FAT Part Two

After landing at the high-altitude airstrip at Kargil, we piled into some small jeep-like vehicles called Gypsies to drive to our next location. Our caravan of Gypsies wound their wind through the village of Kargil and up high into the surrounding mountains. We bounced along the steep dirt trails for about an hour until we reached an Indian Army outpost sitting on the mountain top at over 13,000 feet. Although the border is currently quiet, this location had been fought over multiple times in the past 60 years, and was the scene of fighting as recently as 1999.

From this outpost we could look out across the vast mountain ranges stretching north into Pakistan. We also received briefings from the local formation commanders on the important terrain features and troop locations. Looking back into India, we could see the town of Kargil and more mountains to the south.

After about an hour, we made our way back down into the town of Kargil to have lunch with some of the local officers. Here's a picture of Raj, Riva (Indonesia), the local brigadier, me, Ruwan (Sri Lanka), and Kumar getting ready for lunch at the Officers' Mess.

After lunch we hopped back into vehicles and drove out to Post 43, just a hundred meters or so from the nearest Pakistani outpost. We had the chance to mingle with the local soldiers and see the conditions in which they monitored the border. Pakistani soldiers could be seen watching us from their outposts.

Typical soldier's rooms at the outpost. Pretty spartan conditions.

Pakistani outposts lie on the other side of the river just beyond the treeline.

This room is a firing position with pre-sighted lines of fire at key Pakistani positions.

After returning from Post 43, we changed into our suits to have dinner and cocktails at the Officers' Mess. The Indian military always makes time for cocktails.

Riva, Raj, me and Zul (Malaysia)

After a long day in Kargil, we turned in to our rooms. On the down side, each room had only one large bed that had to be shared by two officers. On the plus side, we also had a dedicated servant to arrange our meals and take care of our laundry. The next morning we would get up early for the long drive our of Kargil to our next site, Dras. More to come...