Indian Special Forces (archived)

[F-14B]

I fail to understand the role of PBG and SPG to protect the President.

I shall add a bit more meat to what my esteemed friend @rkhanna said
The PBG or the Erstwhile GGBG is akin to the British Horse Guards such as the Blues and royals
to understand the achronism that is the PBG you have to understand who the british treated India in the wider world viwe of the empire
when all other colonies of the empire was called as such India had a status of an empire within an empire and was given all the pomp and cricumstance of one you have to also see that the Indian Political systen mirrors the westminister system so much that the Indian presidents office was just a replacement of the King's throne

actually, there were 3 more such units namely the GBG - Bombay, GBG-Calcutta, GBG-Madras all of which was disbanded in 1947 except the GGBG or the present day PBG
the SPG was a direct outcome of the Indra Gandhi assassination and is not part of the president's ring but is dedicated to protecting the PM and other MP's and their Immediate families

 

[COLDHEARTED AVIATOR]

I shall add a bit more meat to what my esteemed friend @rkhanna said
The PBG or the Erstwhile GGBG is akin to the British Horse Guards such as the Blues and royals
to understand the achronism that is the PBG you have to understand who the british treated India in the wider world viwe of the empire
when all other colonies of the empire was called as such India had a status of an empire within an empire and was given all the pomp and cricumstance of one you have to also see that the Indian Political systen mirrors the westminister system so much that the Indian presidents office was just a replacement of the King's throne

actually, there were 3 more such units namely the GBG - Bombay, GBG-Calcutta, GBG-Madras all of which was disbanded in 1947 except the GGBG or the present day PBG
the SPG was a direct outcome of the Indra Gandhi assassination and is not part of the president's ring but is dedicated to protecting the PM and other MP's and their Immediate families

Since the discussion is going deep i would also like to add one observation.

I am sorry if i am going to hurt anyone's sentiments.

After the Indira Gandhi's assassination when the SPG was formed for a very long time Sikhs were not inducted in the SPG but this was not the case with Presidents bodyguard.

The Presidents Bodyguard always had a reservation for Sikhs and the only criteria being that they should be more than 6 feet tall.

P.S Only military pov and i dont intend to start a political or a religious debate

 

[Anikastha]

NSG doing VVIP security duties in Kashmir.

View attachment 23192

View attachment 23193

Why do we still use red flags? Why can't set a flashing red and blue?

 

[F-14B]

this was not the case with Presidents bodyguard.

Sikhs were enlisted for the first time in Aug 1883 and Punjabi Muslims in October 1887. The recruitment of Brahmins & Rajputs ceased in 1895. After that, the proportions of recruits was fixed at 50% Sikhs (Malwa & Majha) and 50% Muslims (Hindustani & Punjabi).

 

[COLDHEARTED AVIATOR]

Sikhs were enlisted for the first time in Aug 1883 and Punjabi Muslims in October 1887. The recruitment of Brahmins & Rajputs ceased in 1895. After that, the proportions of recruits was fixed at 50% Sikhs (Malwa & Majha) and 50% Muslims (Hindustani & Punjabi).

Yes i have read that but do you know the reason why after 1895 the recruitment of Brahmins and Rajputs ceased

 

[F-14B]

Yes i have read that but do you know the reason why after 1895 the recruitment of Brahmins and Rajputs ceased

Sir if you remember it was the purabi regiments of the Year erstwhile East India Company Army that revolted against British rule this not only that but it was the Brahmin dominated regiments of the Bengal Presidency Army that revolted the strongest after the first war of independence of 1857 you see a gradual shift of Army recruitment from Avadh Bengal and Madras towards the north pre dominated by Punjab this can be seen as a way of rewarding loyal regiments which should by company and also a way of ensuring loyalty with in the rank and file of the unified Army the Governor generals Bodyguard also went through the same

 

[F-14B]

It seems like the PBG inhereted its pathfinder role in 1944 as the44th Indian Airborne Division Reconnaissance Squadron (Governor General's Bodyguard)

 

[Indian Sniper.001]

FN P90 in service with SFF.

 

[cyclops]

Ex Vajra Prahaar 2018 US Green Berets and Para SF

Credits: Shatrujeet

 

[Vinod DX9]

MARCOS epic pic...oath of blood I shall say....."Rakthshapath"

 

[Vinod DX9]

MARCOS on BMP-2............

 

[Bornubus]

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[cyclops]

Para SF......................................

 

[rkhanna]

Para SF......................................

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Wasnt this from the Video of Ghataks/Commando School and not SF?

 

[Guest]

INDIAN SF soldier at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Camp Rilea, Oregon. Green Berets assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st SFG(Airborne), conductd airborne op with their Indian counterparts as a part of joint training ex during Vajra Prahar exercise.

