6. Yearly snowfall in Siachen can be well over 3 dozen feet

When snow storms come around, at least two to three soldiers have to keep using shovels (in snow storm). Else, the military post would become a history; in no time.

7. The 7th Pay commission may consider the unique challenges faced by the army jawans who man the territory all through the year.

They should.

The forward areas in Jammu and Kashmir including Siachen were visited by the 7thPay Commission in October, 2014.

8. Soldiers find ways to entertain themselves when they can.

We are, after all, a cricket crazy nation.

9. Fresh food – that's rare. Very rare. At Siachen, an orange or an apple can freeze to the hardness of a cricket ball in no time.
Rations come out of tin cans.

10. Army pilots literally push their helicopters well beyond their optimal performance, every day!

They drop supplies at forward posts located at an altitude of more than 20 thousand feet.

Army pilots usually have less than a minute for dropping off the supplies at forward posts.
Pakistani army is merely few hundred meters away and so the choppers must fly off before the enemy guns open up.

11. In the last 30 years, 846 soldiers have sacrificed their lives at Siachen.

In case of Siachen, deaths due to extreme climate and beyond-imagination terrain conditions are treated as battle causalities and rightly so.



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