Soldiers don't hate soldiers.....

[Joe Shearer]

This is from someone else's blog, somewhere else. It was so evocative, and rang so true, that I felt compelled to break my silence and bring this to your collective notice. Especially to the notice of those who have served.

I think it was in 2000 or maybe 2001 in Gurez Valley in North Eastern Kashmir. I was doing some research on the LoC. The Brigade HQ at Davar hosted me and I messed in with the Raj Rif unit that manned several posts on the front. In those days shelling was a regular affair and the whole area was pretty tense. It was hard being a soldier. Pakistani snipers often got the unlucky guy who stepped out of his bunker for a pee and in winter corpses had to be choppered out whenever a chopper could land. Until then the men lived with the corpse of the man who had recently been friend and compatriot.

One day I decided to walk over to a border village to interview civilians. The colonel insisted on sending a JCO with an AK47 as my guide and protector despite my protests. At first I resented his presence. It compromised my neutrality. But then as we began chatting, desultorily at first, I found myself drawn to a most extraordinary man. We sat down on some rocks in the bright sunshine, the blue Kishanganga flowing swiftly past us.

He was very proud of serving in the Rajputana Rifles. Yes, he missed home. Sometimes it was hard on the LoC, but it was better, more honest soldiering than being in the Valley. Why? There it's confusing. You sometimes end up killing people who are supposed to be Indian. And here, the Pakistanis, you said you lost some of your men...you must hate them? Hate? No, I don't hate them. They are sons of poor farmers like me. They are doing their duty, like me. No. I don't hate them.

 

[Icarus]

The same sentiment that I have reiterated hundreds of times in the past. 'Hatred' seems to be the refuge of those who have never and probably will never see the face of their 'enemy'. For anyone who has served, he knows his own hardships and understands that his nemesis is undergoing the same pain. He is there regardless, simply for the fact that he too believes in a higher cause that he devotes himself to, just as you do and that is something that will always have a soldier's respect.

 

[PoKeMon]

Ohh really? As if we are not aware of war crimes and the barbaric treatment enemy soldiers give to our soldiers and vice versa.

All such "high on morals" lectures are good for blogs only.

 

[Sipahi]

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."

Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

 

[Joe Shearer]

Ohh really? As if we are not aware of war crimes and the barbaric treatment enemy soldiers give to our soldiers and vice versa.

All such "high on morals" lectures are good for blogs only.

This was not a lecture, this was a soldier's story, you ****ing moron.

 

[Cherokee]

This was not a lecture, this was a soldier's story, you fucking moron.

Either you should preach the choir or no one at all .

 

[Armstrong]

This was not a lecture, this was a soldier's story, you fucking moron.

Longtime no see, Joe Sahib !

 

[Icarus]

This was not a lecture, this was a soldier's story, you ****ing moron.

And one written by another solider, if I might add. Its difficult to explain the feeling you hold for an enemy to someone who has never been through it. Let me be clear, I have been faced against the Indians and also against the Taliban, I harbour greater animosity for the latter, let me tell you why.
The Indians shelled our areas and killed civilians, our shells killed theirs.
The Indians raided our positions and killed our men, we carried out similar raids.
The Indians tortured our guys on occasion, so did we.
However, at no point was this ever done for personal gratification or out of spite. Civilians were never the target, and we hurt the other only when beckoned to do so in line with national interest. I was quite content to attend border flag meetings (escalations meant that both sides sent their most junior officers to convey their lack of interest) and that's how an Indian lieutenant and myself who for all practical purposes would be shooting at the mere sight of a single hair off each other's heads would actually sit together for 20 minutes and talk about stuff that any two kids would talk about.
We talked about who's mother cooked better, we talked about who's country played better cricket, we talked about guys we had lost to each other. Occasionally, in jest, we would try and encourage the other to defect with what we thought would appeal to the other at that young age.
We have prettier girls, if you come over to my side, I'll get you hitched.
We have greater landscape.
We make more money.
We have better food.
We have friendlier people.
Our capital is closer than yours.
We have more olympic medals than you.
Stuff like that. At the end of the day, we were two kids, not there because we had a bone to pick with each other, but because we believed in ideals that placed us on opposite sides of the line. We could have very easily been in each other's shoes.

 

[kbd-raaf]

On topic: Yes, I have never met a soldier who hates another soldier. Terrorists on the other hand, are universally despised.

