By: Shivank Singh Chauhan, Defence Writer, VIT Today
Brig Deepak Sinha (Retd) is a second generation paratrooper with over three decades of service in the army. He has an M.A. and M.Phil. in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Madras. In addition, he has also attended the Armed Forces Certificate Course on Business Management from MDI, Gurgaon. During his service he has held varied command, staff and instructional appointments.
He has extensive experience in airborne special operations forces and counter insurgency operations having served in a Special Forces battalion in the North East and Jammu & Kashmir. He has also commanded India's only rapid deployment force, 50th (Independent) Parachute Brigade and the Parachute Regiment Training Center. As Director Parachute and Special Forces at Army Headquarters he was responsible for the organizational, equipment identification/ procurement and training aspects of the Special Forces including conduct of joint training with the US Special Operations and the Russian Airborne Forces. He also headed the Indian Contingent participating in "Airborne Africa 2002" in Botswana, a biennial professional competition for Airborne and Special Forces from Africa and the world. The Indian team participated for the first time and was placed first from among 23 teams from over 15 countries including United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Malaysia and South Africa. He has been on the faculty of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington as a Directing Staff and an instructor at the National Defence Academy, Pune, and at the Wangchuk Lo Dzong Military School, Bhutan. He has held the Field Marshal Cariappa Chair of Excellence at the United Services Institution of India, New Delhi, in 2003-04 and is the author of the book "Beyond the Bayonet: Indian Special Operations Forces in the 21st Century", Gyan Publishers, Delhi, 2006. Prior to joining ORF he established the Indian operations for an MNC, ICD Security Solutions (India) Pvt Ltd, a part of the Brinks Co, USA.
Sir, during your long storied career, you've been in command of the 50th (Independent)Parachute Brigade and the Parachute Regiment Training Center, you've also led the same in joint exercises with the Russian US forces. Is there a gap that exists between the respective forces? If so, Can that gap be bridged anytime soon?
At the outset thank you for giving me this opportunity to interact with the student community of your prestigious Institute.
I am not only fortunate to have served in the Parachute Regiment in different capacities, but also been extremely lucky to have commanded the Parachute Brigade as well. It is a unique organization and the only credible Rapid Response Force available at the national level that can cover great distances very rapidly and packs an awesome punch. Some of you may have read of the sterling work it did to defeat the coup in the Maldives in 1987 during Operation Cactus.
It has the benefit of conducting joint training with many friendly foreign countries including the UK, France, US, Russia and Kazakhstan. Every nation tailors’ their military to meet their own unique national security challenges and objectives. These forces are thus organized and equipped depending on several factors such as terrain imperatives, the threat they are likely to encounter and budgetary limitations.
To answer your question each Nation’s force has its own strength and weaknesses and by operating together we try and pick up the good points that we see and then incorporate them into our functioning. Dealing with foreign armies also adds to your own confidence as you gain familiarity with them. Finally, you can rest assured that we are there at the top with the best in the world. Our troops have extensive combat experience and we have a formidable reputation that a lot of hard work goes into protecting.
Among your varied achievements, one of them probably is when you headed the Indian Contingent participating in "Airborne Africa 2002" in Botswana, a biennial professional competition for Airborne and Special Forces from Africa and the world. Could you tell us a little more about the experience and the euphoria of placing first in the same?
Let me correct you, it was our teams that participated that showed off their mettle and deserve to be given due recognition. My contribution in their success was very marginal. It was my job as the Head of the Contingent to assist, advise and motivate them prior to the competition and make sure our interests were looked after during the event. Given their superb fitness levels, motivation and skills that was an easy job.
The South African Defence Forces came up with this biennial competition in 2000, which was then won by their Special Forces. We were invited for the second edition organized by the Botswanan Defence Forces in Botswana. A total of around 15 or 16 countries participated with 28 teams being fielded. Since this competition was being conducted in the semi-arid Kalahari Desert, we had fielded two teams from 10 PARA (Special Forces), a unit that has extensive experience in the Rajasthan Desert.
