The command....3
Saturday, February 17, 2018
4,The command ....contd
Ganesan while continuing his commanad of 4 Engineer Regiment in 5 Mountain Division the new G O C Maj.Gen JM Singh took over.
Gen J M Singh was one out of 14 officers who were asked to either resign or face court martial for illegal relationship with brother officer's wifes by the then COAS Gen Rodriguess.He was very ugly looking and was stayin single in Tenga.
During his tennure he got admitted two officers in MH as psychiatric case and ruined these officers wifes.
Ganesan had a tough time to protect himself and his offcers from this rogue.Luckily the unit move order to Udhampur came.But for some reason the move kept on delaying.Ganesan wrote a DO letter to the COAS Gen Sunderjee asking for exact date of move.
Sunderjee was another tough officer.He not only informed Ganesan about the move but also detailed officers to make sure the Regiment moved without any rear party.
Regiment came to Uhampur under complex command.For administration it was under 71 Sub Area and for operation under 16 Corps.In addition it was Northern command Reserve.Here agaain Ganesan had two different officers iniating his ACR.
Initailly it was Maj Gen Khurana and later Gen Basant Mallick
During this time the COAS wanted to present to the prime Minister the Deep thrust policy by great Armour Blitz criege.For this Great arrangements were made in Delhi and 4 E R was asked to prepare for Northern Command.
Because of heavy mobilisation in western border and Rajasthan Pakisthan got gittery and moved all her troops to border.Almost war like situation came .4 ER moved into Operational role and came to Samba border.All border road bridges were to be prepared for demolitions.Heavy mine fields were laid in other sectors.
How ever the situation got eased down and troops withdrew to peace time locations.
April-May 1987.
During this time the E-IN -C Lt Gen P S Rai came for a visit to the Regiment.After normal round he came to office and was having tea.At that time he asked Ganesan what training is going on.Udhampur was not a suitable area to organaise Regimental training cycles.But annual training is a must .So every year the reiment closes all establishments at Udhampur and move to Akhnoor .B TC and F E Camps are organised for about three months and they return to Udhampur.
When E-IN C asked Ganesan what training is going on Ganesan without any hesitations told that he is doing no training.Gen Rai was shocked to receive such reply,but Ganesan continued and explained as above and stated to take on any Engineer task which Gen Rai desires.
Gen Rai smiled and started walking out.All the officers felt very bad and shouted at Ganesan for being blunt.Ganesan replied that not even two grains of sand are of the same type in the entire universe and so he is proud to be himself and having no interest to wear some other cap.
Time has passed and Ganesan was completing his command tennure.At that time Army HQ has called for volunteers to be Leader and station commander of Indian ANTACTIC STATION DAKHINGANGOTRI .This will be one and half year tennure at the bottom of the world and under world's worst weather conditions.
Ganesan volunteered.About 12 officers were short listed and were called for interview at AHQ E -IN C Branch.
There Ganesan found Gen P S Rai sitting as E- IN C .
Ganesan while continuing his commanad of 4 Engineer Regiment in 5 Mountain Division the new G O C Maj.Gen JM Singh took over.
Gen J M Singh was one out of 14 officers who were asked to either resign or face court martial for illegal relationship with brother officer's wifes by the then COAS Gen Rodriguess.He was very ugly looking and was stayin single in Tenga.
During his tennure he got admitted two officers in MH as psychiatric case and ruined these officers wifes.
Ganesan had a tough time to protect himself and his offcers from this rogue.Luckily the unit move order to Udhampur came.But for some reason the move kept on delaying.Ganesan wrote a DO letter to the COAS Gen Sunderjee asking for exact date of move.
Sunderjee was another tough officer.He not only informed Ganesan about the move but also detailed officers to make sure the Regiment moved without any rear party.
Regiment came to Uhampur under complex command.For administration it was under 71 Sub Area and for operation under 16 Corps.In addition it was Northern command Reserve.Here agaain Ganesan had two different officers iniating his ACR.
