We have to earn the respect and admiration of he men we command

Ever felt the exhilaration of being close to your creator? I felt this mystic, inexplicable close encounter with my Maker, once in my life. I was a young Lieutenant posted in an Air Defense Missile Regiment, near Chandigarh. That fateful day my Battery (sub-unit) was returning from Ramgarh Firing Ranges after our Annual Firing practice camp. I was the Convoy Commander of our fleet of vehicles and equipment.

As the convoy approached Nada Sahib Gurudwara, I got a wireless message from my 2/IC, from the rear. One huge 5 KVA Generator and the towing truck had crashed against a tree and tumbled into an abyss. I rushed back and to my dismay found that the giant Generator had crushed the truck from top and five of my jawans were trapped inside it. There was utter chaos and pandemonium.

We climbed down into the deep pit and could witness the pain and agony of the jawans, pinned down under the rib cage of the truck. It was my first experience of a life/death situation and instantaneously the magnitude of the crisis struck me like a hammer on my head. I was the Commander-in-charge and my troops had pinned their hopes on me, as the savior of these hapless men.

Everybody was screaming and running around like headless chicken. I ran up to the main road, where a traffic jam had taken place. I was panicking and I tried to compose myself. I was looking for a crane on the road,though I knew it was a remote probability. Perched on a mound of earth to have a bird’s eye view of all vehicles, my eyes caught on what I was searching for – a huge Hydraulic Jack lying in an open truck.

Within minutes, we down loaded it and fixed it under our truck. Slowly we pulled out four men who were severely wounded, but alive. Then tragedy struck. The driver was unconscious with hot engine oil all over his body. Heslipped further into the wreckage, as the heavy generator started sliding, compelling us to stop the rescue operation.The desperate moment came soon – There is nothing else to do.All my men started crying, pleading me to do something and I could smell death in the air. My eyes welled up, my brain started to get clouded and I prayed from the core of my heart for a miracle. Only God could save him. Then the ‘miracle’ happened.

I felt a slight movement at the corner of the pit and in the pale light of the evening sun, saw a big rat coming out of a burrow. The revelation struck me like a thunderbolt. If we can make a trench under the wreckage, I can possibly reach him and pull him out along the trench. Two hundred hands found a purpose. The result was phenomenal.

Within the next ten minutes, we pulled him out along the freshly dug tunnel. God had been extremely kind. Everybody survived from that horrible accident. When I reflect upon this episode, I am sanguine – I had a close encounter with the Almighty. For a few minutes, I got possessed by a power alien to me. Folks, Leadership is a crown full of thorns. We have to earn the respect and admiration of the men we command, by proving our mettle in times of crisis. It is the ultimate challenge of a military leader.

Col Asokan is an Army veteran and motivates the youth to join the Armed Forces.