IDHAR UDHAR KI BAAT 64- PHOTO OPS -Brig PS Gothra(Retd)

 “Yaar, the new Commanding Officer(CO) is top-notch—he’s whipped the unit admin into shape in just three months!” the Havildar remarked to his buddy, a Naik, as they sat on a bench at the Jammu Railway Station. Their suitcases covered with camouflage pattern cover, marked with their ranks and names, caught my eye.  I found myself wondering if soldiers ever exchanged similar reviews of my command.

“Yes ustad, but the pichla (previous) CO was better although I was always on my toes. During his command the unit killed twelve terrorists. It felt like I was really contributing to something important.”

“I don’t know about the previous CO as I was out of the unit. But, You? Making a difference? Aren’t you just the CO’s photographer? What kind of sense of achievement can you get from clicking pictures?”

“I feel I had a major contribution in getting the twelve terrorists killed and also ensuring the operational efficiency of the unit.”

“You are talking as if you were the adjutant of the unit,” said the Havildar and laughed.

“You see when the previous CO joined, he asked me to avoid clicking his photos and instead click the photographs of the civil population he is interacting with or the civilians sitting in a particular function. I was asked to upload those photos in a separate computer kept in the photo viewing room. So, in the first month he used to sit with the sources and photos of civilians flashed on the overhead projections system. We would spend hours checking the background and the activities of the overground workers of the terrorists.  It was my task to get the photo of the OGW identified and put notes on the photograph. In no time me and CO were well versed with the OGW network. Then he started taking me along on visits to various posts. On the way he would ask me to take photographs of the villages and terrain from various angles. In a few days we had the databank of whole area of responsibility. With the help of these photographs, we debriefed the sources to establish patterns of terrorist movement and plot the same to come out with plans for operations. The Ghataks and the troops participating in operations were briefed with the help of those photographs which reduced the possibility of confusion and fratricide. Similarly, we gave the annotated hard copies of the photographs to the night surveillance parties. It helped in coordination between various surveillance parties. He also made me click the photographs of all the sources. The one’s who proved frauds, their photographs were circulated by the Commanding officer to all the companies and other units so that they do not defraud others,” said the Naik to have a break.

“I always thought the photographs was for making memories and the photographer is never exposed to hostile fire.”

“In the last tenure of the unit on the line of control the pichla CO was my company commander. He used to take me to walk along the line of control under direct observation of the enemy. From the line of control we used to click photographs of own areas to assess the approaches or the infiltration routes the terrorists or the enemy can take. This helped in deciding where to lay ambushes to take on infiltrating terrorists or to improve our defences. Sometimes to get a better view we used to enter the enemy area also.  I was also made to click the photographs from our loopholes of the area in front of every loophole on our posts. These photos after annotation were sent to the respective bunkers so that while observing the area in front at night the sentry can corelate, otherwise even a bush looks like an enemy crawling. In this tenure,  I also collected the photographs of the terrorists operating in our area of responsibility. After every successful and unsuccessful operations, I was to take out the photos of various aspects so that in the after-action reports were absolutely clear in conveying to the reader as to what all went wrong and where all we were right. I hardly ever slept for more than four hours but it was very very exciting. CO saab was great. Every man in the operation knew what is his role,” said the Naik with a sense of nostalgia.

“What is the present CO doing with the data?” Asked the Havildar.

“His priority is different. On the second day of his taking over he asked me to show the data bank of the photographs of the Brigade and the Division commanders. We didn’t have any so he deputed another person with me and briefed us the various angles and ceremonials occasions the photographs of senior officers is to be taken. He himself is good at Photoshop, so he taught us how to make the subject in the photograph look slimmer and smarter. He is very fond of getting himself and his family members clicked. His wife makes us vanish the flab around her tummy in her photographs. We have already started working on the albums which are going to be presented to the Brigade and Division Commanders on their posting.”

The train entered the platform and the two soldiers got up to board. I was wondering which of the Commanding Officers followed better photo ops.

 

Note :-  What is your opinion? Please your comments.