Maj Doc Ritesh Goel, a Para SF officer was part of the 30 members Indian army mountaineering team that was to climb Mt. Everest as part of the golden jubilee of the first Indian army expedition to Everest.
While they were at the base camp, the Nepal Earthquake took place and they were lucky to survive and also help others survive at the base camp. Maj Goel was one of the few doctors at the spot to help the large numbers of trekkers. He tells us his story in this special discussion.
Story: An Indian Army Everest Massif Team which was on Khumbu Icefall area near Everest Base Camp when the massive earthquake triggered multiple avalanches in Nepal last month, returned to Delhi on Tuesday unscathed.
The team led by Major Ranveer Singh Jamwal, an accomplished mountaineer and twice Everester also joined search and evacuation. Recalling the day when the avalanches swept the area, Jamwal says “This was an unexpected situation in which the avalanches triggered from the west shoulder and from Nuptse sides making it difficult to move to safer side and moreover the shaking of the Ice sheet on which the whole team was standing was even scary”.
On reaching base camp, the situation was worse, with broken tents all around, and injured persons asking for help. In fact a few expedition camps were all wiped off including the Indian Army’s Camp. The avalanche killed around 19 people and injuring more than 80 climbers and sherpas.
The Indian Army expedition rose to the occasion and immediately joined other volunteers for search and evacuation, officials said. For over 70 climbers, Major Ritesh Goel, the Indian Army Expedition Team’s Medical Officer was a ‘life saver’. Goel provided first-aid and stabilised nearly 70 climbers, some with broken legs and hands, and also managed to provide medical assistance to eight persons with serious head injuries for until the victims were evacuated by helicopters.
On May 4, the Indian Army became the last team to leave the base camp. Thereafter, the team was stationed at the Namche Bazar area in Nepal. Here, the team carried out restoration and relocation work of the Namche Dental Clinic.
An image of the Indian Army tying a stone pelter on their jeep has surfaced on social media. Although several people hailed the move, quite a few termed this action as barbaric. Omar Abdullah was the first to join the voice against the Indian Army for this action. Here is the truth about the incident which happened today. You be the judge and decide for yourself whether the Indian Army did the right or wrong thing.
The video is of 9th April. The location is Budgam in Kashmir. One of the police booth was targeted in Budgam on the election day on 9th April. The ITBP and Jammu and Kashmir personnel were guarding a polling booth. When the polling was almost over, a mob of about 900 stone pelters attacked the personnel guarding the booth. Eye witnesses said that they were not pelting just stones.
SHOCKING details surfaced
They in fact had huge boulders in their hand which they were throwing at the ITBP and J&K Police. They wanted to prevent the people from casting their votes, said a person who witnessed the incident. What is to be noted here is that there were only 9 security personnel to guard the polling booth. It was 9 versus 900. The ITBP Jawans realized that they would not be able to get out alive unless and until they do something.
Please recall at this moment that a stone pelter doesn’t fear the CRPF or police anymore. A recent video on social media showed Kashmir youth who were beating up CRPF Jawans carrying guns. Guns were useless at this moment too. “They threatened us that they would lynch us all to death. We were 9 people in total, they were in hundreds. We immediately called the Army station commander and sent out a SOS message. The Army Commander immediately helped us. He sent in a Quick Response Team (QRT) with one jeep and one bus,” said one of the men who was trapped in a room with a mob of 900 waiting outside to kill him.
Commander’s amazing presence of mind!
When the QRT arrived, they too realized that they were outnumbered. The QRT has about 17 members, but they too knew that it would be difficult to face a mob of 900. The Commander of the QRT decided that it would be a bad idea to open fire at the mob and could escalate tensions. The Commander immediately decided that rescuing the men inside is what was important.
He caught hold of one Kashmiri stone pelter, tied him on to the jeep and drove pas the mob of 900. Not only did they go in, they saved the 9 ITBP and J&K Police personnel, and managed to come out alive. Omar Abdullah and several other so called liberal people who are criticizing the army must understand what really transpired before commenting. Please share this story so that the truth comes out.
Joining the IAF was an obvious choice for Minhas, whose father was himself an engineer in the Air Force. Her father’s last posting was in Chandigarh, where Minhas first began to dream of a career in flying. It was the lure of the uniform and the fact that she belonged to a generation that grew up fascinated with Tom Cruise in Top Gun.
