Humans of Army

Humans of Army Stories revolving around army life.

'At the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon in 2009, I had registered for both, the twenty-one kilometres half marathon and the s...
19/07/2020

'At the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon in 2009, I had registered for both, the twenty-one kilometres half marathon and the six-kilometre run since I wasn't sure how much I would be able to run. In my practice sessions, I had never been able to go beyond nine kilometres,' says Major D.P. Singh when asked about the day that he ran his first half marathon.

‘But by the time I walked down to the starting point, I had received so many looks of disbelief and pity from people that it helped me make up my mind - Come what may, I will only run the twenty one kilometre now.’

And so, Singh hop-runs the entire distance, completely ignoring the prosthetic limb rubbing against his knee at every step. He also ignores the voice in his head that is constantly coaxing him to stop, take a lift, opt for a short cut.

'All our battles are fought in the mind, between the two people who reside inside us,' he says philosophically. 'One is good and strong, and the other is bad and weak. Through the three hours and forty-nine minutes it took me to run that day, my weak self kept tempting me to give up but I knew that if I didn't do this today, I would lose all self-respect for the rest of my life.’

When he reaches the finish line, there is loud cheering. He looks up and is pleasantly surprised to find many people clapping, disbelief mingled with respect in their eyes. They are cheering and shouting and queuing up to shake hands with him. Singh meets their eyes proudly this time, a smile playing on his lips. It was the most amazing moment of my life - I cannot even describe how I felt,’ he says. 'It was not the physical pain that I had overcome, it was the mental weakness.’

What bystanders don't know is that by this time the stump, which has constantly taken the impact of the prosthetic leg for twenty-one kilometres, has been severely lacerated. Because of the pain, he can barely walk to his car, but he does manage to get there, dragging his leg behind him. When he finally gets home and removes his artificial leg, he finds the wound raw and bleeding. It will take a long time to heal but Singh brushed it off as yet another war injury.

Winning against yourself is the most difficult thing in life and those who have won this time have the power to change things. - Major D.P. Singh (Retd.), Kargil War amputee, Champion Marathoner and The Blade Runner

~ Written by Rachna Bisht Rawat in her book Shoot. Dive. Fly.

It was a cold dark night and we were on our way to a remote village where we had the intelligence of a local terror-outf...
22/03/2020

It was a cold dark night and we were on our way to a remote village where we had the intelligence of a local terror-outfit leader hiding there from the last few days. Our plan was to mount an assault on the safehouse at the crack of dawn to capture him alive. The valley was engulfed in complete silence and the only sound there was of our footsteps. I was leading a team of ten for that operation and we were following a trail parallel to a narrow stream to reach the target location just a few kilometers from there. The entire village was under drone surveillance and I was getting regular reports on any movements there from the control room over the secure satellite link.

Just a few hundred meters before the village entry point, I was informed over the radio that Captain Ray’s pregnant wife is under medical emergency as the fetal heartbeat is a lot slower than the normal. The moment I was given this news, his wife was already undergoing surgery for an emergency C section and the baby’s condition was critical. Being a platoon commander, I was left to decide if I need to pass that information to Capt. Ray then or later. But it was a tough call for me. I wasn’t really sure what to do. Ray was more than a brother to me. We had spent some really great time together in the army. It’s really tough that her wife was facing all this on her own..

Success of any mission demands a great deal of intricate planning. Few hours back, while we were doing mock drills, we’d taken every eventuality into account and thus decided to put Ray in the first position to strike. That decision was taken after careful consideration of his unmatchable skills. I’d planned multiple operations before this but this one was going to be different. No matter how good you are in something there are times when you are blank. I wasn’t sure how he would react after hearing the news. I wanted him to be the last person to enter the target building since it wasn’t really safe there. We were dealing with a world where injuries and casualties were inevitable. The people we were going to face were not less lethal. They were equally equipped with all the fatal weapons.

I didn’t want the mission to get compromised. Even if the night was cold, I could sense the warmth in the air. Lost in thoughts, I took a pause and closed my eyes for a moment. I knew I can’t afford to let thoughts dominate in my mind during such a crucial mission which demands ex*****on unclouded by emotions. Turbulence in the mind is the enemy of every mission. To keep this emotional chaos in check was going to be the toughest part of this day.

After a few minutes, the village we were heading towards loomed into view. The only light we could see there was of a halogen lamp hanging on a pole just in front of the village entrance. We were also able to get the first view of the safehouse we would obliterate within the next few minutes. There was no turning back from here. Before moving further ahead to take our positions, I went to Capt Ray and gave him a quick hug. The next 40 minutes were going to be crucial.