 

[Guest]

https://twitter.com/SJha1618/status/963676829742718978

16 ton capable Heavy Drop System developed by, Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment, Agra.

 

[Guest]

https://twitter.com/SJha1618/status/963686692547854336
Daksh Warrior weapon mounted unmanned ground vehicle in autonomous engagement mode.

https://twitter.com/SJha1618/status/963679392688943109

Wall climbing robot developed by Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Robotics, Bengaluru.

 

[AMCA]

US female paratrooper 1st Lt Laura Condyles shares her unforgettable stint with Indian Army Airborne Training School in Agra.

Female Paratrooper shines through Indian partnership
By Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Smith, 4th IBCT (ABN), 25th IDOctober 29, 2013

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Army 1st Lt. Laura Condyles, a rigger-qualified officer with the 725th Brigade Support Battalion, recently returned from graduating second place at the Indian Army's Heavy Drop Course in Agra, India.
Condyles, a 25-year-old quartermaster officer hailing from Mechanicsville, Va., was chosen from a distinct group of rigger qualified officers in her unit to attend the Indian Army's Heavy Drop Course at the Army Airborne Training School (AATS)
The 52-day course began in early August in one of the hottest areas in India with average daily temperatures hovering around 105 degrees.
"When I first got there, we found out that the class wasn't in English. The whole class was in Hindi the entire time!" said Condyles. "They had an old dictionary they used to translate the tests for me."
Fortunately, the Indian Army assigned student-sponsor, Capt. Ashish Jha, to help Condyles as they both worked through the course. Condyles had to pass three, 3-hour written examinations during the course.
"Of course, the questions were originally in Hindi and were translated to English, so I just kind of had to take my best guess at what they were saying."
The Indian Army's AATS installation is similar to Fort Benning. Most of their airborne training takes place there, including airborne school, the heavy drop riggers course, high altitude low opening (HALO) school, and the pathfinder school.
The Indian forces have two main aircraft used for heavy drops, the Russian made AN-32 and the IL-76, which are comparable in size to the American C-130 and C-17, respectively.
India's Air Force packs all of their personnel parachutes, and their Army focuses on heavy drop rigging.
The Russian engineered rigging equipment utilizes three different platforms. Each system has an extractor parachute, an auxiliary parachute, and a main parachute.
"With each platform, there were three different parachutes that we learned, so all-in-all I learned how to pack nine different parachutes, said Condyles."
Recently, the Indian forces purchased U.S. built C-130 and C-17 aircrafts.
Experienced in the American products, Condyles was able to assist the Indian Army in training with the type V platforms and container delivery systems (CDS) portion of the training.
Condyles excelled in the heavy drop course and earned the Indian Army's Medal of Excellence for achieving the coveted "i" indicator on her completion certificate. The indicator means she performed at such a high level that she is qualified to be an instructor for the course.
"I got it! I'm the first foreign officer that's ever gotten the "i" grade before, so that was pretty neat!"
"I loved it! I had a great time," said Condyles. "The cool thing was I'm the first American that went to the course. They had other foreign officers that went to this course before too, one from Sri Lanka, one from Ethiopia, from Nepal, and Pakistan."
"I was really fortunate that Capt. Jha was there to translate for me. He would help me write out notes. He would help me translate the lectures. But packing is more hands on, so if you see someone do it, you may not know what they are saying, but you can understand it."
In addition to improving her rigging proficiencies, Condyles was able to learn a great deal about the Indian Army and culture during her time there.
"They drop live animals. They put chickens and goats on a platform and drop them in for food."
A list displayed at the installation of items dropped includes bagged items, tent supplies, bottles, hay, medicals, fish, meat on hoof, meat dressed, frozen meat, chicken dressed, chicken alive, fruits and vegetables, and fuel, oil, and lubricants.
"At their motor pools they have temples. So, before you get into a military vehicle and drive away, you have to pray to the gods, whatever gods you want to, or the god in the temple before you drive away."
One of the benefits of partnership training opportunities is learning the unique cultures within the militaries of our international partners.
"Their structure there is pretty different. Officers, Soldiers, and NCOs (non-commissioned officers) are very, very separated. It's not like our Army where we work together a lot more closely. When you are an officer on post, they cook your meal for you, or they deliver it to your room. They clean your bathroom for you every day. They mop your floors in your room every day. They even make your bed for you every day, and they do your laundry every single day!"
Even with the conveniences, Condyles' training was made difficult by the high temperatures, and local power outages.
"There are blackouts in India, so the whole city would just lose power, and then we would lose power. I had electricity about 40 to 50 percent of the time."
Condyles was the only female Soldier at the installation, and with the exception of a handful of Sri Lankan Soldiers who were training for airborne school. She was the only foreign Soldier there as well.
