Captain ssg ahmed pak army

Chaudary, Indian Army Chief at that time in his autobiography kept searching for these paratroopers. The performance of the SSG in the was much better with 1 Commando Battalion making a spectacular raid on an Indian artillery regiment and disabling several of their guns besides inflicting casualties. They appear to have engaged the Soviet Airborne Forces in major battles such as the January Battle for Hill in which the Russians lost six men while the SSG did not loose a single soldier.

The SSG were also active on their eastern border with India and fought well in Siachen though in one or two instances taking heavy casualties. Captain Sajjad, who later retired as a Lieutenant Colonel was a salvage expert and had the intensive training of under water demolition. The SSG are trained and qualified to carry out missions in unconventional warfare, foreign internal defensespecial reconnaissance, direct action by sabotage and offensive raiding in the medium and deep battlespace, Counter terrorism, counter-proliferation, VIP protection, and information and intelligence gathering operations in deep battlespace.

Other duties include coalition warfare and support, combat search and rescue CSARsecurity assistance, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian de-mining, and counter-drug operations. SSG conducts regular bi-annual exercises with the Turkish Special Forces which have been designated as the " Ataturk " series. The first of these exercises was held in December, The Turkish force included 21 officers and 14 non-commissioned officers.

These exercises were usually held during the early months of January and February with approximately US troops. The exercises were focused on weapon familiarization and use, mountain-warfare along with tactics, raids and ambushes, and eventually airborne operations. With a new phase in U. SSG has also been reported to train with the Jordanian and Iranian special forces and regularly captains ssg ahmed pak army training for special forces of other friendly Middle Eastern countries who opt to come to Cherat.

Each battalion consist of men in four companies, with each company split into platoons and then into 10 men teams. Battalions are commanded by Lieutenant Colonels. SSG officers must have at least two years of prior military experience and volunteer from other formations for three-year assignments with the SSG; non-commissioned officers and enlisted men volunteer from other formations to serve permanently in the SSG.

All trainees must participate in an eight month SSG course at Cherat. The SSG course emphasizes tough physical conditioning. Strong winds are a constant feature. Since serving with Special Services Group is very demanding both physically and mentally, this institution aims at imparting such training in an environment which permits the student trainees to discover the limits of their physical, psychological and mental prowess.

It aims at obtaining optimum mental and physical performance from students in extreme conditions. This makes possible the right selection of personnel for induction into Special Services Group. The SSG has converted most of the available area into their training ground. On the bare rocks one can still see the crests of the British regiments that lived there.

The SSG has put up a huge monument at a prominent place to commemorate its fallen comrades. The survival range is an interesting place and visitors marvel at the clever improvisations done by the Special Forces to strike terror into the hearts of the enemy. The SSG not only prepares troops from all branches of the military but it also trains soldiers from friendly countries.

The Cherat training is held in high esteem internationally. A barrack has been converted into a museum, where personal possessions of heroes, relics from special operations and war trophies have been displayed. The school has a dedicated faculty and staff for each category of the course, which are as under:. Nothing much is available about him.

Joining the army in he fought in Burma and was awarded a MC for valour. He immediately donated the 26 acres of land given to him for his Military Cross to the Muslim League. He was nearly court-martialled for this. His captain ssg ahmed pak army moustache and his troops were mostly enough to put the fear of God on both Muslim and Hindu marauding mobs.

As a result not one of the trains and convoys he escorted suffered a single casualty. The Commandant Brig. Iyappa had told Lt. So later Capt Mehdi alongwith Lt. He was appointed as the first Adjutant. So naturally he became an instructor at the Staff College Quetta and also subsequently helped establish the War College under Maj. Sahibzada Yaqub and became its first Chief Instructor.

One of the reasons he was handpicked personally by Gen. Ayub to head the upgraded SSG was because of an earlier assignment the late President Ayub had personally given. During — 63, the Afghans were stirring trouble in Baluchistan directly and through the Khan of Kalat. Lt Col Mehdi then on a Staff assignment in Quetta was given the undercover task to operate inside Afghan territory and conduct completely hush hush clandestine operations.

Only the Corps Commander knew, other than the President. It was a case of complete deniability should these guys ever be caught. Over the next few months, they made life hell for Afghan military convoys and pickets and posts. A few months later President Ayub came to Quetta. At the airport as Col. Mehdi saluted him he gently put his hand on his shoulder and said ever so softly.

Earlier most of the training of SSG was under the control of USA military advisers whose task was to launch insurgency operations against a possible future Russian occupation of Pakistan with targets such as the Radio Pakistan, Ravi Bridge etc!. The Americans strongly resisted and as a final threat refused to help operate the parachute training school.

GHQ was in in a quandary, till Mehdi drove down to Pindi and convinced and assured them that the Para School would go ahead without the Americans. So the USA military advisers left. The Para school kept functioning and over a short period training jumps were made with ZERO casualties. In fact 44 years old Colonel Mehdi was the first jumper out of the plane of the first batch of Para commandos wholly trained by Pakistani instructors.