Initailly it was Maj Gen Khurana and later Gen Basant Mallick
During this time the COAS wanted to present to the prime Minister the Deep thrust policy by great Armour Blitz criege.For this Great arrangements were made in Delhi and 4 E R was asked to prepare for Northern Command.
Because of heavy mobilisation in western border and Rajasthan Pakisthan got gittery and moved all her troops to border.Almost war like situation came .4 ER moved into Operational role and came to Samba border.All border road bridges were to be prepared for demolitions.Heavy mine fields were laid in other sectors.
How ever the situation got eased down and troops withdrew to peace time locations.
April-May 1987.
During this time the E-IN -C Lt Gen P S Rai came for a visit to the Regiment.After normal round he came to office and was having tea.At that time he asked Ganesan what training is going on.Udhampur was not a suitable area to organaise Regimental training cycles.But annual training is a must .So every year the reiment closes all establishments at Udhampur and move to Akhnoor .B TC and F E Camps are organised for about three months and they return to Udhampur.
When E-IN C asked Ganesan what training is going on Ganesan without any hesitations told that he is doing no training.Gen Rai was shocked to receive such reply,but Ganesan continued and explained as above and stated to take on any Engineer task which Gen Rai desires.
Gen Rai smiled and started walking out.All the officers felt very bad and shouted at Ganesan for being blunt.Ganesan replied that not even two grains of sand are of the same type in the entire universe and so he is proud to be himself and having no interest to wear some other cap.
Time has passed and Ganesan was completing his command tennure.At that time Army HQ has called for volunteers to be Leader and station commander of Indian ANTACTIC STATION DAKHINGANGOTRI .This will be one and half year tennure at the bottom of the world and under world's worst weather conditions.
Ganesan volunteered.About 12 officers were short listed and were called for interview at AHQ E -IN C Branch.
There Ganesan found Gen P S Rai sitting as E- IN C .
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
4.The command.
Readers may be aware that a Division in the Indian Army is the first self sustaining all arms composit unit.That means it will have elements of all arms and services and is capable of taking an assignment independently as situation demands.
So serving in a Division in any capacity is a prestegious thing for Army officers.4 Engineer Regiment was the Divisional Engineer Regiment of 5 Mountain Division which was given the responsibility of guarding the Kemeng sector of Arunachal pradesh-Tibet border.
The General officer who are selected to command a Division is generally a high flying officer and aspires to become the Chief of Army Staff.He expects that all sub unit commanders in his Division are also of high caliber officers.
Under these circumstances Ganesan had established that he is not a "yes master" and takes care of his men under his command very seriously.
Tenga valley where the HQ was located on the banks of "Tenga chu" often gets flash flood and some times it is so severe that even bridges gets washed away.In such cases the bridge is written off and new bridge is constructed.So all along the river one can see plenty of steel girders and other materials.
Ganesan had ordered his troops to collect usefull such items and construt foot bridge for the benifit of local civilians.When one such foot bridge was constructed Ganesan went to the G O C and requested him to inaugurate the Bridge.
The G O C said"Ganesan ,I dont like buttering.Please get the bridge opened by one of your men"
Ganesan was shocked as the G O C misunderstood his intention,
Without any hesitation he replied,
Sir.I am a non psc (passed staff college) officer who has come to command a Div Engineer Regiment. This out of shear merit and not due to buttering.This you may come to know as time passes.Sorry for disturbing you.
Ganesan saluted and walked away.He served under that G O C for about a year and not even once he had gone to G O C for any such courtesy calls.
More to come.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
The command-3
The command-3
Ganesan started local enquiries about missing personnel in that areas.ITBP(Indo-Tibetian Border Police) and local people revealed different stories.whan a person is physically exhausted especially in high altitude areas he reaches a state of hallucination(illusion)and in that state he will be in state of transe and walks freely without any perception of danger and may fall thousands of feet down.A normal person will not go to such an edge in search of him.ITBP people confirmed such loss of persons.