The Competition itself was an extremely gruelling one. Each team, consisting of five operatives, was dropped on an unknown Drop Zone and then trekked approximately 90 Kms in three days with full tactical loads. They were expected to survive on very little water, every individual being provided just six litres per day. During the day they were put through several assessed events, such as endurance marches, navigation exercises, casualty evacuation, information acquisition and combat firing.
While the team, headed by Captain Krishna Das led the competition from the very start and came overall first by a wide margin, it was the efforts of the second team, led by Maj Ranade, that really caught the eye of the spectators. The parachute of one of his operatives’ malfunctioned, resulting in the individual fracturing his leg and having to withdraw from further participation. This off course meant massive penalty points being awarded against his team. Despite this they did not lose heart and insisted on continuing. They were neck to neck with our other team through the complete competition, bagging several individual and team prizes in the process. Unfortunately, because of the penalty points they were awarded they were placed 15th out of 28 teams. As a country, our team was placed first.
The importance of this win lies in the fact not only that they competed against some of the best in the World and beat them, but also that we did it in Botswana. From the time the Botswana Defence Forces were established in the Seventies, we have had an Army Training Team advising and assisting them in their training. As you can understand, our teams’ superlative performance in such a prestigious competition showcased the professionalism of our Army which also added to the already high reputation of our Training Team there.
On a lighter note, An incident from one of the many postings that sticks with you?
I have been fortunate to have been posted in some wonderful places like at the National Defence Academy in Pune and at Haa Dzong in Bhutan, but I think, and my wife agrees with me, there is nothing to beat tenure at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington (Nilgiris), as a student for one year. I was attending an extremely important professional course which exposed us to many new facets of our profession. That was extremely satisfying even though they kept us busy through the week. However, the weekends were ours to enjoy and we were young, among very good friends, with no responsibilities to hold us back, which I am sure as students you will appreciate. It was the most satisfying and fun times that we can recall, alas it ended too quickly.
Your book "Beyond the Bayonet: Indian Special Operations Forces in the 21st Century" is an incredibly well researched study into the field of Special Operations and how Special operation forces can meet unorthodox security needs that the conventional military find difficult to accomplish. The LAC has seen significant escalations in recent weeks. Would the presence of additional special forces in the region be beneficial from a tactical perspective?
Thank you for the kind words about my book and indeed for this very relevant and timely question. Firstly, we need to differentiate between tactics and strategy. In simple military terms, tactics involve the action one takes when face to face with the enemy to achieve one’s immediate aim, while strategy is the overall design that you come up with to defeat the enemy.
Let me emphasize that Special Operations Forces are employed to accomplish tasks that will impact at the strategic level. In what is happening in Eastern Ladakh for example, such forces used deep behind the LAC to cut off their highway that connects Tibet to Lhasa would be a strategic objective and create major problems for the Chinese to move troops.
Therefore, the point is that when looking to employ SOF, numbers are unimportant, it’s the level of disruption you want to cause that decides the mission and the numbers required. We have sufficient such forces for meeting our requirements already available there. Maybe additional forces could be used elsewhere, not necessarily on the LAC to, if required to create pressure on them.
You're a second generation paratrooper, did a former background of the Armed forces aid in your decision to join the same?
Like in other professions many youngsters are impressed by what their father or mother may be doing and decide to follow in their footsteps. My father joined the Parachute Regiment in December 1944. As a young child I got to witness parachute drops quite a few times and it made a very great impression on me. In fact, after Senior Cambridge I had joined Hindu College in Delhi, but dropped out to join the Army and my father’s Regiment. My younger brother also felt that same way and after training to be a doctor also became a paratrooper as well.
Seeing that we are a university editorial, with the majority of our reader's being college students. What feedback would you give to a student planning to join the army?
In every aspect of the military, technology has become a game-changer and the difference between winning and losing. They say there is no place for the runners-up in war, so it means that all our combat and combat support units require more and more personnel with technical backgrounds to operate and service our weapons and equipment. This certainly provides great opportunity to students from technological institutions like yours.
