SLEEPING WITH EYES OPEN

 SLEEPING WITH EYES OPEN

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

21/IV/2023

 

One more Army convoy was attacked, that too which was carrying fruits for Iftar. More lives lost, a couple of orphans, half a dozen widows, a score of devastated parents, all plunged into grief. Morale of the troops doesn’t matter. Where will be the next attack? Who will be the next victim, is difficult to say? Does anyone care?

 

A ‘Sherdil CO’, with Company Commanders as fierce as tigers, suddenly hit by a jolt on a very normal day of work to win hearts and minds. Who & what went wrong, when all SOPs were in place. ‘My’ QRTs were alert, my Intelligence team never failed me, my training, no one can beat. Still the body bags carry ‘our own’, instead of militants.

 

CO will be ‘sealed’ for sure. Sector Commander may be ‘red lettered’. Convoy Commander will be the fall guy. ROP incharge the scapegoat. A Court of Inquiry will be held. FIRs against “unknown” terrorists which should have been ‘known’ will be lodged.

 

A lull to get over the shock, followed by aggressive searches and area domination. A few catches, then return to routine, then more body bags. Militants must be celebrating their success because someone has been sleeping with ‘eyes open’. Not at the ground level, but at the highest level, at the political level.

 

Terrain is difficult, people there are friendly ‘when they want to be’, but are generally hostile to the forces and more friendly to militants. All the ‘Prem and Sad Bhavna’ showered on them makes no difference. One inkling of callousness and we have coffins coming home. We have ‘over fed’ stomachs instead of feeding hearts and minds. Result is our count of body bags.

 

Staying at that peak alertness throughout, is very difficult. We all are humans and faulter. If we think like a militant, then that is the opportunity they are waiting for. We don’t have the patience they have. Do we lack that discipline which militants generate even after being a rag-tag outfit. Damage they do is seen with the blood of our brave hearts spilled on the roads.

 

If the army has its network, so have they. How did their network penetrate ours, is what needs to be introspected? Are they better than us? What keeps them motivated, even when they know what is going to be their end?

 

Blame it on Pakistan, in which it is their Army and ISI. Their foreign minister is coming to India or we are hosting the G 20 summit there, so this blast. Is there a link? Why didn’t we anticipate it? Why was this location chosen for an ambush? Are our training memorandums just black ink on white paper? Or was it known that people are coming for iftar. Naturally, it was a gesture of bonhomie but the cat was out of the bag. They did the unexpected.

 

Find the bloody Bs, retaliate, hit them hard, such orders will reverberate. While we look for them here, their other accomplices will do the same somewhere else. ‘Veteran analysts’ will now air their side-caps and miniature medals on TV. Some will vent their anguish to start a war with Pakistan to raise their cost. News channels will make it a TRP story, then conveniently shift the nation's attention elsewhere, without questioning the political masters how to finish this menace.

 

My heart aches for every soldier lost. There would be no more Roads & Islands left to rename. The empty plates at the National war memorial would fill up soon this way, if sorting out this problem is not given the attention it deserves.

 

Is ‘political action’ to sort militancy out not the solution? Why is the military bearing the brunt of political ‘inaction’?

 

For the ground soldiers my message is that, brothers, bash on regardless, be extra vigilant. Don’t set a pattern, don’t trust your informers. Live to eliminate the last militant standing. God Bless & God Speed.

 

My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and their units. Enough has been done militarily. Time has come for our political masters to explain the phenomenon of sleeping with eyes open. Will they or do we keep counting bodies coming home draped in the tricolour? I wonder!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

© ® NOEL ELLIS