective guidance and mentorship to youth aspiring to enroll into all these. I would have conducted orientation training for each specific job at the church, conduct mock tests, interviews, group discussions, public speaking, etc as well. With more of the youth employed, obviously more money for the church (and me.)
I would also organise leadership training and adventure activities for the children and youth of the Parish. This would facilitate them to do better at the interviews.
I would motivate the children of the Parish to read by initiating little ones to the habit of reading, the biggest bugbear for the Indian youth. I would publish a Church magazine with children contributing their stories, poems and articles.
Upon hearing my narration, Colonel Josey remarked “I think your idea is not only novel, but simply brilliant. And in these times when most of the clergy across the board propagate hate; a message of love, an effort to help the helpless and instill self-confidence in children : that’s the core of what our nation and the world really needs. And, knowing you so well, I am quite certain that personal gain would hardly be your motivation. Also, more importantly, although every parish priest is not a Colonel Reji Koduvath, I am sure most of them can undertake some of the activities you suggested. Someone needs to take the lead.”
We were issued with a Housewife on joining the National Defence Academy (NDA) in 1979. Why a housewife to a 16-year-old cadet? That too an item which was neither male nor female, and wasn’t even a living being.
It was a simple Khaki pouch containing needles, thread, thimble, buttons, and a pair of scissors, meant for sewing on buttons, darning socks, and mending uniforms. It was called the Hussif by the officers at the Academy and Housewife by many Cadets and the soldiers who were the Havildar Quartermasters at the Squadron.
Housewife morphed into Hussif and first appeared in print in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1749 suggesting that it had already been in common use. Hussif was later shortened to Hussy.
However, the term is now banned in modern armies which acknowledges that the gender specific term is not only outdated but also offensive to women.
By the mid 19th century these rolled-up sewing kits became standard army issue. Before the invention of safety pins, for a quick fix, sewing needles were used to remove splinters and, at times, even sew up the soldier’s wounds!
When I joined Sainik School, Amaravathinagar, TN at the age of nine we had to carry a small plastic box with contents like the hussif.
I hardly used my hussif at the Academy during my three years other than for sewing some lost buttons. Behold! It had to be carefully maintained as it had to be produced during kit muster held at the beginning of each semester at the Academy and also during inspections. The hussif was part of the small pack we carried in the Field Service Marching Order (FSMO.)
The name hussif comes from a time when it was common for mothers, wives and fiancés in the 18th and 19th centuries to personalise these kits with embroidery for their menfolk to take to war. It was often packed in the holdall and stowed within the man’s haversack. Few hussifs of those days were covered with flowers or other feminine motifs if the hussif was a gift from a needlewoman in their life.
The humble hussif played an important role in both the World Wars. Embroidery was widely used as a form of therapy for wounded soldiers, especially those recovering at the hospitals. The bright environment of the hospital was the perfect place for them to engage in embroidery as an activity, which helped in their rehabilitation. The imagery and stories they stitched were often reflective of pride in their regiment, the battlefields they had fought in, or messages of love to a distant sweetheart.
Military museum around the world proudly display many hussifs of soldiers, especially from the World Wars. The National Army Museum in London, England displays an ornamental hussif of Drummer Yeates (1867) with beautiful embroidery and bead-work with the motifs of the Queen, Union Jack, his regimental insignia and battle honours, and a message of nostalgia for home.
Armies and Navies, from Britain to Australia to North America, issued hussifs as part of the standard kit to their soldiers, at least up to the Korean War era. The British Army continued to do so, well into the 1960s and the Indian Army until the early 80s.
Australian soldier Henry John Harris who participated in the First World War wrote about an ingenious use of the hussif. “Owing to the extreme cold conditions and as there were a store of sandbags in the pillbox, I decided to sew several of the sandbags together to make a blanket, and believe me those sandbags did keep me and a cobber [comrade] warm for the four nights we stayed in that pillbox.”
The standard Canadian Forces Sewing Kit from the 1990s is in green material with pockets inside and a piece of felt to which needles could be tacked. The cover is secured by by Velcro to the body of the kit. Inside the pockets are two plastic bags, one with buttons, and the other with thread, a thimble and a needle threader. Needles and safety pins are attached to the felt.
Another remarkable object that is etched in my memory is the Button Stick. These were used by the civilian bearers or orderlies to polish all the brass buttons, shoulder titles etc of our various Academy uniforms, though I never saw them later in my Army career.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes it as ‘a strip of metal or wood slotted in such a way that it will pass over a row of buttons (as on a military tunic) allowing each button to appear through a slit so that the buttons may be polished without soiling the cloth.’
These button sticks were used by soldiers to polish the buttons on their uniform without spilling any of the polish on the fabric. During WW I, when soldiers were out of the trenches, they often had to ensure that the buttons of their uniform were polished using Brasso. While tedious and time-consuming, soldiers used this brass button polishing guard to avoid staining the fabric with excess polish which left a nasty brown stain on their Khaki or Olive Green uniforms.
It could well be that the button sticks used by the orderlies of the NDA may date back to the World War days!
Why did the armies over the world have done away with the hussif? Repairing or darning the uniform, stitching a lost button… are still needs of the day!