I must emphasize in terms of quality of life, job satisfaction and opportunities there is no organization that can beat the military. It lays emphasis on adventure sports, skill upgradation and community, which is why people often say the military is one large family. A small example, just the other day I got a call from Army Headquarters asking about me and families well being and giving me details of whom to contact if we faced any problems. I am not sure how many other organizations, especially as large as this, would take such a positive initiative. Yes, I will add the emoluments may not be the same as in the private sector but it does give you a sizable pension on retirement. Having headed the Indian operations of an ITES MNC for three years I am aware of what things are like on the other side as well.
You've held the Field Marshal Cariappa Chair of Excellence in 2003-04 at the United Services Institution of India. Could you give us a brief note on what that constitutes and what you did under the ambit of the same?
The USI is the first and oldest think tank dedicated to the study of national security issues in India. It provides fellowships for deeper study of military subjects and the Chair I was holding was one of them. I was on study leave at that time and had just vacated the post of Director Airborne and Special Forces at the Army Headquarters. Given my service in the Parachute Regiment and then having dealt with issues pertaining to Special Operations Forces at the Army Headquarters the Chair provided me the opportunity to research and write a paper on the employment of Special Operations Forces. This paper was subsequently found suitable to be published as a book, that you have already referred to.
To what extent do you think we should follow military independence in decision-making as compared to government in its operations and on-ground functioning?
What distinguishes a democracy from any other type of government is that in democracies the military is under civilian control. By that I mean it reports to our elected political leaders in Government and does their bidding within the Constitution. It is an apolitical institution which is why on commissioning in the military one takes an oath to the President to serve the country and not on behalf of any political party, unlike China, for example, where the PLA is a part of the Communist Party.
The way things run is that policies on national security are decided by the Government of the day with the advice of the military leadership. It would make little sense for the Government to arbitrarily come up with policies which the military may find are not feasible to implement. Thus, there is a fair amount of discussions before policies are formulated and there is sufficient scope and independence at the subordinate levels to decide as to how exactly those policies would be implemented. While the military may be hierarchical in nature, most decisions are taken after detailed discussions with subordinates at each level. This ensures that objectives set are within the capabilities of those required to implement the task.
In conclusion, What would your recommendation be to the current authorities of the defence force's, in light of the Chinese escalation in the middle of a pandemic? What according to you is the most efficient step?
Justifying a large military when there is peace and quiet, especially for a poor country like ours, is extremely difficult. One tends to only recall their value when confronted by an intractable enemy or bully who only wishes you harm and refuses to treat you as an equal. Today as we face the pandemic, we realise that not focusing on our health care system has left us vulnerable. We can produce millions of sets of PPE that is required, but we cannot produce the health care workers that we need at the press of a button. It takes investment, planning and time. This applies to the military too.
For decades the politicians have ignored the requirements of the military and suddenly when we are now faced with a bully intent on grabbing your land, we wish to spend money to make them powerful. That is not how it works. You need to nurture your military if you want it to be a powerful deterrent to your adversaries. President Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Speak softly, but carry a big stick”. Our politicians must give his words great thought and set aside their differences when it comes to our national security. They must speak with one voice and always remember that talking big gets us nowhere. The Chinese have a concept of what they refer to as Comprehensive National Power (CNP). This is the sum total of your military, economic and cultural power, or in other terms, the total of your hard and soft power. We must look to enhance these, if we are to deter and dissuade them from eyeing us as a soft state, incapable or unwilling to stand up for ourselves.
Finally, about the present difficulties that we confront, like we did in Kargil, we will certainly emerge victorious, though like then sadly, it will involve a great deal of sacrifice. Thank You
An extremely informative exchange with one of the top experts in military and defence matters with a long and storied career. It was an absolute pleasure to pick the brains of an expert such as him and we hope that extends onto our viewers as well.
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