His last jump before that was in ,about 19 years ago!! Earlier an incredulous instructor tried to dissuade him saying…Sir even the parachutes have changed now from your 2nd World War time…but he would have none of it. He renamed Cherat as the Eagles Nest. I am a Janbaz. Ever ready to lay down my life. The last falling victim to sectarianism during Gen.

His lasting legacy to SSG perhaps was the Angry Eagle exercise, considered one of the toughest military exercises in the world done over several months. Now Probably discontinued. He was the ultimate commander and loved his troops and officers, always fought for them and supported them. He was also the ultimate disciplinarian and detested cowardice.

He embraced Courage with a capital C. Both Physical and Moral.

Captain ssg ahmed pak army

He never suffered fools, always said what he thought was right and always stood by his values and convictions. Hence he refused to go along with the Army High Command. Musa had heard both Gen. Musa remained silent. Mehdi repeated the question again this time very forcefully. To which Gen. By return signal GHQ asked him to destroy his copy as they had done the same.

The Operation went ahead sending many young men to certain death. Finally he retired in December as Station Commander Karachi. Even in this assignment he made waves. A picture captures this event ever so vividly. List of serving Major Generals [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. This section's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines.

Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Archived from the original on 25 April Retrieved 27 July Archived from the original on 27 July Archived from the original on 11 October Retrieved 11 October Archived from the original on 4 December Retrieved 4 December Retrieved 28 November Retrieved 11 January The Express Tribune.

Retrieved 27 November Retrieved 8 September The Nation. Archived from the original on 29 October Retrieved 29 October Archived from the original on 3 April Retrieved 6 December Pakistan Observer. Retrieved 20 July Army 's Special Forces. Mitha until — Armyand training on the desert warfare with U. Inthe Musa Company was established that solely specialized in anti-terrorist operationsreceiving training from the British]][Special Air Service]] advisers after U.

The SSG initially had six battalions and each battalion had specialization units, specialized in the different war spectrum: desertmountainlong-distance rangerand deep diving warfare. The first war time deployment of the Army Special Service Group took place in with their first special reconnaissance mission in the former tribal belt near the porous Durand Line — the Afghanistan - Pakistan 's line of international border.

In —65, the teams of Special Service Group that entered Indian-administered Kashmir failed in executing Operation Gibraltar due to lack of understanding of the local culture and language and was eventually met with hostility from the locals who alerted the Indian government authorities. The second war with India saw the testing and shaping of the Army Special Service Group when the Indian Army charged and invaded the Pakistan-side of Punjab in response to the covert actions took place in Indian Administered Kashmir.

The airborne missions of the Army Special Service Group included performing the combat parachuting at the Indian airbases with an intention of launching a ground assaults in the Indian Air Force 's air stations in PathankotAdampurand the Halwara. Of the commandos dropped,including all officers but one, were captured and safely taken to prisoner of war POW camps.

Twenty-two were lynched by villagers armed with sticks, police and even bands of muleteers released by the Indian Army, from the animal transport battalion of the nearby Corps headquarters. Only 20 commandos were unaccounted for and most escaped back to Pakistan under the fog. Most of these were from the Pathankot group, dropped less than 10 km from the border in an area that had plenty of ravines, riverine tracks to navigate back along.

One notable, commando-style escape was of Major Hazur Hasnain, the Halwara group commander who, along with his friend, hijacked a jeep and somehow managed to return safe. The Pakistani accounts, the latest of which comes now from several participants in the wake of the at 50 commemorations, acknowledged the SSG-commando disaster but blamed it on poor briefing, planning and callous arrogance of the commanders.

Some of these former Pakistani soldiers even write about having met some of these paratroopers and exchanged notes with them on how badly planned the operation was. Here is the account of Col SG Mehdi, himself a commando officer then. Tariq Mehmoodbegin working with local authorities in maintaining security situation in the East-Pakistannear the border of Eastern India.

From tothe Pakistan Army went into reorganization and major restructuring of its combat services but the Army Special Service Group remained active in successfully tackling the armed captain ssg ahmed pak army in Balochistan in Pakistan. In —89, the Army Special Service Group had been seconded in covert actions in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union 's armed intervention.

When the Battle for Hill concluded, the Soviet paratroopers found that the Afghan mujahideen actually wore the black uniforms with rectangular black-yellow-red stripes, and suspected to be Army Special Service Group personnel; Pakistan's government has officially denied their involvement. The American author, Aukai Collinsidentified the elements as "Black Storks" who crossed the border to join the Afghan mujahideen — a claim also backed by American author, David Campbell.

Over the years, the Army Special Service Group have developed expertise in high altitude warfare, and are regularly deployed in Siachen. Sincethe Army Special Forces have been engaged in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan and remote areas in areas adjacent to Afghanistan—their notable antiterror operation included the successful clearance of the Red Mosque in Islamabad from al-Qaeda sympathizers.

