What was till two decades back a battleground where Mizo guerillas used non-conventional combat tactics against Indian troops is now a favourite training ground for Army personnel of other countries. A 42-member US Defence team is learning new techniques from Indian Army personnel at the Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) in the hills here in Mizoram, as part of the post 9/11 Indo-US cooperation. This is the third US batch to be trained in India. Army personnel of several other countries are in queue to enrich their counter-insurgency techniques here.The US team has seven officers and 35 soldiers, half of them from Guam island, the westernmost territory of the US, and the remaining from the famous 25 Infantry Brigade. They are quite busy, as the training period here is limited to only two weeks. ‘‘We are being increasingly deployed to different countries and different situations. Given this, we have found this training a wonderful experience,’’ said Col Arnold Marcus, one of the officers in the team.Many of them have served in Afghanistan, Iraq, and African countries. ‘‘But this experience is unique. The scenario is so real it’s difficult to believe that we are only training.and not actually fighting terrorists,’’ said Lt Peter Almirez.More than 40 officers and jawans of the 22 Maratha Light Infantry are in the exercise with the US soldiers. ‘‘It’s a sort of round-the-clock activity. training troops to be alert every moment of the day. it’s because terrorists do not follow any routine,’’ said Brigadier Rakesh Sharma, commandant of the CIJWS. ‘‘Soldiers are put through three phases of training. Classroom theory, followed by operations in semi-urban areas, and special operations on jungle terrain,’’ said Col U S Bawa, a senior CIJWS trainer. He, as CO of the 17 Jat regiment, played a significant role in the Kargil War. Several officers who led missions in Kargil have been brought to train the US team some of whom would return to Iraq and other destinations.The training school began as an ad hoc jungle warfare training centre at Munkree in Meghalaya in 1967. It was shifted to Vairengte in Mizoram in 1971. ‘‘We will soon have a Mongolian and Uzbek contingent, while several other countries have been asked to wait,’’ Brigadier Sharma said.