The punitive strike was executed as it was planned, swiftly and quietly. I was more cautious than ever. I was furious. That night we fought like it’s our last day. The rage was visible on our face. I wanted to ensure that the enemy is not getting any chance even to fire a single bullet. Because it was a husband and a father who was leading from the front that day. We killed seven terrorists including their leader and not a single man in our team was hurt.

It was morning by the time I communicated the news to our commanding officer. He informed me that Ray’s wife's surgery went fine and she delivered a baby girl.

That night was the best one.

~ Written by Satyam Pathak

For the last 24 days the first thing I was doing in the morning just after getting up from bed was to open the closet to...
14/03/2020

For the last 24 days the first thing I was doing in the morning just after getting up from bed was to open the closet to see the picture of my daughter I had pasted there along with different beautiful memories in my life. That picture reminds me of the day she was born. It was the best moment of my life when she was handed in my arms. It was a beautiful day. I can’t forget her calm and composed face. Since that day, she is the first face I have seen in the morning after getting up from bed. Just next to the closet, there was a calendar where I was tracking the days left to go home. The number was fresh in my mind, there were still 5 more days left. I was missing my daughter and the wait was making it worse.

It was a hot Sunday morning and I had some plans to visit the local market nearby. But in military life things are quite uncertain. While I was ready for the day, I got a call from the base hospital and was told to report there immediately. There had been a series of blasts in market and injured people were getting transferred to the base hospital. I reached there immediately and started helping the wounded people. Most of them were civilians. By the time we had taken control of the situation in hospital, I saw the nursing staff rushing towards our emergency ward with a young girl on stretcher who was critically injured. This beautiful girl, probably about six or seven, was rescued from the debris of a collapsed house in the market. I was told by the policeman that her family which includes her younger brother and her father were unable to survive.

She had received a serious head injury. As I took off the cloth wrapped on her head I could see her brain matter coming out of the top. It was severe. Her condition was degrading every second and there was nothing we could do at that moment. I was told that the chances of her survival is null. It was not her day today. Things were not in her favor. I took off all her monitors, sat with her and kept her head in my lap. Sometimes the trauma we have to face as a medical professional goes into every nerve in our body, every piece of weave in your fabric. We have to wear that pain. It was one of such moments. I was helpless. I closed my eyes and started praying for her. I knew this prayer won’t be able to bring her in life. But that was all I could do that time. She died in my arms. That death impacted me more than the other ones I’d seen before.

I didn’t realize when I got so much connected to her. What was the fault of that little soul? All I saw on her face was innocence. Why did she have to pay with her life and her family as a fee of this war?

Five days later, I was home and my daughter was around me. She was so happy to see her mother after a long time. Her face was in front of me but I was still lost somewhere. I left a part of me in Syria. Who I was when I went there never came back.

~ Story of a Military Nursing Officer
Written by Satyam Pathak

10/03/2020

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There are few days you can’t forget in life. No matter how much you try, memories always accompany you. I too had one su...
10/03/2020

There are few days you can’t forget in life. No matter how much you try, memories always accompany you. I too had one such day. That was the day I was angry, sad and terrified.

I was on regular patrol duty with a bunch of newly trained recruits. It was more of an immersion exercise to gain the trust of locals. We were interacting with locals to let them know that we are there to work with them, for them. Till now, it was happening very smoothly. We felt people are getting comfortable with our presence and have started considering us as their friends. But we were wrong.

That afternoon my life changed forever. I wasn’t aware that specific patrol duty will take away a big part of me which I’ll never get back. I still remember that moment when we were passing through a narrow unpaved track between two small ridges singing songs loudly and suddenly everything was stopped with a huge bang. It was a bomb explosion. We were under attack. Before this I had only seen such situations in movies. But it wasn’t a movie this time. It was like hell on earth. There were four insurgents and it took us ten minutes to neutralize all of them. But it wasn’t a victory.

After the firing stopped, I rushed towards the injured. He was sitting next to the driver seat and was shot just after the explosion. I pulled him on the ground grabbing hold of his vest. We were screaming at him, begging and pleading him to wake up, talk to us. He wasn’t responding. When I felt his nerve on the neck and there was no pulse, I just instantly hated everything about that place, that moment and those people. I started hating myself. Why wasn't I the one sitting in the front seat?

