JUNGLE DIARY OF A SOLDIER: Part 1

 

JUNGLE DIARY OF A SOLDIER 

Part 1

1.      Deadly encounter

We were Handful of men with frozen shoes, depleted stocks of ammunition, frightened ears and tired eyes but with explicit will to conquer that what belonged to us once. We reached Deccan Subordinate after three days of continuous walk. We were depleted of our energy but we were soldier still. Our badge on our shoulder asserted dignity for the uniform and demanded will of not to get tire at any cost. Our minds were trained to confront the mental fear on aching stroke of any extreme of physical pain. Upon falling into such situation each of us would be ready to jump into deathbed for our beloved nation. With such crew I walked for last three days. We confronted mini squad twice. We depleted them back to earth successfully but lost three of our eminent crew members of whom one was a high ranked officer and other two were brave soldiers. May their soul be rested in peace. Death on battlefield is always a feeling of pride for soldiers. ‘Martyr’, that’s what respected the most in army.

With depleting stocks and vanishing energy we finally decided to rest in that part of dangerous Jungle for a while so that we can regain some energy to fight the enemy. We were not fully aware of our location in that part of province. Our radio didn’t catch any signal too. We were fully aware that if anything goes wrong there nobody in our nation will ever be able to see our corpse too. Apart from our enemy only this jungle, a renowned secret keeper, will be the evidence of our final breath. We carried every type of stuff that would be necessary to meet such situations on our shoulders which are already winged by burden of our nation’s security. Every time I go to sleep I remind myself that I am a soldier first. Then I remember a glimpse of my last holidays with family. With a hope to meet them again I soon fall into sleep leaving the charge of alarming to other crew members for whom I will be doing the same for other half of the night.

Upon daybreak we cooked, we planned and we marched. Our mind knew of uncertainty in our path in leading to our destined destination but that old compass had gained the trust after years of truthful indication to my intrinsic GPS. With its aid we moved carefully making way for us through this secret keeper giving special attention for enemies trap. It is not uncommon on this battlefield that enemies use different tactics every time to make sure that we somehow get entangled in their trap. So we moved with utmost caution but tried to maintain our pace at the same time. As we were marching towards our destined land we heard footsteps which must not be very far from us. Our captain signaled us to stop and stay low to hide from unknown expected danger. It was soon discovered that we heard footsteps of two passing by deer through that part of the forest. Though we were relieved to see them yet we were pretty sure that we would encounter our enemy soon. The danger from wild animal is also equally frightening as one never know from where wild can attack. From tiny spider to big tigers everyone is trustworthy killer. Yet we kept our hope and concentrated more on our prime enemy leaving blind faith upon that almighty for our safety from other dangers. We kept on marching till we reached near a camp where we sensed movement. Upon captain’s indication we started crawling to get to that camp for closer look. We saw dozen of people with either fully loaded submachine or AK-47.  

It did not take time for us to identify that it was the same camp for which we were sent to destroy to establish our control in that part of forest. We were going to have face to face combat with our destined enemies. Every person of that camp was in their uniform and was armed enough to be able to decimate lives in a flash. ‘Intruders’, they come here and operate against our army for capturing this land and steal resources from the jungle to carry back to their land. Adding to this they harass villagers who inhabit villages located in that jungle for money and grains. They are known to be dangerous and wild owing to their killer attitude. But at any rate we are not trained to get frightened by the strength of the enemy. Rather, responsibility on our shoulder, burden of nation’s security and burning desire to see our families once again urges us to put our best to secure protection for our Country people, who are relied on us for their safety, by uprooting the violent activity of enemy and enemy itself. Last week they destroyed our camp. Our only soldier who somehow could reach us narrated the wildness of these intruders. We, the chosen sixteen, now remained only twelve, were going to have deadly combat. Other three martyrs were left with a soldier who was asserted the responsibility of making radio contact with base camp and carry martyrs back.

Link for Part 2: 

 https://dilkikalambykhushal.blogspot.com/2020/11/jungle-diary-of-soldier-part-2.html