In the mean time Ganesan callled the family members of that missing person and did further enquiries.with all these feedback Ganesan decided that
declaring him as deserter will not be correct.He should be declared as "Missing".since the case was closed earlier Ganesan wrote an application to Adjutant General of the Indian Army stating all the facts.The difference between desertion and missing are like this;Desertion is an offence and the unit has to search for him.All the family allotment of the jawan will be stopped immediately.The desertion was only a presumption and not a confirmed fact.compared to this missing is like an accident and still the unit will keep searching for him;but the family allotment will not be stopped.For 10 years this process will continue and if the person is still not traced,he will be presumed to be dead.All the benifits of dead will go to the family.
so Ganesan sent an application through proper channel to Adjutant General at Army head quarters.It is needless to mention that up the channel no one supported the case as the Div commander already counter signed "derertion".About a month might have passed.one fine morning letter came from AHQ stating that "inthe light of commanding officer's explanation,the case be treated as missing and the findings of the court of enquiry be re written as MISSING.It was the first success step taken by Ganesan
More to continue....
.
Ganesan started local enquiries about missing personnel in that areas.ITBP(Indo-Tibetian Border Police) and local people revealed different stories.whan a person is physically exhausted especially in high altitude areas he reaches a state of hallucination(illusion)and in that state he will be in state of transe and walks freely without any perception of danger and may fall thousands of feet down.A normal person will not go to such an edge in search of him.ITBP people confirmed such loss of persons.
In the mean time Ganesan callled the family members of that missing person and did further enquiries.with all these feedback Ganesan decided that
declaring him as deserter will not be correct.He should be declared as "Missing".since the case was closed earlier Ganesan wrote an application to Adjutant General of the Indian Army stating all the facts.The difference between desertion and missing are like this;Desertion is an offence and the unit has to search for him.All the family allotment of the jawan will be stopped immediately.The desertion was only a presumption and not a confirmed fact.compared to this missing is like an accident and still the unit will keep searching for him;but the family allotment will not be stopped.For 10 years this process will continue and if the person is still not traced,he will be presumed to be dead.All the benifits of dead will go to the family.
so Ganesan sent an application through proper channel to Adjutant General at Army head quarters.It is needless to mention that up the channel no one supported the case as the Div commander already counter signed "derertion".About a month might have passed.one fine morning letter came from AHQ stating that "inthe light of commanding officer's explanation,the case be treated as missing and the findings of the court of enquiry be re written as MISSING.It was the first success step taken by Ganesan
More to continue....
.
Saturday, November 7, 2015
The command 2
The command-2
Command of troops is a highly psycho analysis job keeping in picture your professional skill and the spirit of justice.If you have claimed the ladder just by pleasing senior officers you will certainly be a white elephant to troops.In the present scenario of crises a jawan shooting an officer can not be ruled out.
under such circumstances the file declaring a jawan deserter duly approved by higher authorities came to Ganesan.The unit has to trace the where about of him,recover govt property,the rifle and take discipilnery action.In the mean time his family allotment if any will be stopped.It was just first few weeks after taking over command.Ganesan called theJCO and NCO associated with the event and under stood the matter.When an event like this takes place in an area close to international border.the best option for senior officers would be do something and close the file.That is what happened.Ganesan never go through the line of least resistence.He will always take a tough path which others hesitate to take.
The next dayGanesan decided to walk along the route through wich the team had gone.It was certainly tough and by the time Ganesan reached the spot where the jawan was last seen,his legs were trembling and paining very badly.He sat down there.I f this is the condition for a tough officer like Ganesan,certainly it would have been worst for the jawan.
Ganesan decided to see the case in different angle.
To be contd.....
Command of troops is a highly psycho analysis job keeping in picture your professional skill and the spirit of justice.If you have claimed the ladder just by pleasing senior officers you will certainly be a white elephant to troops.In the present scenario of crises a jawan shooting an officer can not be ruled out.
under such circumstances the file declaring a jawan deserter duly approved by higher authorities came to Ganesan.The unit has to trace the where about of him,recover govt property,the rifle and take discipilnery action.In the mean time his family allotment if any will be stopped.It was just first few weeks after taking over command.Ganesan called theJCO and NCO associated with the event and under stood the matter.When an event like this takes place in an area close to international border.the best option for senior officers would be do something and close the file.That is what happened.Ganesan never go through the line of least resistence.He will always take a tough path which others hesitate to take.
