is this for real?

[dev]

Just read this and let me know if this is a real blog. Found it in rediff.

Regards,

Dev


For Whom The Whistle Blows

31st May.

Lots of pressure from above. "No kills ! No kills ! What the f*** are you guys doing? C'mon dammit ! Its time you did something to earn your pay " Damn !! What do I do? Been moving around the Area of Responsibility (AOR) day and night. Overt and covert patrols. Listening to bullshit from scores of so called 'sources' all through the day. Monitoring militant frequencies. The works. But all to no avail. No luck at all. Jahangir was spotted last night. Gul Dar was spotted in the day. Amir Khan is organising a conference, etc etc etc. The information goes on pouring in. But I don't want information. I want intelligence. Hard intelligence. Don't want those m***** f*****'s itineraries, want their bodies. Jeez ! Got to do something. But what??????

Anyways, forget the despair. Its a pleasant summer morning. Lets go patrolling in W village. Send Man Friday to check if the guys are ready. Affirmative. Lets go boys !

Walking through the village. Kuldeep is point. I'm behind him. Balbirs close to me with the LMG (Light Machine Gun). The rest of the guys following. Moving on both sides of the road. Fingers on triggers. Eyes constantly searching. But there’s nothing unusual. The locals are awake. Moving around with their routine chores. Kids off to school. Another day when I go back and say "NTR (Nothing to Report)" ??

Whats that??????? I hear a low whistle. Look around. See nothing out of the ordinary. Damn !! Then why the whistle? Whats up?

I get a hunch that somethings definitely fishy. Move off the road into a little alley. Moving fast. A slow jog. The guys follow. I look at the locals as i cross them. Theres definitely something. The look on their faces shows it.

The alley goes past a few huts and leads out of the village into the adjoining fields. I see scores of people there. Working. I halt. The guys take up positions. We do a slow, careful scan. Nothing.

Wait !!! Theres one guy about 300 metres away. Walking away from us through the fields. Tall, well built, wearing a salwar suit. But no weapon in sight. A local headed for his fields? Or somebody else? As I stare at him, he looks back. Can't see his face at that distance but his pace definitely quickens. I take off. Running after him. Yelling "Stop !! Ruk Jao!!" My AKs at the ready as i run after him. He's still walking. Doesn't look back. Damn ! A false alarm?

I close in. About 50 metres away. Suddenly, i spot the barrel of a rifle coming over his shoulder. Jeez !! He ain't looking back but he's going to open fire. Should I shoot? Am I sure its a rifle barrel? Before I can decide, he decides for me. Lets loose a burst and starts running. Firing behind over his shoulder as he runs. I take cover and fire back. No luck. He doesn't hit me and I return the favour. He's moving further away now. I get off the ground. Think of my God and chase him. Firing on the move. Closing in.

Yippeee ! I've hit him. He's limping. I slow down. Look back. My guys are right behind me. I signal to Balbir. He takes to the ground. LMG bipod down. A nice slow burst . Down goes the bad guy. Balbir stops firing. I run to the guy. He's on the ground. All bloodied, chanting his prayers. Times up buddy !!

As I get close, i can see his face. Fair, handsome, young. His eyes look into mine as i get close and then he raises his rifle and lets go a burst. Whew !! That was close. Okay pal ! Thats how you want it? I stop, shift the change lever to 'Single Shot', look through the sight and knock his head off. Ciao ass**** !

Abdul Majid. Hizbul Mujahideen. Good bye !!
Permalink

[eljefe]

...or somebody's had a real slow day and lots of army friends.
axx

[eljefe]

Reminds me of Anirudh Bahl's ' bunker 13' whatta load of c**p!
All the indians in that book guys speak idiomatic american english.probably next book, they'll be speaking ebonics ...

[Sakobav]

Too much Hollywood jargon .. agree with earlier comments..few guys I know never want to speak about such events and then we have spin masters too

NG

[eljefe]

Have a couple of med school juniors serving as doctors in SF units and they pack more ammo then med supplies-and they carry glocks and beretta 92's-the stories they have to tell after eating a couple of glasses after the drink is drunk, sound so casual and down to earth-all the 'bad guys are rather like furniture -inanimate and dispassionate, unlike Mr Bahl...

[Sakobav]

Check this site out for Indian SF heroes
http://www.majorudaisingh.com/home.htm

[eljefe]

Those are the kind of guys I'm talking about-go out, do their job and die if it comes to that-live upto the 'balidaan' on their commando badge-not post hollywood blogs after a bad office party hangover!
Thanks Navdeep for that link!
Axx

[jonahpach]

I used to have a picture of a young Mizo sepoy (Rashtrya Rifles) perched atop a mountain of militants he 'singlehandedly' despatched. After undergoing bareley 8 months into training knocked off 12 militants single handed. As the story goes this boy (20 years) and his battalion was sent to surround some militants somewhere in J&K.
As a young recruit and a non vet. in J&K, he was placed at a 'safe' location and the rest of the battalion went to surround the area. As it happens, the militants tried to slip off from the cordon at this very 'safe' location. Alone and not knowing what to do, he knocked off six of the militants while the remaining surrendered.
It seems the Army have a standing order of not capturing alive lesser known foreign militants and the rest of those surrendered were 'executed' on the spot. The boy was given the credit of killing all 12 militants! He was recommended to receive a very high military honour but was disqualified due some excuse or the other. Anyway he was promoted and given a stripe. (Will rummage for the photo and try to upload it sometime this week.)
Jonah

[penpusher]

8 months training and the sepoy is sent into action.Jonah, where do you come up with these.

