The first two days of the Indo-US Joint exercise were spent by both the contingents in familiarising with each other’s equipment and battle drills and gaining a level of understanding and confidence of operating jointly.

The first two days of the Indo-US Joint exercise were spent by both the contingents in familiarising with each other’s equipment and battle drills and gaining a level of understanding and confidence of operating jointly. In any counter-terrorist operation, fine tuning and understanding each other’s weapons and work ethos is the essential precondition for successful operation.

On day three Nov 21, the troops carried out small arms and sniper firing with their own as well as each other’s weapons. Efficacy and accuracy of this would actually be the final step in the elimination of the terrorist after all steps to isolate him have been taken.

The joint practices were initially carried out during the day and subsequently graduated tonight.

“We shall increase the degree of difficulty in tomorrow’s exercise and try the same things in night conditions. Ultimately the aim is whatever the time of the day is, the terrorist gets eliminated. We will not allow him to take advantage of the hours of darkness”, said one of the commandos participating in the exercise.

At the end of the day troops of both the armies were fully satisfied with the outcomes. Armed with mutual confidence in each other’s equipment and best practice the troops were now ready to put them to practice in realistic environment in the form of joint operations to clear the buildings in which terrorists are hiding – a situation invariably encountered in counter-terrorist operations of all forms.