THE PRIDE OF INDIA:LT COL JS KABERWAL,SHAURYA CHAKRA

Nelson Mandela's quote "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear" fully fits the bravery of Lieutenant Colonel Jasbir Singh Kaberwal, Shaurya Chakra (SC) who retired after 20 years of distinguished service from the Bihar Regiment of the Infantry of the Indian Army. Born on December 06, 1970 in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, to Senior Inspector Harbans Singh Kaberwal who served in the Railway Protection Force and Joginder Kaur, a home maker, Jasbir from a young age was fascinated by the uniform as he saw his father donning it every day for work. Jasbir's father wanted his son to join the

Indian Army as an officer and the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) located in the beautiful town of Dehradun was an ideal institution for the entry to the Indian Armed Forces as an Officer. The entrance to RIMC is done in Class VII and only one student from each Indian state is selected. Needless to say, the entrance examination to RIMC is extremely tough and competitive. The hardworking that Jasbir was, he joined RIMC on August 01, 1982. It was in RIMC that Jasbir was nick named Kaby by his classmates, a name that would remain with him permanently. Kaby excelled in hockey and athletics and was in the school sports teams of these two sports. On January 02, 1988 Kaby after clearing the National Defence Academy competitive examination, which is the eight toughest competitive examination of the world, reported to Khadakwasla, Pune as part of the 79 NDA course and was allotted Charlie Squadron. After the three-year training in NDA and one year training in the

Indian Military Academy, Dehradun where he was in Alamein Company, Kaby got commissioned in the Tenth Battalion of the Bihar Regiment which is also called 10 Bihar. 2/Lt JS Kaberwal reported to 10 Bihar after the three weeks post-commissioning leave and soon become an important member of the battalion by the dint of his hard work and devotion to duty. Shortly the battalion moved to the Kashmir Valley where militancy had erupted a few years ago and the Indian Army was deployed in Jammu & Kashmir for counter-insurgency under Operation (Op) Rakshak. On September 03, 1994 Captain JS Kaberwal was part of three ambush parties, each consisting of one officer and ten other ranks. These three ambush parties were operating in civil dress and were in their respective positions by 0300 hours around Village Gundbon in Baramulla district. At 0630 hours, Kaby saw some terrorists sneaking out of the village and moving towards Village Naidkhai. Seeing this Kaby, showing great acumen and maturity, sub-divided his ambush party in two teams and started engaging the terrorists with sustained and effective AK-47 fire. The terrorists retaliated with AK-56 fire from a very close range. Capt JS Kaberwal showing utter disregard to his personal safety and showing conspicuous bravery, raw courage and determination, in a swift action killed one terrorist, who was later identified as a dreaded platoon commander of the Muslim Janbaz Force. One AK-56, four magazines and 21 rounds were recovered from the dead terrorist. Meanwhile, two militants hiding in the paddy fields, threw three hand grenades towards Capt JS Kaberwal, but the officer showing unmatched presence of mind and timely evasive action saved himself and his men. Having spotted these two militants, and undeterred by their constant heavy automatic fire, Capt JS Kaberwal kept his cool and closed on to the militants and shot dead the second militant, who was a dreaded area commander of the militant organisation Al Barq by bringing down accurate fire from his AK-47. The third militant as a last resort charged at Kaby, who had almost exhausted his ammunition. Capt JS Kaberwal used his lightening reflexes got entangled in a hand-to-hand fight and overpowered the terrorist. In this ensuing fight, Kaby snatched the terrorist's weapon and shot him dead from point blank range. For exhibiting conspicuous bravery, dogged determination and total disregard to his personal safety in the face of intense terrorist fire, Capt JS Kaberwal was awarded Shaurya Chakra, which is India's third highest gallantry award during peace time. Lt Col JS Kaberwal, SC retired from the Indian Army in 2012 and is based in Mumbai where he is an entrepreneur manufacturing audio systems. Our salute and respect to Lt Col JS Kaberwal, SC who is truly the Pride of India. The famous quote of Louis de Bernieres holds true for the brave Lt Col JS Kaberwal, SC "No man is a man until he has been a soldier".

About the Writer – Lt Col JS Sodhi (Retd) The writer who retired from the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army is an alumnus of NDA, Khadakwasla and IIT Kanpur. He is a M.Tech in Structures has also done MBA and LL.B and is a prolific writer and a public speaker. He has been featured in the World Book of Records, London and the India Book of Records for his media contributions. The writer Tweets and Koos at @JassiSodhi24. The views expressed are personal.