It was the most horrible day in my life ever. It was really tough to see a dead friend in front of me. The loss was already done. There was nothing I could do to bring him back. This was the loss which cannot be compensated in any way. It was my responsibility to ensure all my people return their home in one piece. I felt I had failed in my job. I was still. I stayed there on the site even after the body was taken to base. It was that day, a part of me actually died.

People often see military life as lucrative and full of glory. But it is not always the same. War affects all who experience it. It changes you forever. That’s the real side of military life.

~ Written by Satyam Pathak on the behalf of a retired colonel who served in Afghanistan as a part of NATO led International Security Assistance Force.

Thousand salutes to all the warriors who are busy in serving this nation with full dedication.
15/01/2018

Thousand salutes to all the warriors who are busy in serving this nation with full dedication.

Being a combatant is adventurous but surely not a piece of cake. A duty full of challenges is not the real challenge a c...
07/01/2018

Being a combatant is adventurous but surely not a piece of cake. A duty full of challenges is not the real challenge a combatant has to face. Staying far from your family is the real trial. You have to be mentally and emotionally strong.

Military has taught me everything and transformed me into a tough guy. It's been more than one decade in services and the only regret I've is never being able to see my babies born. But I'm happy that I've enough stories to share with them.

~ Mike Sierra (SF)

Happy Mother's Day.
14/05/2017

Happy Mother's Day.

My first posting was in a disturbed area during the peak time of insurgency. There were 22 men under my command. We were...
09/04/2017

My first posting was in a disturbed area during the peak time of insurgency. There were 22 men under my command. We were far away from our comfort zone. The hostile conditions we were deployed into were adding threat to our lives every passing moment. It didn't take much time for me to understand the fact that I might not come back alive.

There are instances when you are in fear but you can't reflect the same fear on your face. A single sign of fear on your face can demotivate the entire team under your command. You have to keep their moral high. You have to keep pretending in front of them that you are confident and the challenge is not strong enough to break us as we are the men of steel. In such situations, your emotions are meaningless and play no role. You have to keep your emotions to yourself whether you are missing your home or feeling any discomfort.

I was responsible for the safety of my men. Any wrong decision could have resulted into disaster. One thing that was pushing me to lead from front was the trust of my troops on me. They were ready to follow any order. It is something one can't get in any other profession.

~ A retired army officer who decided to be anonymous.

"Life is full of surprises. You never know what will happen in your future.I was one of the naughtiest students in my sc...
24/01/2017

"Life is full of surprises. You never know what will happen in your future.

I was one of the naughtiest students in my school. I can't forget the day when I'd used firecrackers in my classroom just few days before deepawali festival. Hearing the sound, our class teacher rushed to our class and asked me to find the culprit. He told me to check school-bags of everyone to find who brought bombs in the class.

Today, I feel nostalgic of those school days. Never had I thought I would be a part of Bomb Disposal Squad and would have to deal in real-time bombs."

Nitesh
(Delhi)

I’d visited United States for the first time post my retirement from military services few months before. While I was in...
22/01/2017

I’d visited United States for the first time post my retirement from military services few months before. While I was in the airport, waiting for the connecting flight to return my home, I noticed several people few meters ahead of me started clapping and cheering suddenly. I went there and saw a group of soldiers in camouflage uniform heading towards the gate. All those who were sitting there stood up and began to wave and cheer for them.
I stopped there and began clapping for these young selfless heroes who are putting their lives on the edge every day unconditionally so that people can do their daily task without fear of reprisal.

It was a great moment to see around fifty soldiers being applauded and cheered for. It was something uncommon for my eyes. I too had participated in war and different rescue missions during my tenure in services. I worked with thousands of soldiers but, none of us was greeted like this in my country.

Now I can understand, why US is a superpower!

Col DK

Military is one of the most noble jobs in the world. The feeling of being part of the most disciplined and organized ins...
27/11/2016

Military is one of the most noble jobs in the world. The feeling of being part of the most disciplined and organized institution is quite unmatchable. We are life savers.

I have willingly chosen to fight for my nation as it requires “courage”. This is a brave-heart's affair. So far, Armed forces have asked me to do a number of jobs (which may sound odd and offensive to others) during my service term. It wasn’t my choice. I have never failed to answer the call till now. Whatever I was asked for, I did.
We haven't learnt to give up. Even if it might cost us limb or life, there is no option of quitting. That’s the integrity towards job. That’s the unwritten declaration we have made with our national flag and with our countrymen. I am proud of the role and the responsibilities I have been chosen for.

Rishabh
(Delhi)

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