Only the Toughest can Make it as Black Cats

By M H Ahssan

There’s a high dropout rate in the gruelling selection process

It goes, strikes, achieves and quietly comes back, just like the mythological Chakra which would behead the demons and return to the finger of Lord Krishna” — Nikhil Kumar, former director-general of the National Security Guards (NSG), describing the elite antiterror crack force

The NSG was in Chakra mode in Mumbai last month in a grim indication of its enhanced role in countering the terrorist threat. Now, it’s not just VIPs who want the best NSG commandos in their security team; many states are arguing for regional NSG hubs to deal with Mumbai-like situations.

But is this feasible, given that the NSG has just 7,500 men to take care of VIP security, anti-terrorist operations and bomb disposal? No, says an NSG commando who took part in the Mumbai operation. “It is not possible because it takes minimum of 14 months to fully train a group of 500 to 1,000 personnel at one go.”

ENDURANCE TEST
Popularly known as Black Cats because of the black nomex coveralls and black balaclavas they wear, NSG commandos are on deputation from the Army and paramilitary, including the Central Reserve Police Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Border Security Force and Sashastra Seema Bal.

Three of their 14 months of training in Manesar, Haryana, are devoted to the basics. Physical fitness training has 26 elements, ranging from an cross-country obstacle course to jumping from heights and across divides and scaling different kinds of terrain. One endurance test involves target shooting at the end of an obstacle-ridden cross-country run. This is meant to gauge the candidate’s performance under conditions of stress and exhaustion. Those who successfully complete the tests are sent for nine months of advanced training.

This trains the commandos to handle sophisticated communication equipment, combat gadgets and different kinds of arms/specialised weapons such as AK-47/74s, Browning hi-power 9mm pistols, 9mm Uzi sub-machine guns, 5.56mm M-16A2s, 9mm H&K MP5-A2/A3s and locally manufactured 7.62mm SLR and 5.56mm INSAS rifles. Sniper rifles such as the semiautomatic H&K 7.62mm PSG-1 and MSG-90, the SIG 7.62mm, SSG-2000 and the boltaction Mauser SP66/86SR are also used to train members of the Special Action Group, which is specifically deployed for anti-terror/anti-hijacking operations.

SHOOTING IN THE DARK
Advanced training also covers ‘combat room shoot’ in which commandos have to enter a dark room, adjust their vision to the darkness and shoot at a target within three seconds by torchlight or a compatible laser image intensifier. Similar training is also conducted under discotheque strobe lights — conditions that are considered very difficult. Shooting skills are honed at an electronic combat shooting range, which is divided into 11 zones and spread over 400 metres. Recruits have to cover the distance in 6.30 minutes and fire at 29 targets along the way, with the target exposure being two to three seconds.

After completing their training, commandos have to be on “alert status” mode for two months. During this period, the target strike rate has to be above 85% for a commando to remain in the force. “Practice is key and, therefore, the commandos
have to go through the routine drill every day to keep themselves fighting fit and ready to move within 30 minutes of notice to anywhere in the country,” says a commando.

And yet, despite all that training and alertness, NSG deployment to Mumbai was sadly delayed last month because the force does not have its own aircraft to transport the commandos from Manesar. The government now plans to buy two planes for the NSG to use, even as it creates four regional NSG hubs.

But this cannot happen until it recruits and prepares more commandos, which will take at least 14 months of rigorous training.

The NSG is modelled after the UK’s Special Air Squadron or SAS. How do the two compare?
- An NSG team commander has to be less than 38 years and a squadron commander below 42
- The weakest NSG candidates are weeded out during the first three months of training.
- Dropout rate: 50-70%
- NSG men get nine months of advanced training in communications equipment, gadgets and weaponry
- An NSG commando is paid anywhere between Rs 15,000 per month for a jawan and Rs 45,000 per month for a commissioned officer SAS officers in the UK must be between 22 and 34 years; those applying for other ranks between 19 and 34
- The SAS selection programme, one of the world’s most gruelling, lasts four weeks.
- The dropout rate is as high as 90%
- SAS has 24 weeks of jungle training, continuation training in various skills of an SAS man and parachute training
- In 2006, an SAS trooper's annual salary was hiked to just under £40,000 (Rs 32 lakh) and a major's to £70,000 (Rs 51 L) to stop them leaving the force