Guardians of the Dawn, Sentinels of the East, Poorab ke Rakshak, Friends of the Hill People, what ever; the Assam Rifles; as the only Para-military Force, or one of the Central Police Organisations (CPOs); has been a harbinger of peace and stability since inception in 1835! Now deployed from the India/Tibet/Burma (Mynamar) Tri- Junction to Haiti (MINUSTAH) with strong presences in J&K and Op “Pawan”, earlier; the AR has made a name for itself, on its own steam. And, grudgingly earned accolades even from the Army formation commanders who press it very hard during war, and some of whom, deride it in whilst in the bar.
I’ve seen the Assam Rifles’ lads in the Lohit Frontier division of NEFA in 1970, seen them in north Sikkim, Manipur and Nagaland. I’ve lived with them in Mizoram (1982-84) 19, 1, 6 ,18, ARs, HQ MRR. I’ve commanded them, 19 AR from Serchchip
They carried me most of the time, but when I was leaving, what a farewell!! The photo album will be cherished even my great- great- grand-children. My Gayatri was born in my unit hospital way back in 1982: they sent two boys in 2008 for her wedding, even though, by then only Sub Maj Digari had seen me ever in flesh and blood! What affection even after so many decades! What loyalty whilst in command! What fighting spirit whilst in operations! What map-reading———they could give me a ten figure grid reference of any landmark just by looking at the ground!! ha ha.What intelligence! I knew what was being cooked in each and every kapu-house for miles around.
Capt PR Sangam ( ASC to Sikh) was my Adjutant ( in-fact, defacto Commandant, actually).Live wire.
Fluent in Punjabi, picked up Gorkhali, and also mizo-ton in 19 AR. Every where the whole day also, night. Regular nulla- rem ( only hob-nobbing, nothing more)with the local kappis and UG-grass widows——-the best sources for actionable live intelligence. He, now is, Commander PC Wing, in the rank of Brigadier. Commanded 2 Sikh, got them the Army Chief’s Banner for Best Battalion! Later was also commandant of an AR battalion in Nagalaland. In between, volunteered and went on the Dakshin Gangotri expedition to the Antartica! Some guy. Some spirit. Terrific!!
Op Zebra, a classic case study of unorthodox special missions, even as of date, in CIJWS, Vairengte . Five chaps. One Kumaoni, one Garhwali, one Rengma-Naga, one Gurkha, one Mizo. ALL 19 AR. All-alone, masquerading as the so-called MNA troopers, for over six weeks. They located and then shot dead the so called SS battalion commander and his adjutant in his hide-out in north Mizoram———they had been tasked to bump off only the battalion commander! What initiative! What exploitation of success! What guile; what cunning! They had gone around saying that they were carrying a missive from the SS C-in-C Tawnluia for the SS battalion commander, so please take us to him, in his lair! Three decorations; one Kirti Chakra ( Kalyan Singh Kanyal) two Shaurya Chakras ( Rengma & Pembe Lama; the second mentioned was picked up as his SM by the then DG AR, Lt Gen Mike Lahiri. Mike swore by him!! I swore by him. He could run the 2 Miles BPET as the offg SM, in 10 Minutes flat!….He is on the cover of one of the Custodians. ) !!! Many DGAR awards for Zebra . Absolutely, No ill will. The poor and humble jhoom- farmer-kappus-were overwhelmed with gratitude; you see these UGs had been really sponging off them! Kalyan Singh & Co won their hearts and mind in rapid fire from their carbines! The Mrs Elizabeth Batten-Court saga of 2009, regarding her helicopter rescue from the FARC guerillas, by the Colombian Army, in the Amazon rain forests of South America, is not a patch on Zebra.
Winning hearts and minds is the main stamp of AR ops. So different from the ham-handed and ponderous ways of the IA in CI ops, the ISAF, the NATO. Sacked-Mchrystal, and his successor, the thinking- philosopher C-in- C Afghanistan; Gen Petreaus; the US-Top-gun in Iraq—Oderino,———- Dubya Bush, Barak Obama, Karzai, and that cocky retired Brig Ponwar of the CRPF School in Chattisgarh, the lot could learn a lot from suave and slick exploits of The Force; any day. Also the CRPF, its elite Cobras, the AP Grey Hounds, et tall , have some thing to really gain, and profit, should they be able to pick up a trick or two from the Assam Rifles.
