MARCH 10: The Indian Navy calls them the Marcos, and they haven't the slightest thing in common with a deceased Filipino dictator. But the Marine Commando Force is used to living with epithets.In the Kashmir valley, where they have been continuously deployed to fight militancy since 1995, this elite force are called the Dadiwali Fauj by panicky militants. An allusion to the beards which only naval personnel are allowed to maintain. Magarmach (crocodile) for their land and water operations. Or even the cheeky Jal Murgi (water hen), a reference to the speed with which they have pounced out of water.But the Marcos have done nothing to dispel such pseudonyms and on occasion even operate like the Israeli special forces, using the beard and firan (Kashmiri suit) disguise to sneak up on militants.Still it was no surprise when half the Naosena Medals (gallantry awards) given out by the Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sushil Kumar at the culmination of an impressive parade on Friday were snapped up by three Marcos. This shadowy elite forces unit stayed out of the public gaze until their march past during this year's Republic Day parade.Amongst those who bagged the coveted Naosena Medal (NM) at the investiture ceremony held at the INS Kunjali helibase in South Mumbai included Lieutenant Ravindra Kothiyal and LEMR Dalel Singh who killed four militants after a fierce firefight in Baramulla district on March 7 last year. Leading Seaman Kishan Kumar Shinde was given the NM for his role in another firefight in Kupwara nine days later when four militants were killed.The trio have effortlessly switched a variety of clothes, from the beard and firan to the trademark rubber diving suit or the camouflage Army battle dress. ``We can operate in different conditions, on land, in the water or near it,'' explains an on-top-of-the-world Lt Kothiyal, who for a change is dressed in starched white uniform.Not that the three other NM winners performed any less. Engine Room Artificer Sulaiman Saji will soon have a bust erected in his honour in Lajpur village in Raigad district, in gratitude for saving four fishermen from stormy seas during the monsoons two years ago.``They told me that they had been reborn because of me,'' smiles the diminutive Saji who spent nearly three days in the turbulent sea with his crew in a leaking boat before spotting and rescuing the four fishermen whose boat had capsized.Lieutenant Commander Anurag Chettri performed a similar act of bravery in adverse weather two years ago. He landed his single-engined Chetak helicopter on the tiny and slippery deck of a merchant ship during heavy rain nearly 51 miles off Cochin to evacuate a seriously ill crew member two years ago.Recognition, albeit delayed, came in the form of a gallantry award for LEMP Manoj Jacob who for his superhuman task of helping fight a fire that broke out on a naval ship INS Amba at the naval dockyard, Mumbai, nearly three years ago. Jacob donned a firefighting suit and fought the blaze for six hours in the smoke-filled holds of the ship, using three oxygen tanks. He finally had to be forced out after which he collapsed and was hospitalised.``I was determined to stop the fire,'' says Jacob who got the NM for gallantry after an enquiry into the incident completed its findings last year.
