Indian Defence Review

Religious Institutes

The commanding officer of a unit is responsible for the religious and the spiritual well-being of his jawans. Depending on the class composition, a unit can have a mandir, gurudwara, church or a mosque, or all of these together. In mixed units, rather than having separate religious places, a sarva dharma sthal (a common prayer hall) may be provided, where all troops meet for various religious functions. Army life is totally secular. Army jawans are taught to respect all religions and there is nothing unusual to find a Muslim or Christian visiting the unit temple or gurudwara. Every officer, JCO and jawan irrespective of his religion, attends and takes active part in the festivals of all religions represented in a unit. A unit pandit, granthi, priest or maulvi are specially trained, so that they can impart religious teaching with due respect to all religions. These religious teachers maintain unit’s religious institutes and conduct various rituals and functions. Every Sunday whole unit gathers to attend religious prayers.

Family Welfare Centre

Every unit maintains a family welfare centre for the jawans’ wives. Here, the officers’ wives who are generally better educated conduct literacy/educational/vocational classes for the jawans’ wives. Family problems and administrative difficulties are also brought to the notice of the senior commander’s wife. For example, if there is a water shortage in family lines or a lady doctor is required to attend to the families or a jawan needs to go home due to some pressing family problem, such things may be conveyed to the commanding officer or subedar major through the welfare centre. Computer training, tailoring, embroidery, knitting and various other vocational training is organized here, as some jawans’ wives come from remote rural areas and may know little about such things. Health and hygiene and family planning problems are also discussed here. Later important points are passed on to the senior officers of the unit who take appropriate remedial action to keep jawans and their families healthy and happy.

Unit Sainik Sammelan

An unit assembles together for an open session presided over by its commanding officer once a month. All officers, JCOs and jawans are required to attend the sainik sammelan in uniform. Jawans have liberty to raise any points or problems regarding administration, training or service conditions for the consideration of the commanding officer. Though, this is considered a parade but there is no bar on raising any points including suggestions for improvement of various systems of the unit. It is an old custom and a good example of democratic functioning within military discipline. An assembly of this kind serves as a safety valve as a jawan can directly approach his commanding officer once a month.

Life in Field Areas

More than half of the Indian Army is deployed on borders. A combat unit generally spends two-three years in a field area and about two years in a peace station in a five- year-cycle. In the border areas troops are deployed in defences in readiness for war. Most of the field areas are in the remote regions without any basic amenities. Troops have to face great hardships in field areas due to harsh weather condition, high altitude and lack of common facilities like living accommodation. The Indian Army has major field stations in the following regions:

In most field areas families cannot join the troops. However, in some soft field areas they may be allowed to stay for short periods.

The majority of army units are deployed on high mountains. Troops live here in bunkers which are dugouts with thick shell-proof roofs. These bunkers are dark and small but provide shelter from enemy fire, strong cold winds, ice and snow. Guards and sentries are ever ready with their weapons on the LoC. They see the enemy daily because in most cases enemy troops are deployed right across the border, within a stone’s throw. Defences are on the hill tops and movement up and down is a major problem, even in good weather. To bring down the sick and wounded from these positions to the bases or hospitals is a major problem, since the availability of helicopters and helipads is limited to few areas only. Most of these defences remain cut off from their bases for long spell in winter, or rains. Snow accumulation in the picquets or posts can be up to 20 feet or more in winter at higher altitudes. Only a well-disciplined, dedicated and patriotic force can continue ungrudgingly in such adverse circumstances.

Deployment in Siachen Glacier is a special case. Here our troops are fighting on the highest battlefield in the world. Survival at such altitudes in adverse weather conditions is very challenging. Post are maintained by helicopters. Troop movement is done at night to avoid casualties from avalanches. Though the troops in Siachen have been provided with best quality clothing, rations and special living shelters but life in glacier is difficult and it takes a great deal of physical and mental robustness to serve there.

