I thought that readers on Boddunan may want to know what it means to be trained as a soldier. In India we do not have compulsory military service for any length of time so many are not aware of what life is in the forces. I will say that I was a pilot in the Air Force, but as part of ground training we went the whole hog of training with Army and also had simulated exercises of jungle warfare or as it was called '" battle inoculation" exercise.

We were generally trained in batches of 25-30 each and it was part of ground training. We carried rifles and fired with live ammunition. Among the exercises was a 5 mile run through the jungles. We had our training in the jungles of Tamil Nadu which have thick forests like Siruvani and Top Slip. These forests are also thick and rich with wild life and wild boar, panther and above all the elephant roam wild.

We started our day at 4 am and moved into the jungle  to a pre-determined spot, where we had morning tea. it was run through the jungle wearing boots and dungarees with knapsack and rifles.  At this spot our instructors made 4/5 teams which were given tasks like search and kill. Live ammunition was used and many times we were to crawl under barbed wire fences with live bullets flowing overhead. Frankly it was fun and nobody ever got injured, though one of my course mates fell of a hill and was injured. The jungles also have hills and small rivers. It is in fact a reserve forest and I am happy to say that the Tamil Nadu government would go out of it's way to grant permission to these exercises.

We had firing a range practice with rifles and revolvers. In particular we used the stengun, classified as a 'close quarter combat weapon". It is a lethal weapon and I frankly loved firing with it. It is automatic and can fire 100 bullets in a 30 seconds.

We came across many wild animals, but these lovely creatures never attacked or harmed us. An occasional tiger also appeared and they just went away. it was a 18 hour day for a week and the end we were hardened and ready.The best part was at the end when we had a lavish dinner-dance at the Officers mess and we were allowed to get our GF's to it. That was great and the GF's were so excited and wanted to know everything about the Jungle exercise. all I can say now is that I would love to go through it again.

Photo of jungle camp with me, taken by a friend. can any one recognize me !