ARTICLE - HEROES THEY ALL ARE

Despite all the hype and hoopla over the latest success of a commando operation and media arc lights glaring over the war heroes, for veteran soldiers riding the crest is not the ultimate high even if it boosts their morale and make them feel useful at such glorified moments. They either get brickbats for eating into the honest taxpayers’ money, or frenzied adulation post combat, none of which are necessary - Pontifications on their bravery and patriotism,occasionally grab the limelight during a crisis and fade away from public memory just as easily as fireflies, lose their wings. Well, at the first sight they are a band of regular guys who have a sense of commitment in fulfilling the task handed over to them, like their counterparts in the corporate, public or private sector. They are ready to take risks to accomplish their mission like anyone else. The difference is that the risks that they take are always at the cost of their lives. This and this alone, spells out the magnitude of selflesslessness, which encompass any military action.

Commando operations are not the babies of an individual. The man charging the enemy or dying from a stray bullet, or those behind him laying down covering fire, providing technical support and the command and control elements, are cogs in a well oiled wheel. Players operate in a decentralized fashion, split second decision making and precision of action being at the core of their efficiency. It is always the team, which ultimately accomplishes the goal. Just like a football match. The individual players hone on their skills for various positions and perfect their act over the years but when the matches are played one is never too sure whether one will win. Yet if you win every successive match and achieve the status of a champion it is because your diligence has paid. It is because your sense of commitment in the quiet training hours, away from the public eye, has sharpened your reflexes and focussed your mind into that winning groove. Individual glory hunting is passe, pursuit of team excellence is the lode stone. Military successes in commando operation spell of great amounts of discipline inculcated through years of training and individual grit all at the same time. When it comes commandos, action or no action, heroes they are each one of them… simply because they dared to put all other lives before their own for all times to come.