The Garhwal Rifles (GR) added one more feather in its highly decorated cap when it bagged the first position in the prestigious Inter Military Patrolling event held in the United Kingdom (UK) recently. Military units from 140 countries participated in the annual event.
Exercise Cambrian Patrol is an annual international military patrolling event that makes its participating units cover an 80 km course in less than 48 hours while performing numerous types of military exercises in the rugged mountainous terrain of Cambrian Mountains in the United Kingdom.
This year the event was held between October 17-26 and the unit of Indian army comprising 8 Garhwal Rifles won Gold Medal in it. The Indian army sends it best team to this international unit which is selected thorough an arduous process. The selection process involves Inter command and intra command competitions.
The President Emeritus of Dehradun Ex Services league Brigadier KG Behl (Rtd) said that the event again proved the mettle of GR.
He said that the 8 GR has made Uttarakhand and the country proud by achieving the first rank in the international event. Colonel Pl Parashar (retd) expressed his happiness and conveyed his hearty congratulation to the 8 Garhwal.
He said that the GR has a long cherished history of military accomplishments and winning the international military patrolling is a proud moment for them and the Indian army.
The Garhwal Rifles, an infantry regiment of Indian Army was raised in the year 1887. At present the GR has 19 regular battalions, one battalion of Garhwal scouts and two battalions of Territorial Army. The GR is recipient of three Victoria crosses, one Ashok Chakra and four Mahavir Chakras.
The Cambrian Patrol was first set up more than 40 years ago, by a group of Welsh Territorial Army soldiers who designed the training event to feature long-distance marching across the Cambrian Mountains culminating in firing.
The aim of the exercise is to test leadership, self-discipline, courage, physical endurance and determination of the participants. The competition consists of teams of eight men patrolling across the inhospitable terrain, during the tests the teams have to perform tasks like firing of personal weapons, hurdle-crossing, first aid and casualty evacuation, recognition of aircraft vehicles and equipment, artillery target indications, patrol techniques, handling prisoners of war, river stream crossing, ambush and anti ambush drills.
The teams have to endure two days with no sleep and rest while performing designated tasks due to which many participating teams fail to finish the tasks.
