AFVOA Newsletter 03 of 2020

Section 5 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 03 / 2020 Page 138 of 167 had a good joke that commander must be frustrated – he had a sapper as BM and signaler as DQ!! How could he win this war?? One day at Vavuniya, Manjit decided to test his BM. He called for his jeep – it came with star plate and flag. He called for me and asked me to hop in. I thought he’s taking a check of the defences around Vavuniya. I was wrong. He drove to the first exit check point of the town, told me to get it opened. There was an SOP which I violated! Then the next gate, and we were out in militant territory outside Vavuniya. No weapons, no radio set, no protection and no map!! And he drove like a man possessed for an hour on the mud road towards Jaffna, then turned into a side lane, circled around through unknown areas, and after another hour came back to another entry point into Vavuniya. The B1 Net was agog with news that Commander and BM have gone out of the protected zone, and out of communication. The Immediate Reaction Team was ready to move when from another gate the Commanders gypsy was sighted. My reaction was zero. If I was shitting bricks, I wasn’t going to display it, and was as calm as the boss!! I think I passed the test, because after that, he didn’t interfere with me at all. Two things I learnt that day – always keep surprise up your sleeve – don’t let the enemy (maybe even your own!) know what you are up to. And second – never use the same route. Never ever. Manjit gave me a copy of his missive – My Way of Command – when I joined 41, and I found that he lived by it. I too used many of his values in my command assignments. With Late Brig Manjit, MVC At Elephant pass with the DQ My heart goes out to our medicos, chopper pilots (both MI8 and Alleuettes) and the Air Force who kept us alive. Of particular mention is then Maj Tiwari, Ortho Specialist, who was night and day in the OT, surgically removing countless number of limbs and shrapnel from oh so many men. They were wounded grievously, but he fought to save their lives. He was a nervous wreck at seeing so much pain and sorrow. The only thing that kept