Govt wants action against IAF pilots who abandoned injured wireles operator

[janon]

Govt wants action against Air Force pilots who abandoned injured Chhattisgarh wireless operator | NDTV.com

The Ministry of Home Affairs wants the Indian Air Force (IAF) to penalise two pilots and the crew of a helicopter for abandoning a critically-injured wireless operator in Chhattisgarh last month.

In a strongly-worded letter that raises questions about the IAF's preparations and battle-hardiness, the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked for an enquiry and appropriate action.

The Air Force maintains that the injured wireless operator was not left to fend for himself. "He couldn't be removed since he was injured, and the Captain decided to leave him behind and look for medical help," an IAF spokesperson said, adding that a Court of Inquiry (CoI) ordered by the Air Force will determine what happened and action will be taken against "all those officials and agencies" found responsible.

On January 18, the Air Force was asked to evacuate a Chhattisgarh policeman injured in gun battle with the Maoists from the Timilwada area in South Bastar. The Mi-17 helicopter, whose crew included two Garud commandos, was shot at least a dozen times as it tried to land at the designated pick-up zone.

A Chhattisgarh Police radio operator, Y L Sahu, who had been assigned to help the pilots and crew with their navigation was on board and was hit by several bullets. The pilots landed about 4 km away and in an inexplicable decision, they left the chopper and a bleeding Mr Sahu, and made their way to the Chintalnar CRPF camp. They also abandoned two Light Machine Guns and their personal weapons.

The Indian Air Force is deployed in Naxal strongholds in a non-combat role. IAF helicopters are only used to evacuate the injured, and to ferry men and rations to remote posts.

 

[Cherokee]

This is Absolute cowardly Act .

First is your Mission ,

Then your comrades

Then you god damn life , not the other way around . Strict actions should be taken against those who abandoned their comrades to save themselves .

Cowardice has no place in Defense forces .

 

[Star Wars]

Lets not scream "cowardly act" without knowing what exactly happened ..stop jumping to cunclusions

 

[Cherokee]

Lets not scream "cowardly act" without knowing what exactly happened ..stop jumping to cunclusions

Even if your comrade is injured and asks you to move on , you put your shyt together and ferry him all the way . for two guys that should not have been difficult .

 

[Star Wars]

Even if your comrade is injured and asks you to move on , you put your shyt together and ferry him all the way . for two guys that should not have been difficult .

aree yaar...stop passing judgement without knowing what happened, ill wait for the IAF statement, if they are guilty they will be punished as simple as that...

 

[Abingdonboy]

Govt wants action against Air Force pilots who abandoned injured Chhattisgarh wireless operator | NDTV.com

The Ministry of Home Affairs wants the Indian Air Force (IAF) to penalise two pilots and the crew of a helicopter for abandoning a critically-injured wireless operator in Chhattisgarh last month.

In a strongly-worded letter that raises questions about the IAF's preparations and battle-hardiness, the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked for an enquiry and appropriate action.

The Air Force maintains that the injured wireless operator was not left to fend for himself. "He couldn't be removed since he was injured, and the Captain decided to leave him behind and look for medical help," an IAF spokesperson said, adding that a Court of Inquiry (CoI) ordered by the Air Force will determine what happened and action will be taken against "all those officials and agencies" found responsible.

On January 18, the Air Force was asked to evacuate a Chhattisgarh policeman injured in gun battle with the Maoists from the Timilwada area in South Bastar. The Mi-17 helicopter, whose crew included two Garud commandos, was shot at least a dozen times as it tried to land at the designated pick-up zone.

A Chhattisgarh Police radio operator, Y L Sahu, who had been assigned to help the pilots and crew with their navigation was on board and was hit by several bullets. The pilots landed about 4 km away and in an inexplicable decision, they left the chopper and a bleeding Mr Sahu, and made their way to the Chintalnar CRPF camp. They also abandoned two Light Machine Guns and their personal weapons.