The Indian Army does not have many females in it. The only ones are officers, and less still who are airborne qualified. There were many differences for Condyles to adjust to while she trained in India, including the food.
"Between 75 to 80 percent of the country is vegetarian, so we didn't eat much meat. But they had goat and chicken when we did. I had a lot of grains and pulse. Pulse is like lentils, and everything was in a sauce. The goat was pretty tough, and the chicken was pretty good."
"My favorite thing to eat in India was paratha. It's chapati bread, kind of like our pita bread, stuffed with fried potatoes and onions and a spicy sauce you dip the bread into. That's what they would eat for breakfast." "They love bread. I noticed each day I was getting more and more bread. It finally came to a point where they gave me eight pieces of toast because they just love bread!"
Condyles purchased Indian clothes to wear for her cultural and historical experiences, including two trips to the Taj Mahal, a visit to the historic Agra Fort, a village wedding celebration experience, and sadly, a mourning ceremony for one of her instructor's 22-year-old son who was tragically struck and killed by a train.
The Indian traditional holiday of Raksha Bandhan, was celebrated during Condyles' time in India. Raksha Bandhan is celebrated by sisters and brothers in India. The sisters tie bracelets called Rakhis on their brothers' wrists as a way to symbolize their request for their love and protection.
At one point, Condyles was invited to one of her instructor's home for dinner.
"I had dinner with his entire family. It was really exciting because they had never met an American. They never even talked to one, and they brought in the entire village, and I met the entire village! It was such an exciting event they hired a professional photographer to take pictures, and they made this big meal for me!"
An interesting part of her visit included meeting a cow who lived in the family's home.
"I was there completely by myself, so I had to be immersed in the culture."
"I really liked their culture, and learning about them. One of the things I learned was to just respect different cultures. People do different things, and are raised differently, but it doesn't mean it's wrong or right, they just do things differently, and I think it is important to know that."
The instructors and students at the school were very interested in American culture too.
"They asked me to give a culture presentation, so I made a power point presentation. I thought it would only take about 20 minutes, but it turned into three and a half hours because they asked so many questions. They were just so interested in the United States and our culture."
Daily norms at the school included visits by roaming cows, ceremonial prayers, and tea breaks.
"There were cows everywhere, even in the rigger shed I worked in. We would be rigging a parachute and a cow would just walk in and sit down on it."
"Any time they loaded anything on a platform they would burn incense and pray. They also broke open a coconut and everybody ate pieces of it, and they eat a candy called ladoo. It's a candy made of rice and sugar. Before we did any big training we had to light incense and pray."
"Every training day at 10:30 a.m. we stopped and the whole class had tea for 20 minutes, 'tea time'."
The Indian officers Condyles dined with taught her proper Indian table etiquette.
"When you eat, you have a fork in one hand and your knife in the other, and you can't switch them, and when you put you knife and fork down they have to be crossed with the fork pointing down. When you are done, you have to put your knife and fork down parallel to each other. And if you don't that means you are not educated, and not civilized. I do it here now. It's habit now."
In all, Condyles thought the training was well worth it, and she hopes for more U.S.-Indian military cross training events to further improve interoperability between the countries.
"The Indian Army is very professional and very disciplined. I had a great time training with them and getting to work with them. I would love to work with them again in the future, and I think our military would benefit greatly from working with them. We could learn from each other."

 

[binayak95]

It’s all good and entertaining to read what she has said but as a third party reading this, it is obvious that she is describing a third world country. Disappointing to read that in 21st century, a city has electricity for only 40-50% of time! Lack of air conditioning in a hot region like this makes no sense. Before India can dream of a global power and a real challenge to China, three things are essential: development, development and development. A country where people don’t have electricity and other basic needs adequately met SHOULD NOT be spending resources for aircraft carriers and other power projections beyond its borders IMO. India needs to be in defensive mode for a decade or two (just like China did) and grow its infrastructure and economy. Become a player instead of asking others to call you a player.

This report is from over three years ago. Power outages are a thing of the past now, as for lack of air conditioning: that doesn't bother us because we grew up here. Its normal weather for us. Ask any US soldier/sailor/airman who has had worked with Indian counterparts about the honest experience and you'll be surprised at how much THEY learn.
There is a very good reason why the USN is the most prolific proponent of greater Indo-US cooperation, why US Army officers covet attending both HAWS and CIJWS and why Ex Vajra Prahaar now sees Indian SF operators carrying firearms that they use over to the US.

 

[cyclops]

Wasnt this from the Video of Ghataks/Commando School and not SF?

Possibly.

Original video.

I think it was from the para trooper docu.