The next dayGanesan decided to walk along the route through wich the team had gone.It was certainly tough and by the time Ganesan reached the spot where the jawan was last seen,his legs were trembling and paining very badly.He sat down there.I f this is the condition for a tough officer like Ganesan,certainly it would have been worst for the jawan.
Ganesan decided to see the case in different angle.
To be contd.....
Sunday, November 2, 2014
The command-1
The command-1
The readers would have observed that 4 Engineer Regt and even the location Tenga is not new to Ganesan.So he started his work as a routine.Though the Regimental location was Tenga as affliated Engineer Regt of 5 Mountatain Division one FdCoy was at Sela and another Fd Coy at Tawang.So Ganesan was moving up and down frequently.
Adiscplinery case happened in the unit few days before Ganesan joining.One jawan on his way along with a team to operational location (altitude-4770 metre) dis appeared and the court of enquiry headed by a Brigadier declared him as a Deserter and the closed file came to Ganesan for taking action.Ganesan called for details.The Fd coy moved to Point 4770 for Defence works about a month before.As there is no road to this point it was 2 days marching from road head.There was a resting place midway for night halt.complete movement including stores is by foot and mules.Wprking parties to to the site and leave party from the site used to go now and then.
once a party of 5 jawans started from Tenga for the Pt 4770.They went upto a place near Jang by vehicle and from there started climbing the hill.A sapper by name Murugan was weak and was lagging behind.The team were to carry their own bedding,7.62 SLR rifle andpacked food for a day.By the evening they were near the staging camp and coy rep came to meet them.since Murugan was lagging behind the coy rep was told to go down and help Murugan.The coy rep went down some distance and returned to the staging camp as he could not see Murugan.The team and coy rep came down searching for Murugan again and it was getting dark.They reported the mater to company commander and in turn to Brigade HQ.Next day the whole Bde (3000 personnel) searched for Murugan and not a trece was found.The Div ordered a court of enquiry and C of I declared Murugan as deserter. Th file came to Ganesan for tracing out Murugan and recover Govt properties like Rifle etc
Ganesan started to go into the case in greater details.
The readers would have observed that 4 Engineer Regt and even the location Tenga is not new to Ganesan.So he started his work as a routine.Though the Regimental location was Tenga as affliated Engineer Regt of 5 Mountatain Division one FdCoy was at Sela and another Fd Coy at Tawang.So Ganesan was moving up and down frequently.
Adiscplinery case happened in the unit few days before Ganesan joining.One jawan on his way along with a team to operational location (altitude-4770 metre) dis appeared and the court of enquiry headed by a Brigadier declared him as a Deserter and the closed file came to Ganesan for taking action.Ganesan called for details.The Fd coy moved to Point 4770 for Defence works about a month before.As there is no road to this point it was 2 days marching from road head.There was a resting place midway for night halt.complete movement including stores is by foot and mules.Wprking parties to to the site and leave party from the site used to go now and then.
once a party of 5 jawans started from Tenga for the Pt 4770.They went upto a place near Jang by vehicle and from there started climbing the hill.A sapper by name Murugan was weak and was lagging behind.The team were to carry their own bedding,7.62 SLR rifle andpacked food for a day.By the evening they were near the staging camp and coy rep came to meet them.since Murugan was lagging behind the coy rep was told to go down and help Murugan.The coy rep went down some distance and returned to the staging camp as he could not see Murugan.The team and coy rep came down searching for Murugan again and it was getting dark.They reported the mater to company commander and in turn to Brigade HQ.Next day the whole Bde (3000 personnel) searched for Murugan and not a trece was found.The Div ordered a court of enquiry and C of I declared Murugan as deserter. Th file came to Ganesan for tracing out Murugan and recover Govt properties like Rifle etc
Ganesan started to go into the case in greater details.
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