The Indian Air Force is deployed in Naxal strongholds in a non-combat role. IAF helicopters are only used to evacuate the injured, and to ferry men and rations to remote posts.

This is Absolute cowardly Act .

First is your Mission ,

Then your comrades

Then you god damn life , not the other way around . Strict actions should be taken against those who abandoned their comrades to save themselves .

Cowardice has no place in Defense forces .

A complete misrepresentation of the facts- the IAF crew went into enemy territory in order to seek out freindly forces to secure the wounded helo and injured policeman. The 2 Garuds had serious chemical burns sustained from the firing by the Moasits, the 2-3 other IAF crew had only side arms and almost 0 combat training -the idea that this group of IAF crew were expected to stay with the stricken helo, protect it from the more numerous enemy combatants and wait for friendly forces to arrive who had 0 idea the helo had gone down or where- is just ABSURD.

What the IAF crew did was actually incredibly brave and ensured the safety of both the injured policeman and the helo.

 

[janon]

What were the two Garud commandos in the chopper there for, with their uber sophisticated rifles and gear? To hunt rabbits in the forest?

 

[Cherokee]

A complete misrepresentation of the facts- the IAF crew went into enemy territory in order to seek out freindly forces to secure the wounded helo and injured policeman. The 2 Garuds had serious chemical burns sustained from the firing by the Moasits, the 2-3 other IAF crew had only side arms and almost 0 combat training -the idea that this group of IAF crew were expected to stay with the stricken helo, protect it from the more numerous enemy combatants and wait for friendly forces to arrive who had 0 idea the helo had gone down or where- is just ABSURD.

What the IAF crew did was actually incredibly brave and ensured the safety of both the injured policeman and the helo.

Home Ministry must have been blind to seek action against these incredibly brave IAF pilots instead of giving them gallantry awards .

 

[janon]

A complete misrepresentation of the facts- the IAF crew went into enemy territory in order to seek out freindly forces to secure the wounded helo and injured policeman. The 2 Garuds had serious chemical burns sustained from the firing by the Moasits, the 2-3 other IAF crew had only side arms and almost 0 combat training -the idea that this group of IAF crew were expected to stay with the stricken helo, protect it from the more numerous enemy combatants and wait for friendly forces to arrive who had 0 idea the helo had gone down or where- is just ABSURD.

What the IAF crew did was actually incredibly brave and ensured the safety of both the injured policeman and the helo.

Wait, running for help while abandoning an injured person is now considered a brave act?

From where did you learn that the garuds were seriously injured? Any news sources or links for that?

If the other IAF crew had 0 combat training, that is even more worrying. Air crews are supposed to be fully trained to survive in hostile territory, and to be adept at SERE tactics. In the US, the "Airman's creed" explicitly says "I will never leave another airman behind." Every air warrior is expected to live up to that.

 

[Abingdonboy]

Home Ministry must have been blind to seek action against these incredibly brave IAF pilots instead of giving them gallantry awards .

I'm not saying give them gallantry awards but I'm saying that calling their actions anything close to "cowardice" is completly unfair. The MHA is simply commenting on the facts as they see it however the IAF has not finished its confidential BoI and has not come to a conclusion yet so the MHA is speaking far too soon. I feel the MHA's comments are motivated by trying to show the ground troops (central and state ploice units) that the MHA is 100% behind them.

 

[Cherokee]

I'm not saying give them gallantry awards but I'm saying that calling their actions anything close to "cowardice" is completly unfair. The MHA is simply commenting on the facts as they see it however the IAF has not finished its confidential BoI and has not come to a conclusion yet so the MHA is speaking far too soon. I feel the MHA's comments are motivated by trying to show the ground troops (central and state ploice units) that the MHA is 100% behind them.

Fair enough , But i am grossly disappointed and i think MHA would have done their research before coming out with such statements .

 

[Abingdonboy]

Wait, running for help while abandoning an injured person is now considered a brave act?

From where did you learn that the garuds were seriously injured? Any news sources or links for that?