The AR-ops precipitate no collateral damage! Not even interrogation centres like the ones that have given the US such a bad name now. Actually the AR intelligence boys recognize every one all around even from behind at 500 meters. They do not really have to resort to interrogation-‘techniques’. They declare a suspect black only when very sure, which they are most of the time, having lived with the locals over the decades. One cannot ask them to declare grey as black. Or, white as grey. Black is black, no matter how much of the pressure of formation commanders, the Commandant has to put up with. They care two hoots for the ‘ketch-up’ colonels, any way!
The Infantry School commandant; when I was with the Platoon Commander’s Wing; was terribly worked-up and annoyed with me; one of his SIs; when he heard me say to the PC course JCO students that they should go and see AR JCOs any where, any time, and see what shouldering responsibility means, what initiative should be in war and peace, what leadership means at the sub-unit level, in operations. The sturdy AR JCOs get construction work of barracks, stitching of uniforms in unit family welfare centers , education of the unit wives, running of unit cinema halls etc all on shoe-string budgets. Truly remarkable: their versatility! What is most commendable is that that they learn doing all this, whilst on-the job! No formal training is imparted, which is also the case for gathering intelligence, interrogation, running arra-machine-saws, improvising river crossing expedients, at which they are past-masters! They learn it the hard way—sweat and guts; guts and blood; blood and sweat. They receive and brief visiting army brass fully, on all aspects, all at the drop of a hat. And they are as tough as nails. Real hard-boiled soldiers. Conduct live grenade firing! What not and what not. They; however, cannot do opposed river crossing, out-flanking moves along with mechanized columns, call in close air support, or even amphibious landings. This is mainly because all these do not come in the ambit of their mandate. Get them into CI ops. Leave them to their devices. You cannot touch them! And what is more it is they who hold the keys to Command.
The MT drivers are matchless and very daring, also very careful at the same time; the signal communications always through; they will get you even Capt Kirk of space-ship Enterprise in inter-stellar space, patching up all along, in all kinds of weather. What overland communications. The entire 82 Mtn Bde counted only on the 2AR maar boats to cross the mighty and monsoon-swollen Brahamputra in Upper-Assam. They counted only on the 2AR elephants to ford the raging mountain torrent Digaru, in the north bank! They counted on the AR wing in Kibithoo to ‘look after’ six IA soldiers, deployed as EW elements, all by themselves in Dichu, which is no where from no where, bang on the Indo-Tibetan IB right opposite the PLA Regiment in Rima.
Mike Lahiri was our CO. He had played for the India first eleven football team. He was a Ranger-course Rambo, ex-USA. He played for the battalion football team even as a CO in NEFA. 2AR CO also had played, but only for the company team. Friendly match was organised. 2 AR beat 4/3rd 3:0! Angry Mike arranged a return match. Score; 4/3rd lost 0:4!!! And the 2AR CO got on to the field only as a token gesture for five minutes!( Mike lead the 4/3rd team to victory in the 39 GTC Football Championship, cutting short the SO course he was on. He got a straight Alpha on that too, like in all the others! )
The 2 AR QG sentry was barely visible from the road, only his greased lightening-like and cracking salami- shastra was heard when ever any of us passed by. What snappy drill movements!
Was a member of a GCM trying a 2 AR gurkha lad for man-slaughter.2AR had made all administrative arrangements including providing a babu-typist in attendance. He typed as the court deliberated, straight from the horses’ mouth on to the Querty. No drafts. Produced the typed proceedings even whilst we were deciding on the sentence! What speed. What ear to the ground. What concentration.
The much fabled Maharaja Long Range Patrol (LRP) of 4/3 GR, when Mike Lahiri was CO in Lohitpur (NEFA) has gone into the various documents in New Delhi’s United Services’ Institute (USI).