“I was young and impressionable, and everything looked so cool,” Minhas reminisces. “I knew I could not be a pilot because I did not have the perfect eyesight, but the prospect of being a fighter controller really excited me. It is a specialised branch that looks over the defence of the entire Indian airspace. This involves control of all ground-based artillery weapons, aircraft interceptors in the air… you might have seen similar screens in Hollywood movies,” she explains. Minhas joined the IAF in 1997 as a pilot officer and found herself in Barmer, near Jodhpur, during her first posting. “It was an intense time for me because I had to study a lot for the first 5–6 years. We had physics, math, radar tech details, etc. I had to work very hard to train and to try and get into the system. You are working in the ops room and you are the only officer. You have to earn the respect of the team of airmen working under you,” she says. “When you join a technical branch like ours, nobody in the unit differentiates a lady officer from a man,” says Minhas. “But the first thing that hit me back then and it is something that I continue to
Minhas joined the IAF in 1997 as a pilot officer and found herself in Barmer, near Jodhpur, during her first posting. “It was an intense time for me because I had to study a lot for the first 5–6 years. We had physics, math, radar tech details, etc. I had to work very hard to train and to try and get into the system. You are working in the ops room and you are the only officer. You have to earn the respect of the team of airmen working under you,” she says. “When you join a technical branch like ours, nobody in the unit differentiates a lady officer from a man,” says Minhas. “But the first thing that hit me back then and it is something that I continue to realise even today after 19 years of service is that there are mostly only men around.”
Being around men has made an impact. “I have begun to think like a man. It is hard for me to relate with women now! In the Air Force, you are an officer first, then a lady. Men treat you like an equal, although they do exercise restraint in your presence; they don’t used foul language, for example,” she says. “If a cuss word does slip out from them, they apologise immediately. This is the least they can do, given that they are in the majority,” she laughs.
Is she aware of the awe her being an air-force officer commands outside of the forces? “I do realise it sometimes. Like when I go through security at a civil airport, the guards look at me like they would at any other passenger till they see my ID card. Then a warm smile spreads across their face. It is very gratifying.”
The government informed Parliament on Wednesday that number of personnel opting for voluntary retirement service (VRS) in central paramilitary forces rose to around 450 per cent (or 4.5 times) in 2016-17 as compared to the previous year.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, minister of state for home – Kiren Rijiju cited personal and domestic reasons among others for personnel going on VRS. He, however, said that these resignations are “essentially a personal choice.”
An up-to-date data provided by the minister stated that 2016-17 saw the maximum of 9,065 personnel going for Voluntary Retirement Service (VRS) in last three years from forces like CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF, SSB and Assam Rifles.
While in 2014-15 a total of 5,289 personnel of these forces had taken VRS, the figure had come down to 2,105 in 2015-16.
The attrition has been plaguing the almost 10 lakh strong central paramilitary forces for a long time now. Sources in these forces said that while domestic reasons force most of the men to leave, career stagnation, lack of pay parity and tough working conditions also play an important part in such retirements.
Officials say that these retirements leave a huge gap in the vacancies in the forces, which are being used for major law and order duties on the borders, J&K, maoist affected states, elections, VIP security and other purposes.
The maximum cases of VRS in 2016-17 were reported from the Border Security Force (4,274) followed by the Central Reserve Police Force (3,280) and the Central Industrial Security Force (765).
Providing a separate data on the personnel who left these forces by way of resignation, Rijiju stated that a total of 1,187 officials left in 2016-17, 1,840 in 2015-16 and 1,989 in 2014-15.
Hello friends, my name is Soham and I am from West Bengal. Being an army brat and studying in Sainik School the craze for the forces have always fascinated me since my childhood. So I have kept on trying since my NDA entries and got “IT” in my 4th attempt.
Friends since my failure in my NDA attempt I have been trying to improve myself, In the past few years I have been following and reading success stories on SSBCrack and today I feel delighted to share mine with you all.
I have been following SSBCrack for the past few years and that is where I came to know about Dr. Cdr. Natarajan Sir. And I have followed his blogs quite regularly. Being a repeater the process was very much known to me but I was unable to make it through. As I went for the UES entry of Indian Navy I got screened out from Coimbatore.
I felt very bad and at that time after returning home I contacted Natarajan Sir. I ordered thevideo course. I had a time gap of around 10-12 days for my TGC-125 entry in Bangalore on 17th March. Frankly speaking, the tutorial really helped me a lot. It is like I know things but small corrections were very necessary for my preparation.
Friends here are my experience of my wonderful journey.
