CHAUDAH NABBE KI FAUJ

 CHAUDAH NABBE KI FAUJ

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

16/VI/2022

 

Let me not fret about the Agniveer (AV) issue anymore. Aim is to induct youth into the forces. ‘Terms of Reference’ have been given to them. It is time now to go ahead and implement it. Infrastructure to train AVs already exists. How can this scheme be made successful, is what the services have to do and they will?

 

There is always resistance to ‘change’. For which, veterans aired their apprehensions. Time has come to move on. ‘Hukum’ has been passed, no point resisting it. Orders have to be implemented now. No looking back, no cribbing and no bickering. If there are issues, mid-course corrections can be done. That’s how Fauj works.  I wish the Forces Good luck and Godspeed.

 

It took me back in time. 1985, when I was commissioned in one of the ‘most elite battalions’ of the Indian Army. It was totally hush-hush. The enemy didn’t know our role & task, neither did we.

 

Troops and Officers were pooled in from Mechanised Battalions who had centuries old Infantry traditions. All amalgamated into a new ‘Recce & Support Battalion’. Troops were familiar with operating Russian equipment like the BTR-60, Topaz & Scott AFVs (Armed Fighting Vehicles). The privileged had BMP-I.

 

We had a mix of Tambi’s, Jats, Gorkhas, Rajputs, Punjabis, Kumaonis, Dogras, Garhwalis, Sikhs, Marathas, & Paratroopers etc, hand-picked for this new entity. The Battalion was raised as “all India class” with the motto “One for all & all for one”. This would now be the “Chauda-Nabbe’ ki fauj.

 

There was resistance in the beginning. People did not want to leave their comfort zone to go to a new raising. But Hukum had to be obeyed. So will be the case to accept new AVs.

 

When my battalion which had BMP-I and BRDMs got new BMP-IIs, there was no turmoil. We had got used to BMP-I and now this new ‘Bin Matlab ka Panga’ had come. As we shed the BMP-I, we did so with a heavy heart.

 

BRDMs now got designated for “wheeled battalions”. We did not know how this reorganisation would take shape. We had 1 tons instead of Radars for my entire service. Only ‘Eyeball Mark II’ was for surveillance. We lived through the confusion.

Then came the raising of ‘Rashtria Rifles’. Again, the best manpower was shed. Dishing out the best from a well-oiled team did have its repercussions but we reorganised quickly.

 

The strength of the battalion which was about 1800 men at the time of raising was slashed to around 450. With this reduced strength, there was dissent and pressure due to manpower shortages.

 

Ask a CHM to spare one man and he would give you one hundred reasons why he couldn’t do that. A saying used to go, even if ‘Yamraj’ came to take the Adjutant, he would tell him to wait, kyon ki marne ka time nahi hai’ and tell his runner to take his ‘Bhainsa’ to the washing station. Life went on.

 

While the people came to this new raising, so came the ‘Chaudha-Nabbe’ ki fauj freshly recruited. Like Chaudah-nabbe-cheaasi-pachapan 14-90-86-55. All the Manohar TPs, Tham Bahadurs, Saju Ds, Zire Lenvils, Kulwants & Hasda Mondals, were called 14-90 ki fauj. The old timers took some time to trust 14-90. These freshers had to be trained and moulded. Mind you, they were very quick at the uptake. Many turned out to be ace gunners & superb drivers.

 

My Alpha company driver Jagir Singh ‘Jagira’, an old timer from the JAK Rifles, would not let any new driver touch his Jonga. Later he rose up to be Commandant’s driver. Anyone with numbers beginning with ‘chaudha nabbe’ couldn’t handle his vehicle. He could go to the extent of putting that Jonga ‘off road’ for the duration of his leave. The day he would return, a ‘duco painted jonga’ would stand ‘whistling’ infront of the Company Commander’s office. “Aa kiven on road keeta Jagire”. He would say 1490 fauj di bas di gal nahi hai saab. That’s the pride he took in maintaining a vehicle.

 

Sometimes that old lanyard’s reflections did show in officers too. We were the ones directly commissioned into the unit & treated sometimes as 1490 ki fauj.

 

The old JCOs, CHMs, CTHMs, the simulator NCO were ‘Russia Return’ and had an air about them. We the ‘lesser mortals’ were kind of looked down upon, at least till we proved ourselves.

 

Similarly, these Agniveers would find their feet into the system slowly but surely. Probably they would have to prove their mettle faster to ensure they are retained. The ones who will not be absorbed would be the unlucky ones. Hope none go without a job in the civil, even if they are battle or non-battle casualties. Let’s hope 25 becomes 50 percent retention.

 

Would the AVs be treated like ‘Chauda-Nabbe’ ki fauj? I wonder!!!!!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

© NOEL ELLIS