Walkthrough The Life Of Indian Army In Siachen

The life Of Indian Army In Siachen

The life of Indian Army in Siachen glacier. The Siachen glacier demarcates central Asia from the Indian subcontinent, and separates Pakistan from China in the region. The Saltoro Ridge of the Siachin glacier serves as a divide that prevents direct linking of PoK with China, stopping them to develop geographical military linkages in the area. Siachen also serves as a watchtower for India to keep a deep watch on Gilgit and Baltistan regions of Pakistan. Let us see the hardship that army jawans and officers have to face defending the position from Pakistan.

Location

• The Siachen Glacier is in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan passes.
• At 76 km (47 mi) long, it is the longest glacier in the Karakoram and second-longest in the world’s non-polar areas.
• The average winter snowfall is more than 1000 cm (35 ft), and temperatures can dip to −50 °C (−58 °F).

Dispute with Pakistan

• Both India and Pakistan claim sovereignty over the entire Siachen region.
• US and Pakistani maps in the 1970s and 1980s consistently showed a dotted line known as the Line of Control to the Karakoram Pass, which India believed to be a cartographic error and in violation of the Shimla Agreement.
• In 1984, India launched Operation Meghdoot, a military operation that gave India control over all of the Siachen Glacier, including its tributaries.
• Our Indian army has been guarding this post since then. 

Life in Siachen 

• Before being deployed to Siachen, soldiers undergo rigorous training at the Siachen Battle School, located near the base camp, and get acclimatised to the conditions.
• They learn rock-climbing and how to handle ice walls as well as negotiate crevasses. Rigorous medical check-ups are held, and soldiers suffering from high blood pressure or suspected cardiac ailments left out.
• The enemy at Siachen is not so much an entity armed with rifles and guns across the Actual Ground Position Line.
• No fire has been exchanged between Indians and Pakistanis in more than a dozen years.
• Nature, the atmosphere, snow, mountains, and the isolation, the mind, and one’s own body is the primary factor which poses a problem over here.
• Most of the soldiers die due to harsh weather condition in Siachen then with the enemy bullets.
• The temperature falls to -50 to -60 degree during winters.
• At such low-temperature problems like frostbite i.e. touching the steel or even gun trigger or barrel with bare hands will result in frostbite or even amputation.
• Not only this at the height of 5400meters soldiers end up suffering from a loss in appetite, hearing loss, memory loss, sleep deprivation, speech problem.
• DRDO has developed a hospital specifically maintained to treat all the issue caused due to a great height.

• We all know how vital is oxygen for survival whereas in Siachen only about 10% of oxygen in plains.
• Kerosene as a fuel act as a saviour which help in cooking food, lighting up of shelter, burning wood to keep warm, melting snow for drinking water but it has to be used carefully to make it last until next supply comes.
• While they bathe inside the pre-fabricated snow huts, crevasses usually serve as toilets, with a ladder leading down into them.
• When the soldier moves out they tie themselves to each other so that they do not get drifted due to weather change.
• Every post has a nursing attendant, and every company has a doctor as A doctor is a big psychological factor.
• When troops know there’s a doctor around, they feel reassured.
• With everyone wearing the same clothes, eating the same food and sleeping in the same shared shelter, the line between an officer and a jawan is skinny.
• Ten to 11 soldiers, including the officer in command of the post, generally share one fibreglass shelter. That keeps the morale up.

• Soldiers are allowed one call a week home. Most remote posts have a satellite phone, and the calls are put through by an operator.
• Siachen glacier ribbon is awarded to those who serve in the saltoro range.
• The ribbon is dull-grey-white strip reflecting the cold and unforgiving terrain conquered by men.

The Siachen War Memorial has been constructed at the Siachen Base Camp in the fond remembrance of all martyrs who have made supreme sacrifice for the ‘Izzat and Glory’ during Operation Meghdoot. ‘Quartered in snow, silent remain, when the bugle calls, they shall rise and march again’ are the wordings inscribed on the top of first wall, which aptly describes the brave soldiers who laid down their lives for the honour of motherland.