Congratulations to the author for a well researched book – fusing golf and leadership seamlessly. The book is worth a read, even for someone like me who hardly ever stepped into a golf course. If you have not stepped on to a Golf Course or does not understand the Golf jargon, this book is for you!!
The catchphrase of the book – ‘The Past is in Your Head and the Future is in Your Hands’ – showcases what the book is all about.
The author has used his distinctive narrative style to lead the reader through the 18 Holes of a Golf Course – the Life Course – all accompanied by a tinge of humour and at places sarcasm too. Owning a set of Golf Clubs, a membership to a Golf Club, or merely playing golf does not make one a golfer – far from being a good golfer. It is all about hard work, dedication and endless hours spent at the Golf Course. All to achieve that ever-elusive perfection.
The journey of life – how to deal with different situations and people – and what one can contribute to the society is well brought out. At every instance, the author delves into the need to ensure that one equips well with the best quality tools. There is no point in blaming the tools in hand. A poor artist ends up blaming his brush. What one achieves in life is all because of equipping correctly, planning well, and practising a lot. The author has chronicled this journey of life through the actions of an enthusiastic golfer Kay El who wants to achieve success, but not through hard work alone. One comes across many Kay Els in life, and one has also become a Kay El on many occasions.
The need to be fair – whether on the Golf Course or on the Course of Life – is well enunciated throughout the book. One quote that sums up this aspect which all readers would like to follow is ‘Anything that threatens your peaceful sleep, peace of mind and reputation, as a man of trust and credibility is not worth any wealth or reward.’
Leadership is all about being truthful to oneself, especially while no one is watching or umpiring. General Sengar has explained this aspect of being self-disciplined well.
The Mantra in this book is all about finding a cause and dedicating wholesomely for it and is sure to achieve success.
Worth a read and strongly recommended for anyone in a leadership role; also for anyone aspiring to be a leader or a golfer or both.
Two words – studying and learning – have always been interchangeable for me until I joined the Indian Army as a Second Lieutenant in 1982. That was when I commenced applying the knowledge I had gained – especially in trigonometry and physics – while calculating various ballistic parameters for the long range guns.
Studying was the formal education I received at school and at the Academy where I gained knowledge – the basics – which stood as the foundation for all my learning. Learning was all about applying the knowledge in many situations and there were many errors, mistakes, commissions and omissions. I learned more with every passing experience. While learning, there was always a chance of failure – I won some and lost many.
Let us examine the definitions of the two words:-
To Learn – to gain knowledge or skill by studying, practicing, being taught, or experiencing something. Learning is absorbing the information, testing its validity to the point of being able to understand the information.
To Study – to read, memorise facts, attend school, etc, in order to learn about a subject. Studying is the act of gathering the information and poring over it, deciding what is relevant and what is not.
One studies to learn. Many a times one studies a lot, but learns hardly anything. One tends to forget what one studied, especially when the aim was only to score a few marks in an examination. Here there is neither any addition to one’s knowledge nor development of any skills.
Studying is pushing and learning is pulling. The content is pushed to the students and learners pull the content what they want to learn. In order to increase one’s English vocabulary, reading the dictionary alone will not suffice. It is mere studying. Reading a book and referring to a dictionary is the ideal way as one learns more from the context the word is used than from its dictionary meaning. One may study English grammar for days, but without getting into real communication – both speaking and writing – it’s hardly of any use and one is learning neither the language nor the grammar. We learn the alphabets of a language by-heart, we learn to associate these alphabets to form words to read and write. We learn grammar, but study literature.
In mathematics there are only two digits – 0 and 1 – the rest are all combinations of these. There is only one mathematical operation – addition – subtraction is addition of a negative number, multiplication is continuous addition and division is addition of fractions. If a child learns this basic fact, rest will follow.
Doctors while at medical school memorise all Latin medical terms, and by constant usage familiarise with these terms. They apply their knowledge and learn to diagnose and also carryout a procedure or a surgery.
To be successful in any profession today, studying and earning a degree is not enough. A bachelor’s degree is the minimum educational requirement to become a Lieutenant in the Army, but the selection criteria is more about leadership qualities, empathy, problem solving ability, etc. In today’s digital world with machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, these skills are more important than the marks scored and degrees earned.
For many, studying is associated with reading. It may be true as one grows into an adult, acquiring knowledge and understanding various concepts. Babies are constantly learning, but are neither studying nor reading. Learning occurs at random too – with one’s observations and correlating the same with the knowledge already gained. Listening to someone well experienced in the field, one learns a lot. It can be from a new experience, or from what one reads, analyses and perceives.
Studying at school (including home schooling) is vital because it teaches students essential life values. More than studying or learning, it is more about developing social skills and being a team player. Many students realised it during the pandemic.
School gives the students the basics – alphabets, numbers, sounds, arithmetic skills and social skills. It develops problem-solving skills in students. Expertise of the teacher helps students understand and gain knowledge. Schools also help develop many hidden talents in students. It guides and motivates students to bring the best out of them. It is also an avenue to interact with other people. It is a place to meet new friends and colleagues. School enhances social skills with students dealing with different kinds of people.
Learning never exhausts the mind – Leonardo da Vinci
For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them – Aristotle
The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you -B.B. King
Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere – A Chinese Proverb
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