by Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 14th Nov 13
On Wednesday, 13th Nov, the
Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) completed a weeklong
joint training exercise, termed Hand-in-Hand. Some 160 Indian soldiers of the
Sikh Light Infantry travelled to Kunming province in southern China for the
exercise, which has been held twice earlier, in Kunming in 2007, and in Belgaum
in 2008.
The
exercise saw Indian and Chinese troops living together, sharing dormitories and
dining tables. According to the officers who participated, the process of
training and operating together practically eliminated the language barrier,
with a high degree of camaraderie being generated between soldiers from both
countries.
After
several days of endurance training, obstacle crossing and tactical drills
together, a joint unit containing Indian and Chinese soldiers raided a
simulated terrorist group. The 100 highly trained terrorists were depicted as
taking refuge on the Sino-Indian border, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
But the PLA-Indian Army joint force, operating under joint command, planned an
executed an attack in which they approached, cordoned off, and destroyed the
terrorist camp with live fire.
The
senior Chinese and Indian commandes, Lieutenant General Zhou Xiaozhou and
Lieutenant General Anil Kumar Ahuja, terminated the successful exercise by
highlighting the mutual understanding and bonds that had been forged by
operating together. It was announced that the next Hand-in-Hand exercise would
be held in India.
I was browsing through the net recently to see if there have been any new development about clothing and gear of Indian soldiers but its same old same old! Watching our jawans in this and many other pictures of various joint exercises and knowing they are second to none in the world when it comes to showing courage and valour, i personally feel their personality is somewhat downgraded by the type of clothing and other gear that our army have been providing them with! From helmets to jackets,magagine pouches,elbow and knee pads(only provided recently to a handful of soldiers) to boots they are all of vintage style after being compared to todays standards!
ReplyDeleteAnd our highly ranked officers (bunch of guys who reached those ranks but don't deserve them) are only good at issuing RFIs and then scrapping them. Few equipments and gears are purchased off the shelf, some from this vendor some from that vendor all of different designs and build! Are there any development on this front? Will be really grateful if i get a response from you!
Ashishtomar74@gmail.com