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SHORE DUTY, HUH? |
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By Commodore Prem Kumar - © Quarterdeck: Vol. 18, 2005

An old Sailor and an old Jawan were sitting and arguing about who'd had the tougher career. "I did 30 years in the Infantry," the Jawan declared proudly, "and fought in three of my country's wars. Fresh out of training I hit the desert in Rajasthan, clawed my way up the blood-soaked sand, and eventually took out an entire enemy machine gun nest with a single grenade. As a Lance Naik, I fought in Bangladesh alongside General Arora. We pushed back the enemy inch by bloody inch all the way up to their barracks, always under a barrage of artillery and small arms fire. Finally, as a JCO I took part in the Kargil Operations. We fought in mountainous terrain many days, plagued by bad weather and mosquitoes, ducking under sniper fire all day and mortar fire all night. In a firefight, we'd fire until our arms ached and our guns were empty, then we'd charge the enemy with bayonets."
"Ah," said the sailor with a dismissive wave of his hand, "Lucky bastard, all shore duty, huh?"
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