And one written by another solider, if I might add. Its difficult to explain the feeling you hold for an enemy to someone who has never been through it. Let me be clear, I have been faced against the Indians and also against the Taliban, I harbour greater animosity for the latter, let me tell you why.
The Indians shelled our areas and killed civilians, our shells killed theirs.
The Indians raided our positions and killed our men, we carried out similar raids.
The Indians tortured our guys on occasion, so did we.
However, at no point was this ever done for personal gratification or out of spite. Civilians were never the target, and we hurt the other only when beckoned to do so in line with national interest. I was quite content to attend border flag meetings (escalations meant that both sides sent their most junior officers to convey their lack of interest) and that's how an Indian lieutenant and myself who for all practical purposes would be shooting at the mere sight of a single hair off each other's heads would actually sit together for 20 minutes and talk about stuff that any two kids would talk about.
We talked about who's mother cooked better, we talked about who's country played better cricket, we talked about guys we had lost to each other. Occasionally, in jest, we would try and encourage the other to defect with what we thought would appeal to the other at that young age.
We have prettier girls, if you come over to my side, I'll get you hitched.
We have greater landscape.
We make more money.
We have better food.
We have friendlier people.
Our capital is closer than yours.
We have more olympic medals than you.
Stuff like that. At the end of the day, we were two kids, not there because we had a bone to pick with each other, but because we believed in ideals that placed us on opposite sides of the line. We could have very easily been in each other's shoes.

Gosh darn, this hostility has gone on for too long.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Longtime no see, Joe Sahib !

We have SUCH bad times going on....it's really bad, laddy.

 

[Armstrong]

We have SUCH bad times going on....it's really bad, laddy.

Why...what happened ?

 

[Joe Shearer]

Why...what happened ?

First, they killed a kid at the University of Hyderabad. Dalit boy, on a scholarship, who agitated against what he felt was a miscarriage of justice. For that, they threw him out of his rooms; his stipend, his research scholarship, had already not been paid for six months, for other, bureaucratic reasons. He hanged himself in a friend's room.

Then, they framed a phony case against the president of the JNU, and plan to charge him with sedition. Simple Dalit kid from Bihar (notice how the Dalit theme comes up again and again). He was arrested, and on his way to the court, assaulted by lawyers supporting the Sangh Parivar, with the cops standing by and grinning. The Supreme Court ordered his protection; he got beaten up again. The main goon has had his picture taken with the Home Minister earlier. Then they found that the seventh signatory on one of their student petitions was a Muslim, whose father had been a SIMI member, long before SIMI was banned. He then came into their sights. Finally, the student body secretary, a Kashmiri Muslim girl, is now under attack. And it goes on and on.

 

[SQ8]

First, they killed a kid at the University of Hyderabad. Dalit boy, on a scholarship, who agitated against what he felt was a miscarriage of justice. For that, they threw him out of his rooms; his stipend, his research scholarship, had already not been paid for six months, for other, bureaucratic reasons. He hanged himself in a friend's room.

Then, they framed a phony case against the president of the JNU, and plan to charge him with sedition. Simple Dalit kid from Bihar (notice how the Dalit theme comes up again and again). He was arrested, and on his way to the court, assaulted by lawyers supporting the Sangh Parivar, with the cops standing by and grinning. The Supreme Court ordered his protection; he got beaten up again. The main goon has had his picture taken with the Home Minister earlier. Then they found that the seventh signatory on one of their student petitions was a Muslim, whose father had been a SIMI member, long before SIMI was banned. He then came into their sights. Finally, the student body secretary, a Kashmiri Muslim girl, is now under attack. And it goes on and on.

Reminds me of a mixture of Animal house and 1984.

 

[third eye]

The same sentiment that I have reiterated hundreds of times in the past. 'Hatred' seems to be the refuge of those who have never and probably will never see the face of their 'enemy'. For anyone who has served, he knows his own hardships and understands that his nemesis is undergoing the same pain. He is there regardless, simply for the fact that he too believes in a higher cause that he devotes himself to, just as you do and that is something that will always have a soldier's respect.

Hatred is the refuge of blind because its convenient , one does not have to see or understand.

Soldiers do their job quite as clinically as a surgeon does & quite like a doctor they have learn & respect each other.

Once the shooting stops and / or an enemy drops his weapon for any reason he ceases to be an enemy but a fellow professional who needs only to be respected.

No disrespect meant but this is something most do not seem to comprehend.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Reminds me of a mixture of Animal house and 1984.

We have the pigs. We have the secret police.