The first commanding officer (CO) of a Rashtriya Rifles (RR) battalion of which I was once a member passed away this week. We had heard of the challenges he and his team had faced, not only in raising the battalion, but also in its simultaneous operational employment. Arguably, the first set of RR COs had perhaps the roughest – if the most professionally exhilarating – time of the generations of COs of the Indian Army thus far.
my sense is santosh was a good leader, else his troops wouldn't have gone for the chinese with merely bare hands the way they did. corroborated by his spoken reputation.
I raised 8RR in 1994 and served with them in Manipur (the Kuki-Naga areas) and later in Doda. The best time of my life.
Army was political even then. When some Nagas killed a Kuki in a village where family of an ex MLA (read, influential) lived, the GOC visited the village in sympathy. Hiwevet, no one visited my unit when I lost an officer in an encounter, not even from the Bde HQ. What respect can I have for such bum seniors?
I have covered details of my raising experience, and my views on leadership in general, in my first book - Leadership for Colonels and Business Managers- on Amazon.
my sense is santosh was a good leader, else his troops wouldn't have gone for the chinese with merely bare hands the way they did. corroborated by his spoken reputation.
I raised 8RR in 1994 and served with them in Manipur (the Kuki-Naga areas) and later in Doda. The best time of my life.
Army was political even then. When some Nagas killed a Kuki in a village where family of an ex MLA (read, influential) lived, the GOC visited the village in sympathy. Hiwevet, no one visited my unit when I lost an officer in an encounter, not even from the Bde HQ. What respect can I have for such bum seniors?
I have covered details of my raising experience, and my views on leadership in general, in my first book - Leadership for Colonels and Business Managers- on Amazon.
Very insightful sir. Can you talk more about "Galwan" as a case study? Is it in terms of CO taking the lead
Very Nicely put.