Siachen Indian Army, Life in Siachen Glacier, Indian Army Siachen Base Camp
Aachen Indian Army forces deployed in Siachen, it’s less of a challenge to watch out for the frail Pakistani forces however to simply stay atop this seventy-six kilometers long glacier at 5, 400 meters altitude (nearly double the altitude of Ladakh and Kargil) in itself means that you’ve got to defy all of your physical, mental and spiritual limits. You’ve got to be a super-soldier, a hero. And that’s what all of our Siachen Indian Army out there at Siachen glacier and on posts at even greater heights really is!
Indian Army Soldiers in Siachen:
“Quartered in snow, silent to stay, once the bugle calls, they shall rise and march once more.” These are the words that are etched on a stone memorial. The sun doesn’t sustain life here, kerosene will. The bullet doesn’t kill her, the cold will, however, our brave hearts take all of this face front and ne’er back off. Here are ten things concerning the Siachen Indian Army which will cause you to thank them for the life you’re living.
1) The only thanks to keeping themselves warm are through little kerosene stoves. The smoke fills the igloos such a lot so it colors everything including even a man’s spit. Hot water bottles don’t keep hot for long, sleeping doesn’t happen at night, and a relay mechanism is about up to exchange frozen rifles with defrosted ones.
2) Even the sweat within the gloves freezes to become ice, typically resulting in finger amputations. Troopers brought down to base camp typically suffer issues of hearing, eyesight and memory loss due to prolonged use of oxygen masks.
3) Speech issues, nausea, sleep deprivation, and depression are a number of the foremost common issues our troopers face within the winters.
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4) Fresh foods may be a rare luxury at Siachen for Siachen Indian Army. Obtaining the food at an altitude of 21,000 feet may be a task in itself. Indian-made cheetah helicopters typically push well past their boundaries to drop in canned food. And if God forbid, the weather is dangerous, plenty of food is swallowed by the snow.
5) Drinking water is obtained from melting ice on stoves, and since washing is additionally a rarity, fourteen pairs of thermal socks are assigned per soldier for a 90-day posting.
6) They also have designed the world`s highest helipad in Siachen that is some 21,000 feet above water level. This pad is employed to bring in supplies all year round.
7) Rifles are thawed repeatedly over kerosene stoves and machine guns are dipped in boiling water to stay them from the jam. However, troopers fall prey to the camouflaging snow sheets and sudden avalanches and blizzards a lot of usually than to the shelling.
8) Facing nearly thirty-five feet of snow and blizzards year-round, the troopers not solely defend the territory from enemies however conjointly, manually maintain (with shovels and light machinery) the post that otherwise is going to be swallowed by the accumulating snow if left unmanned.
9) The snowstorms will last well up to more than half a month and therefore the place has regarding ten percent of the oxygen that plains have. Whereas even skilled climbers dread climbing in bad weather, our troopers are on their feet, patrolling the area 365 days a year.
10) A heartfelt salute to these brave hearts!