If the other IAF crew had 0 combat training, that is even more worrying. Air crews are supposed to be fully trained to survive in hostile territory, and to be adept at SERE tactics. In the US, the "Airman's creed" explicitly says "I will never leave another airman behind." Every air warrior is expected to live up to that.

Moreover, the two Garud commandos had themselves sustained "chemical burn injuries" on being sprayed with hydraulic oil and aviation turbine fuel after the helicopter's "hydraulic accumulator and high-pressure fuel pipelines" were hit by bullets.

Anti-Maoist ops: IAF copters to get 4 commandos each - Times Of India


Yes all the IAF aircrew are trained extensively in SERE but how does this equate to battling heavily armed insurgents who outnumber them many times over? If anything, it could be argued, they were following SERE training. Also is it not for us to make such sweeping statements- we don't know the status of the wounded policeman, he could have been in such a condition wherein he was not in a position to be carried out. Additionally if the IAF crew had not travelled by foot through enemey terroritory to the CRPF base then there is NO way the CRPF would have located the stricken helo and wounded policeman as easily as they did. The IAF helo had zero comns with anyone once it was on the ground.


What was the alternative? For 3 lightly armed IAF aircrew, 2 moderately armed -WOUNDED- Garuds and one completely out of it (UNARMED) policeman to defend the helo against a force many times larger and much more heavily armed until a CRPF unit eventually stumbled upon their helo- however long that took??

 

[janon]

Anti-Maoist ops: IAF copters to get 4 commandos each - Times Of India


Yes all the IAF aircrew are trained extensively in SERE but how does this equate to battling heavily armed insurgents who outnumber them many times over? If anything, it could be argued, they were following SERE training. Also is it not for us to make such sweeping statements- we don't know the status of the wounded policeman, he could have been in such a condition wherein he was not in a position to be carried out. Additionally if the IAF crew had not travelled by foot through enemey terroritory to the CRPF base then there is NO way the CRPF would have located the stricken helo and wounded policeman as easily as they did. The IAF helo had zero comns with anyone once it was on the ground.


What was the alternative? For 3 lightly armed IAF aircrew, 2 moderately armed -WOUNDED- Garuds and one completely out of it policeman to defend the helo against a force many times larger and much more heavily armed until a CRPF unit eventually stumbled upon their helo- however long that took??

It can't be true that IAF had zero communication after they were grounded. They all carry comm equipment (including satellite phones) precisely for this kind of scenario. They should have communicated their position to HQs or friendly units nearby, and waited with the injured person until help arrived. If necessary, they should have laid out defences to guard against hostiles temporarily, and if it came to it, then fought and held off the hostiles until help arrived, instead of leaving the weapons, chopper and a man all at the mercy of lady luck.

The IAF crew included a gunner and a machine gun. If they were not armed enough for the mission, then that is their fault too, and they need to seriously revise their SOP.

Also, let us not forget that it has been a few days since the incident happened, and the CRPF and MHA and others have been criticizing the IAF for their actions. If there actually was any justification for the IAF crew's actions, they have had plenty of time to explain themselves. If not to the media and public, then at least to the MHA and MoD. The fact that no convincing explanations have been offered so far lends credence to the suspicion that they don't have any justification to give.

But yes, we can wait for the CoI to submit its report.

 

[Papa]

Wait, running for help while abandoning an injured person is now considered a brave act?

From where did you learn that the garuds were seriously injured? Any news sources or links for that?

If the other IAF crew had 0 combat training, that is even more worrying. Air crews are supposed to be fully trained to survive in hostile territory, and to be adept at SERE tactics. In the US, the "Airman's creed" explicitly says "I will never leave another airman behind." Every air warrior is expected to live up to that.

No buddy its not like that. Every body has his own task that need to perform and this is in the rule book. We don't know the exact scenario and it would be too fast to comment on.

If you are getting news about their trials, I am sure you will get to know about punishment too. Till then, please....

 

[True pakistani 22]

What kind of Action
Jail for how many years