AMIT KUMAR GOSWAMI - UNTOLD STORIES OF MEN IN UNIFORM: Exhilarating Stories of Adventure, Hope and Humour

UNTOLD STORIES OF
MEN IN UNIFORM

Exhilarating Stories of Adventure, Hope and Humour

AMIT KUMAR GOSWAMI

Publisher

AMIT KUMAR GOSWAMI 2021

First published by AMIT KUMAR GOSWAMI 2020

Copyright 2020 by AMIT KUMAR GOSWAMI

ISBN 978-1-63669-281-4

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

This book is the work of AMIT KUMAR GOSWAMI, being its Author, and has been self-published. All rights in this book of whatsoever nature, to the extent available to an Author of a self-published book belong to AMIT KUMAR GOSWAMI. The stories are based on the interesting experiences related to the Author and his personal friends. The names of the individuals who have shared their experiences have been changed in the book.

Some stories have been written heavily depending on various resources like Google, Wikipedia and YouTube etc. The Author has acknowledged this fact at the bottom of all such stories under Authors Note. The Author has not divulged any defence secrets, and descriptions of any such matters have been gathered from the above-mentioned sources.

AMIT KUMAR GOSWAMI asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

AMIT KUMAR GOSWAMI has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

This book has been published with all efforts taken to make the material error-free. However, the author and the publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. While every effort has been made to avoid any mistake or omission, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that neither the author nor the publishers or printers would be liable in any manner to any person by reason of any mistake or omission in this publication or for any action taken or omitted to be taken or advice rendered or accepted on the basis of this work. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.

Second Edition @ 2021

Sometimes one may wonder what a person in uniform does during peacetime. The answer is: he prepares for war by honing his skills through constant practice. Therefore, his daily work-life has an intrinsic risk element, to say the least. However, his life is not totally devoid of fun and lighter moments. These ten short stories, inspired by real-life incidents experienced by military personnel, who are or have earlier been in uniform, offer a sneak-peek into the lesser-known world of uniformed people.

Contents

Preface

The usual working life in the Armed Forces is never boring. Every now and then, one finds himself pitted against some new challenge or the other. Sometimes the challenges turn into adventureor a freak accident and occasionally, an unexpected turn of events spawns hilarious situations as well.

I had my fair share of such situations during my career of 26 years in the Indian Air Force. I wanted to share some of those thrilling experiences with others; since I never believe in enjoying good things alone. So I published my first book Rear View Mirror as a collection of short stories based mostly upon my own experiences. The book received a fairly good review in Hindustan Times, Amazon and media. But my colleagues from the Defence Services lapped up the stories since the stories struck a chord with them. A friend called me from Pune, saying he spent one entire night reading the book from cover to coveras he was unable to keep the book aside. Yet another ultra-generous friend from Agra found a resemblance of my style of writing with that of Mr. Chetan Bhagat. Of course, I have never taken such a kind but overstated remark seriously.

Some of my friends from the Defence Services, who read and appreciated the book, got charged with excitement and started sharing their own experiences with me. They requested me to write stories on their behalf. I realised that some of their stories were far more exciting than my own. So I picked up the best out of the best from those and spent hours interviewing my friends who had personally experienced respective episodes. During interviews, I probed deeper and tried to bring out details. Soon enough, the collection took the shape of my second book Untold Stories of Men in Uniform.

I am sure this book will be found equally enjoyable by people from the Defence Services as well as their civilian counterparts, across age groups. Besides the story part, the readers will get to know first-handhow it feels to eject out of a stricken MiG-23 fighter aircraft, the engine of which had suddenly stopped working at the height of 3.5 KMs above Rajasthan desert. Another story will provide a blow by blow account of how a Lieutenant Colonel had successfully taken on a large group of terrorists when he stumbled upon them unprepared, out-numbered and not suitably armed. In this book, readers get to read real stories made interesting with minute details and some imagination. Facts sometimes are, as they say, stranger than fiction.

Clarifications:

I wish to offer a small clarification on the title of this book. The title Men in Uniform may look sexist and biased against women because today, women play increasingly important roles in the Armed Forces, as much as men do. I do not disrespect or ignore women in the Armed Forces in any manner whatsoever. But my friends, based on whose experiences the book has been written, happen to be all men.

There is one more point that I feel I must clarify, especially for those readers who do not have a military background. In all the three arms of the Defence Forces, a particular type of uniform format is practised while writing anything official. This style of writing is called Service Writing. When a name is to be written formally, it is to be written along with the rank, initials, surname, decorations and designation. Initials are written without any space or full stop in between; else, full name can also be written. Designations and organisations are also written in the same manner. If retired, the status comes after the name. Let me give two examples. Air Vice Marshal RK Singh, Vishisht Seva Medal, Senior Maintenance Staff Officer, Head Quarters, Maintenance Command is written as AVM RK Singh, VSM, SMSO HQ MC and Retired Wing Commander SK Sharma is written as Wg Cdr SK Sharma (Retd). In day to day use, only the surname preceded by the rank is used, i.e. Lt Col Saxena. The names of all service officers in this book are written in this format. For easy readability by all, fully expanded ranks and names have been used.

Gratitude

The valuable contributions made most enthusiastically and willingly by my friends have formed the foundation of most of my stories in this book. My dear friends, namely, Air Vice Marshal RK Mohan (Retd),Air Commodore SP Tiwari (Retd),Group Captain Swadhin Chandra (Retd), Group Captain UK Debnath(Retd),Lieutenant Colonel AK Singh SM andWing Commander Dipendu Ganguly (Retd) have enriched this book by sharing their experiences. Wing Commander TPN Singh(Retd) and Wing Commander Pradeep Agnihotri (Retd) have made meaningful contributions by painstakingly reading some manuscripts and offering valuable suggestions for improvements. I express my sincere gratitude to all of them.