Army Day 2008

It started on the eve of the Army Day 2008… The “MyNews” programme on NDTV’s 24X7 news channel got me all in a bind. The presenter of the clip on the IA website trashed in roundly in so many words! Said this was shocking in these times of modernization of the IA, when the Brass is talking of nothing but this, that all the new items, that, the official website has is, is the photo of the new Chief Deepak Kapoor, and nothing else! The operations of the Army are covered only upto 1961! One would imagine that after this the IA was just sitting pretty! WW II exploits get a good showing but then the IA was a tool of the Imperialist Brits!

There is not even a passing mention of the fallen unknown soldier! NO mention of the fallen dead post 1961, though Kargil OP Vijay does indeed get to have a notable mention. No wonder then that the COAS laments in one of the major front page stories of the TOI that day that, ‘We may have to, go in for compulsory military service in the IA.” They are a 12000 short out of 40K sanctioned for the officer cadre. 3000 want to quit service for better pasture in the corporate world with large pay packets, perks and what have you & not a whisper of any risk what so ever, or hard life, in fact it is quite the opposite and all cushy and comfy. NDA has managed to snare only 190 cadets for the 400 vacancies, & the IMA only 90 Gentle-men Cadets to report for 250 that can be accomodated! Time was when the cream of the Indian male youth stepped over each other to try one more time for the NDA/IMA, to just to make it on the merit list and get a call up notice from the UPSC.

Now, all the vacancies go a-begging! Blame it on service conditions , the prolonged ‘no-war, no-peace’ situation in J&K, the rash of insurgencies in the NE, the deathly grip of the IAS mandarins to run down the defence Services in the order of protocol ( though the Pay Commissions do throw a morsel or two, and the ranks of red-tab-walas keep swelling by the day, but not the prestige of their ranks) with the Chiefs and the Brass that matters, looking on as mute spectators ( & keeping quiet in the hope of landing gubernatorial posts post retirement.) The one time exalted badges of rank of Lt Col’s are pooh-poohed and there indeed is also talk of having to do away with this rank altogether!! Any surprise there fore if the Indian male avoids the Army like the plague, but opts for the creature-comforts of the civvie-street? The Nation treats the soldiers like the Christmas tree; first it decorates them, then when the danger is past, it throws them away! This does not augur well for one with a runaway economic growth on the GDP, but one where 98% of the populace lives below the poverty-line of less than a dollar a day, and the Maoists and the Naxals are looking askance, everywhere! They will need the Army to quell more dissatisfaction very soon, so the mandarins would be advised to not to rest on their laurels, no, not just yet.

The morning papers carried no announcements of Army buses being arranged to pick up old soldiers for witnessing the Army DAY parade in Delhi Cantt, like times of yore hither-to-fore. The cable wala had a bad connection on the DD network, so no live coverage was possible to be watched; switched on the AIR but was able to hear it broadcast only briefs of the PM’s confabulations with the Red Chinese top honchos within confines the Chinese Great Walls of the People’s Hall of Fame, in the Forbidden City of the Middle Kingdom! Just Looked around, rifled a few drawers and located a cassette of martial military music & played it over & over again and over again all day. Then went over to the MCD offices in Rajouri Garden to collect my dead mother’s Death Certificate. It took me all of three hours standing in a snaking queue to get the supervisor to sign it. In the Raj-days, it would be delivered to a soldier’s abode or hutment, in person by the chaprasi of the patwari!

The papers carried a full page ad (Rs 5L at least) on the ARMY DAY..”harbingers of peace and stability”. The Honourable RM spoke of Sabhavna & ‘Samaritan’. No one mentioned the 1962 Sino-Indian War or of recovery lost territory from China, lest it give offence to Jin Biao! Chou en Lai & Mao Tse Tung are happily turning in their graves smirking and sniggering at Panditji, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh & Co.

Mind wanders to the by-gone Army Days… the one in 1980 had two of my regimental officers , one Capt Jayant Thapa, SC, belonging to the 5th of an unbroken six generation line of distinguished soldiers in the IA ( & 3 Gurkhas) and one Capt Chhap Narayan Gurung, my St Joseph’s school-mate from Dehra Dun, and the son of a Direct Regular Commission (DRC) Maj MB Gurung ( who could, till the very last, lift with his left hand only, a 303 rifle from the muzzle-end & not show any sweat for it!) doing the duties of Officer Stick Orderlies duties on the Saluting Dais.

One had one of my youngsters Maj (Later retired as a Maj Gen, with a chestful of very high decorations) Randhir Sinh, get his investiture of a well earned Sena Medal (1990s or so for conducting successful Counter Insurgency Operations whilst serving with 4/3GR deployed in the 8 Mountain Division; being commanded by none other than the intrepid ex-4/3rd CO, Mike Lahiri; Area of Responsiblity in the Imphal Valley, Manipur. In the 1971Bangla Desh Ops, Randhir was Mentioned in Depatches. He was the ADC to the”best Field Commander on the sub-continent — declared by Sam Bahadur, FM “) Lt Gen Sagat Singh 3 GR, the then GOC 33 Corps that crossed the swollen Meghna, in a dash to Dhaka, that totally unnerved the Paki garrison under Gen Niazi. He surrendered along with 90,000 Pakistani troops soon afterwards. Much later, Randhir got to get the AUYSM for successfully commanding the Indian 202 Mountain Brigade in Siachen.