1st Day (SCREENING)
A total of 291 candidates reported on 17th of March at Bangalore around 2 pm at the railway station. Then on that day, we had our documentation and on 18th our screening test began. Firstly the verbal and non-verbal tests were there. I did a fair amount of them in the given time as it is an easy test. Next, the PPDT happened. As in our batch, all were repeater candidates so the GD was very intense and I spoke 2-3 times in the GD as per the strategy explained in the video course. Finally, the results came in the afternoon and a total of 35 candidates were screened in.
2nd Day (PSYCHOLOGY)
It started as usual with the TAT and then WAT and SRT and finally the SD. Here what I learned is that quality depends more than quantity. For psychology practice really helps. I did very hard practice at home. In SRT I did only 40 situations but did the SRT’s complete. I had already prepared my 12th story at home and the SD at home and there it helped in managing time. I would say you to prepare these in advance. I was quite happy with my performance in the test.
3rd Day (GTO 1)
We were a group of 9 candidates and the GT started with the GD. Being repeater group competition is really tough as everyone steps in at once and getting a chance to speak becomes very difficult.
I grabbed the chances and made valid points in both of them and same in the GPE though our group never came to a common conclusion but speaking matters. Giving sensible points is very important than repeating the same point again and again as the GTO see all whether the group listens to it or not. And time and distance assumption is also important here. Next, we had the PGT and HGT. I kept calm. Initially, the group started and my idea was not heard. I followed the group and when the group got stuck, I jumped in and gave my idea and it went well. Our group did well in GT. Then we had the GOR. It is always a fun doing that thing. Next, we had the Lecturete, I took a simple topic “Right To Education” and spoke of it. I would say grab a topic which you are comfortable with and speak well. Our first day ended with that.
4th Day (GTO 2)
This day started with the IO, I did all the ten of them in the given time. I started off from the area which contained more points and then went sequentially from there. Next, there was the command task, my task was good the GTO reduced the solution as I went forward but I did it. Then lastly the FGT here also I gave an idea when required and rest time helped the group in completing the task. Then our GTO ended.
INTERVIEW
Recommended candidates
My interview was scheduled just after the 2nd day GTO. I was given 10-15 min to change into formals and report to the waiting room. My interview was taken by the president of our board. He started off with my home place than with my journey and next to all the topics. He did not ask me any technical questions. All questions were from my family, friends, education and hobbies. He asked me of my previous attempts and I answered them well. The interview went around 45 min and this was the best interview in all my attempts. Then in the afternoon we all groupmates made an outing to the city.
5th Day (CONFERENCE)
In conference, I was only asked the basic question of my stay and new things that I learned here. I said them that I made new friends and went new places in Bangalore. My conference did not go long though few were give situations. After my conference, I was not so confident about my recommendation as the same situation I had faced earlier. The result came after lunch, 06 of us got recommended. It was really a different moment when my chest no. was called, I was completely in tears not able to talk that time as I finally achieved it.
My medical went for 5 days and I am declared as fit and now waiting for the merits.
Friends, I would just like to say that never get disheartened of your failures and never give up!!
There is a shortage of 7,986 officers in the Indian Army and 1,256 in the Navy as of January, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, minister of state for defence Subhash Bhamre said there is no shortage in the Indian Air Force till date.
He said there is also a shortage of 25,472 Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) in the Army, against which 78,205 recruits were undergoing training. “As such, there is no significant problem of shortage in Other Ranks in the Army,” the minister said.
The shortage at the JCO-equivalent ranks is 12,785 in the Navy and 13,614 in the IAF, Bhamre added.
Captain Elisen Y Jami launched a special operation in the jungles adjoining Aghunato village in Zuneboto district of Nagaland on 31 October 2015. After negotiating thick jungles and treacherous mountains, the party reached the area of operations on 02 November 2015 at 0400 hrs. At 0530 hours, the party noticed and challenged a suspiciously moving Tata Sumo moving on a track, following which the party came under effective fire from the vehicle.
Sensing danger to his party and realizing the presence of a kidnapped civilian in the vehicle, Captain Jami, with utter disregard to his personal safety, while exposing himself drew fire upon himself, engaged one terrorist and shot him dead. Shocked by his audacious action, the rest of the terrorists started to flee towards the adjoining jungles firing indiscriminately.
Despite under fire, exercising utmost restraint and tact, Captain Jami secured the kidnapped civilian and thereafter pursued the fleeing terrorists along with his JCO, closed on to their position and personally shot down the second terrorist at close range.
Captain Elisen Y Jami displayed act of gallantry with utmost restraint while under fire resulting in saving the kidnapped civilian.