A part of the army is deployed on the high passes and plateaus of the Himalayas facing the Chinese in Tibet. There is a very large concentration of troops in the small mountainous state of Sikkim. The famous passes held by the army are Nathu La, Cho La and Jelep La. The life on the passes or the crest line is difficult because of extremely wet climate and frequent electric storms. The landscape is bleak and without vegetation above 11,000 feet. At Nathu La, Chinese troops stare at you from hundred yards or so from their bunkers. A good road connects the pass from Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, making it easy to reach the pass area.

The life and routine in the field areas can be described only in general terms as conditions differ greatly from region to region. Field areas can be divided into the following categories:-

High Altitude Areas

In the Himalayan region heating arrangement for the bunkers are necessary in the winter. This is provided by installing bhukharis (heating stoves) which burn coal, wood or kerosene oil. Special clothing is necessary for outdoor work in snowbound areas to avoid frost-bites and other cold weather diseases. Army patrols have to keep moving at night even in bad weather and a man may freeze to death in such conditions without snow clothing.

Soldiers in high altitude areas face problems due to lack of oxygen and uncongenial weather conditions. In Ladakh, (J&K), which is a high altitude desert with an average height of about 11,000 feet above mean sea level, the climate is extremely dry and very cold, vegetation is sparse, and the landscape is harsh and bleak. The whole area remains cut off from the rest of India in the winters which lasts over six months. The only means of communication is by air. Air service is also hazardous and infrequent due to inclement weather conditions. During the winter, troops have to subsist only on tinned rations and precooked foods.

Siachen Glacier

Siachen Glacier is located in the Eastern Karakoram Range of Himalayas. It is the second largest glacier in the world, outside the polar region. Siachen is a 80-km-long icy stretch dotted with peaks ranging between 17,800 – 25,300 feet. The second highest peak in the world, Mount K2 or Godwin Austen is in this region. Temperatures here remain sub-zero throughout the year and plunge to minus 50 degree Celsius in winters. Strong winds and snowstorms are common. Your hand can sustain cold injury in seconds, if you touch an metal surface in winters. High velocity blizzards (snowstorms) and avalanches (huge snowdrifts or slides) take their toll in this ‘white hell’. The glacier has many hidden crevasses (deep ravines covered on top by snow and ice) which can become death traps. Even the big snow vehicles which operate here sometimes disappear in these crevasses. A glacier, as you know, is a frozen river of ice which moves very slowly. The rarefied atmosphere and lack of oxygen create great health hazards for our soldiers. Basic human needs can hardly be met. Army has lost more men to inhospitable weather than in enemy action. In such surroundings only the most dedicated and motivated soldiers can survive and keep the enemy at bay.

Routine in Field or High Altitude Areas

Normal life-style comes to a standstill in high altitude areas. Bathing and washing become luxuries. Normal food habits have to be changed as a special diet is needed for survival at higher altitudes. All rations and stores have to be air dropped as there are few surface routes available. Letters are carried by special helicopter couriers to the mountains and dropped at a specified place. Long spells of bad weather keep the skies closed and all direct contact is lost with the rest of the world. Troops have to bear with extreme isolation and privation in such ‘white out’ conditions.

In Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and J&K, there have been long-drawn insurgencies. The army is deployed in these areas under trying conditions because insurgents and terrorists take shelter in crowded towns or thick jungles. There are regular encounters with the insurgents in which there are fatalities on both sides. Cordon and search operations in jungles, mountains and towns are difficult, which require large strength of troops. In such circumstances there is neither peace nor war.

In the field areas normal training for war is not possible although it is necessary as a unit may be suddenly moved to a desert or the plains during a war. A unit is normally brought back to a peace station for rest, refitting and training every two-three years.

This rotation from field to peace goes on in the life of a soldier. Can you believe that a unit packs and unpacks almost every six month on an average and there are long separations from their families?