They don’t only face bullets, they also save lives at home, and abroad!

Choppy seas, high-velocity winds, a deadly swell of rivers and stranded people in the past few days have dominated prime time television and the front pages of newspapers. Amid all the grief, we all saw a common picture of hope, of warmth, of courage: The men in the uniform! The unsung heroes of the Indian armed force worked tirelessly and without a fuss when the nation faced two devastating cyclones in quick succession, on the back of the ongoing pandemic. Apart from fanning out in remote parts of the affected States to provide succour to the hapless civilians facing the wrath of nature, the jawans — locally called Thambis, out of love and respect — also served hot meals to the needy and the poor in Tamil Nadu.  The armed forces reached out to people in their hour of need without fanfare and “did the job”, so to say. Apart from these efforts, there are many instances when the hardy troopers trudged through chest-high snow and intense cold, carrying pregnant women on makeshift stretchers for miles to the nearest hospital in Kashmir.  And, never a burden on the caring shoulders, the expectant mother managed to reach the hospital safely and deliver a healthy and normal child.

The determination to achieve the “objective”, as called in military parlance, saw the Indian peace-keeping contingent in Congo saving more than 1,000 people from burning lava a fortnight back; so much so that the locals learned and danced to bhangra beats there to show their gratitude and appreciation. This extraordinary feat by the Indian Army soldiers found a laudatory mention during the International Peacekeeping Day at the United Nations Headquarters in New York last week. Not too long ago, the images of an Army officer bringing out five-year-old Prince from a 60-feet borewell pit after more than 50 hours of rescue operation in Haryana are still vivid in the mind. That time, too, everybody watching the event on TV proudly proclaimed that it’s “my Army”. An emotional moment, indeed! Trained to work in emergency and chaos, the armed forces, with the two cyclones behind them, are now again in the thick of the battle against COVID-19. It can’t be stressed more that as long as the men in olive-green, the whites or navy blue are around, the nation must remain reassured that it’s in the safest of hands. May God bless our forces!