I know of 2 people who have seen action in J&K and have killed militants, both will not talk about their 'kills'.In fact one of them,who had killed 2, went a bit loony for some time and needed a shrink to get back to normal.

penpusher

[jonahpach]

No yarn pulling this! I may not be absolutely correct about the 8 months. But as i gather the boy was in the army for just one year! And was on holiday when i met him. I (used to have) the picture he gave me and i verified with the local sainik authorities here as i wanted to do a story on him.
His as yet very short tenure in the army was one of the very reasons why a high gallantry award was not given to him. (Will try and come up with his name rank and number) No comments about your looney tunes!

But Just 2? And you speak for the rest of the entire Indian army?
[/quote]

I know of 2 people who have seen action in J&K and have killed militants, both will not talk about their 'kills'.In fact one of them,who had killed 2, went a bit loony for some time and needed a shrink to get back to normal.

If your assumption and inclination is right and taking into account the thousands of militants being killed by the Indian army every year, The Indian army must by now be almost entirely looney! I dont buy that!

[jonahpach]

And as far as the talking about the "not speaking about it" goes, I had to do a lot of prodding (through his parents) and I think it was about after a month of careful pushing and prodding that I managed to get his side of the story. (I used the angle that it was better that he spit it out than burden himself needlessly) He even confessed that he complained to his OC that he didnt want to have the "blood" of the entire lot in his name but was coerced by his CO to accept the credit.

[dev]

I read a series of stories from this web log and it was so well written thatI was amazed. Which is why I put it out here wondering if it was an authentic Rambo.

The language is great and its as fast paced as a commando comic. So you all smell major bull eh? Okay. I will try to read what the real guys write like from ngrewal's link.

Thanks,

Dev

[penpusher]

Jonah,

I do not speak for everybody in the Indian Army but just quoted these two instances as an illustration of the way most men do not like to talk about the 'kills'that they have made and your last post bears that out. There are bragatts and most of the times they are telling plain lies or a heavilly embellished version of what really happened.As far as going looney goes,every man handles stress and guilt in diff. ways.You would have noticed the increase in the no. of incidents if sepoys posted in J&K turning on their colleagues and officers with deadly conscequences.But not all are doing that.



As far as your talk about the Indian Army having a policy of bumping off militants/terrorists,I consider it to be its a disrespect to all the Jawans who have fought and laid down their lives for this country and those who are still out there, putting their lives on the line every day while you and I sleep. No Army would like to lose an opportunity to gather intel about the organisation/s that they are fighting against.Captured enemy is the best source of such info.The Indian Army is not an organisation that condones a policy, official or un-official, of murdering anybody captured by them.By the way, a short tenure is no basis for denying anybody a gallantry award.

Take care,
penpusher

[kanwar76]

All this can be true for all you know. I recently met a lieutenant who looked and talked more like a Dude just out of college than an army officer.

Inder

[jonahpach]

Yup penpusher I agree with you on the original topic. Dev, This fellow looks like he has seen too many movies. But what do you know.. Maybe some of our younger generation of officers who have been fed a good helping of hollywood and bollywood mumbo jumbo maybe just like this! I seem to remember reading somewhere that recently the Indian Army is beginning to feel the lack of quality officers of good breeding.

As far as your talk about the Indian Army having a policy of bumping off militants/terrorists,I consider it to be its a disrespect to all the Jawans who have fought and laid down their lives for this country and those who are still out there, putting their lives on the line every day while you and I sleep. No Army would like to lose an opportunity to gather intel about the organisation/s that they are fighting against.Captured enemy is the best source of such info.The Indian Army is not an organisation that condones a policy, official or un-official, of murdering anybody captured by them.By the way, a short tenure is no basis for denying anybody a gallantry award.

Nice thoughts for the country! And all in good faith and intentions. But this is not the real picture I am afraid. Tell this to the average jawan who faces the enemy and has just lost a friend to a (Jihadi or whatever) ambush in the frontline areas of the country and he will laugh his head off! In the heat of battle there are no rules! Even the US army finds it hard to control its troops in battle. The Indian army does have a list of 'Wanted' key militants that it badly wants to capture 'Alive'. Other than that most of the army company commanders are left to their own devices with regard to capture of militants. Foreign and other riff raff militants who are just foot soldiers are usually expendable and not worth the trouble of arrest or interrogation! (You can talk to a middle ranking JCO in the Indian army who has spent sometime and faced the 'enemy' in the frontline areas of J&K about this) You might be surprised!