Lead by Capt Ravindra Mishra, with Sub Bel Bhadur Pun as his 2iC; it traversed the uncharted, unmapped, and unfrequented and non-vapid primary rain-forested wastes on the India-Tibet-Burma Tri-junction (Emra Valley) for over three months. For their reconnaissance of this un-Godly terrain, both the patrol leader and his 2-i-C, earned the USI’s prestigious MacGregor Medals; the only time one single mission has earned it for two members! Three personnel of 2 AR were part of this LRP : Rfn Kum Bahadur, Rfn Sher Bahadur Tamang and NK Bhuwan Singh Thapa .They were more than useful. Their knowledge of the area, local conditions, sense of improvisation were of great help. These golden traits of the AR are the hallmark of their true face-value.
When I was CO 19 AR, a relative of mine; a SP gunner, was BM ( and Brigade Patrol Master, as a result of which) of 311 Mtn Bde in Lungleh. One of his patrols lost its way and got mixed up with one of 18 AR’s ( also, in Lungleh). A few casualties. In the ensuing blame-game, blame got shifted onto the head of 18 AR CO, Lt Col Gopalaswamy, a NDA course-mate of mine and even tinier. Hardly ever spoke to my relative after this. The same guy in Mhow again. Me with PC wing, he doing the SC. Jas Ram, ex-6AR was his neighbour.
“Who is this infantry-wala muchchar?” he asked me.
“Col Jas Ram”.
“Jas Ram, who?”.
“Jas Ram, AC”.
“???..?
“Yes, Lt Col Jas Ram, Ashok Chakra, Class-1”.
“Class-1…?!!”. “That’s as good as a PVC”
“Yes Param Vir Chakra”.
Jas Ram is on Page 238. The other high awards are all listed on the same page. Period photos of AR jawans since raising as Cachar levveis (180).Stunning pictures of the virgin terrain of Arunachal, Nagaland, Sikkim: Thagla Ridge, Dhola;….the bunkers of the Rajput Battalion and elements of AR subunits on the Namka-chu, the river of silence, on 20 Oct 1962…never seen before by many, on pages 173 and 174.Bumla Battle(174/175). Kibithhoo on the Telu. And, Dichu too! Stunning visuals. Walong, the scene of a do and die battle in 1962. Dated photo-plates from hoary–history of the AR—Mary Winchester-(126) –they still talk of her in Lungleh. A very boyish Dalai Lama, crossing over to India-(167)— being received by boys of 5 AR. The gora-sahibs in Aijwal reviewing 1 AR ;1930s; ceremonial parade. What turnout! Pandit Nehru reviewing another. The Tripura palace;sphinx-chinthe. The wispy ‘V’ force of the Burma Campaign in WW-II (146/147); 3 AR: Kohima 1944 (150/151). Post independence IGARs (154).Burma Border Guards. The AR earthquake relief of 1950s (156) 1st WW Lushai Labour Corps (134/135). Morning ‘phoggy’ in Mizoram…tribal warriors. . ………..Sikh Bhangra dancers and the Mizo nullahs doing the chapchar-kutt (the bamboo dance) (111). What vibes.What sync. Balle-balle and the clap-clap of the bamboos clashing!! ………AR hospital civilian local nurses…tribal ………
Many unforgettable photo- plates. All unforgettable; All worth a thousand words each, and there are at least a hundred here in this very impressive coffee-table book!
ALL in all, this glossy show cases the unique ETHOS of The Force, ( no photos, but it’s fragrance permeates all the pages!) over the ages changed not one bit…an ethos that is one of equanimity and perseverance in the face of unending odds of terrain, the elements, neo-stone-age living conditions, and zilch, abs-zero infrastructure; the mayhem of the UGs, etc. The lads always come out on top————–:——– in their hearts , a hard-headed resolve to prevail; with smiles on their faces, and a song on their lips. Too good! Kudos to Kunal & Co. Bouquets for the DG AR.
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