The ACRSS on 7th October, 2021 conducted a motivational lecture on the topic, “The only easy day was yesterday – It’s not over till you think it is over”. The session was conducted in lieu of the Induction Program organised for the new batch of 2026. The honourable speaker for the day was Major Navpreet Baath, an alumna of AIL (batch of 2004) and is currently posted in Jammu & Kashmir. He has served in the Special Commando Unit after getting selected in the Special Frontier Force. He has also been awarded the Gallantry Award for special operations. He has accomplished specialisations in advance jungle warfare, combat sky diving, deep sea diving and specialist in underwater commando operations, qualified in tank technology gunnery, qualified in advance Commando course and specialized in clandestine SF Ops and trans border Ops. He was also instrumental in providing the operational details for successful filming of the blockbuster hit film, “Shershaah”. The lecture aimed at inspiring and motivating the audience to face and overcome the hurdles to achieve their goals.
Sir graced us with an introduction of his life in the elite Special Forces, the toughest military unit of India, what the role of this sub-organisation of the Indian Army is, what the sub-units are and how difficult it is to survive and make to the other side. Through a few motivational quotes he reminded us that hard work has no substitute. A lot of students from the audience wondered how he managed to crack the CDS exam while studying law and his only answer was careful time management and dedication to his routine. He also reiterated that in order to eliminate our fears and achieve something we must “land in force”, i.e., always come prepared. Sir also showed us a quite a few videos of him and his fellow troops doing the unimaginable in an extremely fearless manner. After a gruesome 90 days of probation it was only some 20 officers out of 200, who passed the course.
The real question was, how did he do it? Sir told us that even though the entire course including periods like “hell week” where they weren’t allowed to sleep for 4-5 days, were designed to break a man, a soldier could always extract the will and inspiration from his fellow soldiers and the instructors who encouraged them to not give up. “He was doing it, so I did it. I was doing it, so he did it and we reached the end together.” He answered some crucial questions as well related to decision making during militancy and special operations, the muscle memory they build to react to hostilities and identifying a militant through the years of training they have done. From parachuting to 60 km long runs carrying a 10kg sandbag on the back, weapons handling training, land navigation, battle training to urban warfare, counter terrorism, simulated drowning, ambush trainings, etc. they have endured it all.
The session ended with Sir answering questions from an audience of 100+ students. Most of the students of AIL being army kids and even for those who are not, this session made them aware of the various issues that soldiers come across while defending our borders. With the blessing of Dr. Tejinder Kaur, Principal AIL and the synergy put in by the Faculty Coordinators, Dr. Amita Sharma, Ms. Ekjyot Kaur, Dr. Dhaliwal as well the Student Coordinators of ACRSS, the webinar was a massive success. The ACRSS will continue to come up with such enlightening sessions!
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