Indian airforce has published the list of candidates who were not considered for AFCAT 1 2017 and EKT 2017 evaluation due to incorrect/incomplete bubbling done by them on OMR sheet. Candidates who were not able to check their marks or not able to find their roll number in the final result can check these list for their name.
The OMR SHEETS OF FOLLOWING CANDIDTES HAVE NOT BEEN EVALUATED DUE TO NON/INCOMPLETE BUBBLING OF BOOKLET SERIES IN THE APPROPRIATE COLUMN OF THE OMR SHEET.
India had on several occasions sought his extradition, but Pakistan refused to give in. The Pakistan media had been reporting that a dossier on him had been prepared following which he faced prosecution.
Pakistan had termed him as an agent of the Research and Analysis Wing. Pakistan had after his arrest released a video of him making a confession about him being an Indian spy. However India said that the video was a doctored one. The Indian agencies who conducted forensic examination of the video said that it was heavily doctored. It was said that at various points the facial expressions do not match what is being said in the voice over.
Jadhav was picked up on March 3 and his arrest was announced only on March 24 2016. This India had said only indicated that Pakistan resorted to third degree treatment to extort a confession out of him.
Pakistan Forced Kulbhushan Jhadav To Confess That He Has Worked As A Spy For RAW
President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday awarded Shaurya Chakras to the officers who took part in the daring surgical strike across the Line of Control last year. He also awarded the Shaurya Chakra posthumously to Lt Col Niranjan Ek, who died while recovering IED from the bodies of Pathankot terrorists in January 2016.
As per the citation against Shaurya Chakra awardees, Major Rajat Chandra killed two terrorists during the surgical strike, while Captain Ashutosh Kumar eliminated four terrorists. Both belong to 4 Para Special Forces, which took part in the surgical strike in September last year.
Major Deepak Upadhyay and Paratrooper Abdul Qayum, both of 9 Para Special Forces, were also awarded Shaurya Chakras for their role in the surgical strike.
Captain Ashutosh Kumar
Captain Ashutosh Kumar was part of the sub squad, which was tasked to close into the terrorist’s hideout in Jammu and Kashmir and carry out the assault. He sneaked in close to the hideout using the cover of darkness and folds of ground and positioned himself in a concealed location. He brought down accurate fire and neutralized two terrorists. After the initial firefight, his squad repositioned to cover the track leading to the village from the hideout. He kept a close watch on the target to prevent any terrorist escape and reinforcement in/out of the area. During the ongoing firefight, he saw two terrorists escaping from the target. He directed his buddy to bring down accurate Grenade Launcher fire on their escape route allowing him to intercept and neutralize both the terrorists at close quarter. With his decisive thinking, astute resolve and courage beyond call of duty, the officer eliminated four terrorists and ensured no terrorist escaped from the hideout location. Captain Ashutosh Kumar displayed audacity in face of fire, indomitable resolve, dauntless courage and extraordinary valour.
Major Deepak Kumar Upadhyay was the leader of the troop which executed an impeccable operation against a terrorist hideout in Jammu and Kashmir.
Having sited the Support Group, Major Deepak Kumar Upadhyay led an assault party for a daring assault on the terrorist hideout. Despite heavy retaliation by terrorists, he continued engaging them while motivating his troops to destroy the hideout. Inspired by his conspicuous gallantry, grit and raw aggression, his men, despite being outnumbered, attacked the terrorists with renewed aggression, stunning them into a state of psychological paralysis. Having successfully accomplished the mission, he ensured a swift disengagement for his troops. Major Deepak Kumar Upadhyay displayed awe-inspiring courage, leadership, decisiveness, and act of gallantry under fire while ensuring destruction of a terrorist hideout and inflicting heavy casualties to the terrorists, without any casualties to his troops.
Major Rajat Chandra was tasked to undertake close surveillance of the terrorist’s hideout in Jammu and Kashmir. The information gained by his squad proved decisive in planning and effective destruction of the terrorist’s hideout. Subsequently, the officer led the assault group which was tasked to destroy the heavily fortified hideout. Displaying nerves of steel and indomitable spirit, he closed in 75 meter of the terrorist’s hideout and destroyed it thereby killing two terrorists. During the action his squad came under effective automatic fire from automatic weapons located nearby. Sensing danger to his squad, he immediately changed his position by crawling under terrorist’s fire and closed onto the terrorist’s position and eliminated one more terrorist silencing the automatic weapon. Major Rajat Chandra exhibited inspirational combat leadership, raw courage, dogged determination and selfless devotion to duty in the service of the nation.
