Guerilla warfare: Jungle Craft Range in Andhra Greyhounds Academy

By U Sudhakar Reddy

With the motto 'Fight a guerrilla like guerrilla' the Jungle CraftRange coming up at Greyhounds training institute in Premavathipet in City outskirtswould soon be a feather in the cap of the elite anti naxal force

Taking lessons from Indian army and from Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan the Jungle CraftRange would train the Greyhounds and other police personnel in jungle warfare againstPeoples Liberation Guerrilla Army fighters of CPI Maoists.Union Home Minister P Chidambaram earlier laid foundations stone to this jungle craftrange to train anti naxal forces as masters in jungle craft like hit-and-run guerrilla strikesand ambushes, and how to use the thick jungle terrain to their advantage.A senior police official of State police headquarters said ,"all the experiences includingour own Greyhounds, North East and Punjab and elsewhere in the world are taken intoconsideration while designing the jungle craft range. This would further improvethe Greyhounds personnel who are already trained to survive in jungles for nearly aweek living on the rations they carry," Every commando carrying a haversack weighing nearly 20 kg and weapons andammunition is trained to take long patrols.Sources said that the jungle craft range is basically designed on the lines of the CounterInsurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) of Indian Army in Vairengte in Mizoram.The troops will be trained to survive from poisonous snake bites and techniques totackle wild life attacks.A police official said ,"the troops are taught to live in difficult and hostile terrain, eat andsleep like the guerrillas and strike as silently as the guerrillas. Element of surprise inattacks , selecting the site for counter ambush, observing the discipline of when exactlyto open fire, how to remain undetected, and improvising within a given situation will bepart of that,"Jungle reflexive shooting and how to prevent cross fire are part of the jungle craft range.Jungle atmosphere with thick canopy, water holes, surprise traps will be part of itsources said.Home Minister P Chidamarbam during his recent visit to Greyhounds was keen to knowabout the jungle craft range. Greyhounds is already training the anti naxal commandosof various naxal infested states like Chattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand and centralparamilitary forces like COBRA battalions.