Then there was that Army Day where Col P Sangam, CO 2 Sikh, along with his Subedar Major collected the Best Battalion Trophy from the then COAS. He was my Adjutant in 19 Assam Rifles, and a man for all occasions, …picked him up as my adjutant despite five of my regimental officers serving with 19 AR then, and immediately went into their bad books! But Sangam proved himself and passed all my tests, & surpassed all my expectations, in the wildest my dreams! Why, he ran 19 AR for me!! He was commissioned into the ASC; went on for his cross attachment to the 2nd SIKHs, won over the towering khalsas with his deft stick work on the hockey field , & by his officer like qualities, ( sadly most of which are absent, as per a report in the TOI in many of IA top of the rung serving officers of the day…the two- way facing Leh GOCs, both asked to hand in their papers, one for eyeing the foreign female tourists, the most recent one who got very fresh with a lady Indian Army Officer, his very subordinate; the rum seller of the Barielly , the daal & egg selling DGs’, petrol sellers of Ladakh, even a corps commander who got nailed by the IB itself…) & applied for permanent transfer to the SIKHS, was gladly granted by AHQ and he was more than happy. Served there with distinction, respect and with the dint of hard labour sweat of his brow, toil , and the love of it. The Colonel of the SIKHs gave him then & there, his command! His happiness knew no bounds. In between he volunteered for The Indian Antartica Expedition to Dakshin Gangotri, was accepted, and thus had a ball there as well. Later, he commanded a brigade with aplomb and retired as a deputy GOC! People asked me as to why I had taken him as my adjutant to which I say why not, he is Charlie Squadron NDA, a product of which I am too!

In another one, Mota Yogi was seen hogging all of the TV screens as he hovered helpfully near the saluting base. No one can miss Yogi, as he is a rather healthy JAT from Bulandshahar. He is Six foot six in his stockings on bare feet & tips the scales only at 200 pounds or there about. Only the 4/3rd johnnies missed him in Karu; Ladakh; that night when they broke out in open mutiny in 1979. Yogi escaped a fate worse than death by hiding behind a very ,large boulder of a glacial moraine. Lucky him. Satish Bahl & Dasgupta got the worst side of khukris from their own troops, instead, and were left for dead!!! Satish Bahl was transferred to the JAK LI, where he rose to his potential & retired as a Brigadier with a high decorations. Dasgupta went over to the MECHINF. He commanded one of its Battalions as a Full Colonel. One of his sons has since been commissioned into this unit.poem is reproduced..’ …”..on http:// amarjawanjyoti.com”

Maj Gen Vinod Bhanot, 3 GR, AVSM, VrC,my NDA course-mate, commanded the Army Day Parade in the 1990s when I was into my 4th year of my retirement. He also commanded two Battalions of the 3rd Gorkha Rifles: the 3rd and 5th ; one soon after he recovered from a heart-condition, also a platoon in the 5th whilst attacking in a pitch black night up the high altitude heights of the Hathi Matha feature, extremely cold and wintery climes in the 1971 war in the West, in Ladakh. He fought valiantly and was decorated with a VIR CHAKRA for his efforts. This Battalion got the REGIMENT its second post Independence Battle Honour: Shingo River! The first one was won by 2/3rd in the 1947 Battle of PIRKANTHI They got URI as the Battle Honour for attacking and capturing this feature in a silent night attack, banking only on the sheer audacity of their drawn eleven inch khukris, therefore.

Another GOC I have time for is Maj Gen C S Nugyal of the Sikhs. He was the pioneer in the holding of the Saltoro Ridge in Siachen and for bringing the hi-altitude warfare into the public domain via his advised longish article in the India Today. He also earned a Magregor Medal from the USI for outstanding recce of the year. He liked a poem I had written and wanted his son to read it too, so impressed was he with it. This is reproduced below. Randhir who sought the command of the Siachen Brigade and got it too, liked it as well.

The ceremonial parades are all but a thing of the past in the IA. But for those during the National Days in the Capital, the ceremonials for the State VIPs, only the Training Centers & Cadet Academies have it otherwise. Time was when, even as late as 1969, we turned out in Sam Brownes and Gorkha Hats to parade with the men every Saturday, in Babina, when with the 2nd Independent Armoured Brigade ;Fluer de lis, then being commanded by Brig A N Jatar, Maha Vir Chakra.

AK Sam Sharma
Lt Col (Retd)
January 15, 2008

The Writer Lt Col AK ‘Sam’ Sharma is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Kharakvasla. Col Sharma was commissioned into the 3rd Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army in Februray 1964, He retired in 1997 after serving for 33 years. A graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, he holds a MSc Degree in Defence Studies from the Madras University. This officer has been on the instructional staff of two of Indian Army’s premiere training institutes: the College of Combat; now known as the War College; (Directing Staff Junior Command Wing-1972-1975) and the Infantry School ( Senior Instructor, Platoon Commander’s Wing 1984-87) both located in Mhow (MP); where he taught tactics at the unit and sub-unit levels to students, some of who were from friendly foreign armies. He has also served at the world- renowned Indian Military Academy, Dehradun.

Credit: http://frontierindia.net/army-day-2008