331 Cadets of 3 Assam Batallion NCC Silchar attended the Combined Annual Training Camp (CATC) from 01-10 Sep 2023 at Masimpur Cantt. 223 Junior Division Cadets(15-16 years old) of nine schools and 103 Senior Division Cadets (19-21 years old) of six Colleges were imparted training by 31 instructors and staff.
Colonel Amod Chandna, Commanding Officer (CO) of the NCC unit said that, “The aim of NCC is to develop character, comradeship, discipline, a secular outlook, the spirit of adventure and ideals of selfless service amongst young citizens”. He said that,” Firstly such camps help young cadets to a `regimental way of life’ which is essential to inculcate in them the values of discipline, duty, punctuality, orderliness, smartness, respect for the authorities, correct work ethos, and self- confidence.
Secondly, to generate interest in cadets by including and laying emphasis on those aspects of Institutional Training which attract young cadets into the NCC and provides them an element of thrill and excitement.
Thirdly, to inculcate Defence Services work ethos that is characterised by hard work, sincerity of purpose, honesty, ideal of selfless service, dignity of labour, secular outlook, comradeship, spirit of adventure and sportsmanship.”
The daily routine involved getting up at 4 am, get ready, do an hour of Physical Training including Yoga, followed by a break for bath and breakfast.
Thereafter, Drill (with weapons for senior cadets), Map Reading, Weapon Training including Firing, Field Craft and Battle Craft, Tent Pitching and many other military tactics were taught to the Cadets.
Post lunch, they also took part in various games like Football and Basketball. Their CO also introduced them to the game of Golf and Squash.
Lectures on India’s role in G20, Competitions in Drawing, Debate, and Tug of War were also carried out.
Weapon and Equipment Display by Asam Rifles unit of IGAR(East), Medium Gun display by Spear Corps Artillery Brigade and Dog Show by 16 Army Dog Unit mesmerised the young Cadets and motivated them to join the Defence Forces.
Various senior officials inspected the training like Shri Akhileshwar Singh,IG BSF, Frontier HQ, Mizoram and Cachar along with Col S Sriram, Deputy Group Commander, NCC Group Silchar, who were very happy to see the ” josh” and energy. They shared their personal experience too, which motivated them.
NDRF demo on Disaster Management and Survival Skills like how in a Disaster /Calamity, a trained NCC Cadets can assist the State administration. Cadets were taught CPR technique to revive a proper who has suffered a heart attack and how to use Fire Extinguishers for various types of fire.Trikal Chakraborty, wildlife conservationist taught how to recognise different types of snakes and also gave a live demo of rescuing a snake.
Lectures on Health as Hygiene by Major(Dr) Sushmita Kanan from 160 Military Hospital (MH) and interactive session on Drug and tobacco addiction which cause various types of cancer was taken by Dr Rajeev Kumar from Cachar Cancer Hospital.
As part of their social responsibility, 31 Cadets and their instructors, donated blood to the Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Centre.
The Cadets also held an entertainment program to raise the morale of patients and express their gratitude to all Doctors and staff of 160 MH, Masimpur for their yeoman service.
The Cadets witnessed a demo of Manipuri martial art called Thang Ta, Taekwondo and Fencing from students of Silchar.
Colonel Rahul Sharma, ARO Silchar enlightened them about Agniveer Scheme to join the Defence Forces as a Jawan/Soldier and also the eligibility required to join as an Officer.
The Cadets were shown motivational movie “Uri”, the live One Day Match between India and Pakistan and the Passing Out Parade (PoP) of Officers Training Academy(OTA) Chennai on 09 Sep.
They also planted fifty saplings of Ornamental and Decorative trees.
The Cadets carried out staue cleaning of legendary warrior of Assam, “Lachit Burphukhan” and carried out area cleanliness at War Memorial of 1971 War and Op Pawan 1987 (Sri Lanka) to pay homage to our martys.
Senior Under Officer Cadet Kunal Dey of Gurucharan College,who won the Best SD Cadet award said, ” I am sure that all Cadets will agree that these ten days will be the most memorable days of their life”.
15 year old,Junior Division Cadet Aryan Singh of KV Masimpur said, ” This was the first time I had ever stayed away from my parents. Yes I did feel home sick for the initial one or two days, but once the rigorous camp schedule started, we did not even realise how soon the ten days got over”.
(Source: PRO DEFENCE GUWAHATI)