Army's Special Forces in Afghanistan. Inthe Army Special Service Group reportedly successful in their manhunt operation after targeting and killing of Adnan Gulshaira Saudi citizen known as the Global Operations Chief of al-Qaeda. Due to their selection competitiveness, demanding military physicalsand commitment required per standard of the Army's Special Forces, the Special Service Group was restricted to the Brigade level until June Alvi becoming the first general officer commanding GOC.

In an official documentary recognized and known structure of the Army Special Service Group given in YouTube is given below:. The early organizational structure of the Army's Special Service Group was initially based on the regimental systemwith three battalions specialized in the military divingairbornemountain warfare techniques. The headquarter of the Army Special Service Group was based in Cherat where the special forces schools are located but this changed with the brigade combat teams BCTs being deployed in different parts of the country.

The Special Service Group is organized into eight battalions and three companies — all trained and specialists in the specific type of war operations. The SSG battalions are each typically commanded by a captain ssg ahmed pak army colonel varies, and depends on availabilityand the battalions are organized into groups under the command of colonels.

Sources: Sharma, Rajeev ISBN For a description of the modern special forces, see: global context of the Special forces. The Army specialist recruiter teams usually visit the different headquarters of the army's formation, distributing the pamphlets to the officers at OF-1 rank and enlisted personnel. The Navy Special Service Group SSGN plays an important role in the overall architecture of the special operations forces, their qualification standards, fitness at all levels, and eligibility required for the security clearances.

There are three schools that the overall basic eligibility requirements to be considered for entry into the schools of the Special Forces are:. The medical standards in various physical courses into the entrance in the Special Forces in Pakistan are maintained to be very high and extremely competitive, resulting in a high dropout rate even at the very early stage of selection, according to the Pakistan Army's official report in Prior to joining the Special Service Group, the interested junior army officers usually at OF-1 and OF-2 and enlisted personnel must have spent their committed military careers for at least five years and must be volunteered to join the Special Service Group.

After gaining their airborne qualification badge, the army personnel then reports to Cherat from Peshawar— a nominal distance between two cities is approximated between The training courses in the Special Service Group emphasis strong physical conditioning and mental fitness, including the everyday based surprised strategic thinking quiz [ 6 ] and a mile march in 12 hours.

The curriculum of the basic military training course included the mastery in Judo and Karatekaspecial weapons training, military navigation, and handling and disarming of the chemical explosives, survival skill training. Every year, thousands of Applicants apply to join the SSG but at the end, maximum of to cadets get their recommendation letter for Special Service Group.

The army personnel interested in the underwater demolition must be trained with their Navy counterparts in Manora Island in the Karachi coast including being qualified to get their long-range swimming qualification badge from the Naval authorities. The Special Service Group criteria meet special forces training and selection criteria of the United States Army [ citation needed ].

Since its establishment inthe Army Special Service Group have been regularly interacted and trained together with the United States Army Special Forces —though the Pakistan Army's infantry branch had first participated in Exercise Vulcan and Exercise Handicap in For their overseas deployment for the purpose of the education and training, the Special Service Group have been deployed in BangladeshSaudi ArabiaSri LankaBahrainMaldivesUnited Arab EmiratesTurkmenistanEgyptJapanand Iraq where its operatives have overseen the friendly nations special forces programs.

Sincethe Army Special Service Group also conducts training with the People's Liberation Army Ground Forces Special Operation Forceswhich is known as the Pakistan-China Joint Exercise Friendship — this exercise is oriented towards tackling insurgencies and improving methods in counterterrorism. The counterterrorism teamson the other hand, include camouflage and black dungarees for the CT team.

A metal SSGN qualification badge featuring a vertical dagger superimposed over a midget submarine is worn over the left pocket on dress uniforms. Parachute wings are worn over the right pocket. The combat uniform of SSW is olive drab camouflage. They also wear their special service wing insignia on the left shoulder "Winged Dragons and lightning bolts ".

After the Indo-Pakistani war ofthe Army Special Service Group had established its personnel physical fitness leading the Pakistan Navy to recognize the need of the special operation force but it had little experience and tradition in the military scuba diving as well as had little understanding towards the nature of the seaborne special operations.

Introduction and instructions on combat scuba diving and basic training were provided by the personnel from the Musa Company before the Navy Special Service Group moved towards getting trained with the U. Eventually, the Navy established their own schools on combat parachuting, sniping, counterterrorism, and the counterinsurgency but these schools are influenced and modeled after the Army's Special Service Group training methods whose instructors are the alumnus of the Army schools of special operation forces who tightly followed the army's philosophy, physical standards, and education.

Woodland M81 Battle Dress Uniform BDU with the distinction of the dark blue beret with three versions of the " fouled anchor " with a navy badge as shown in the footage and a metal SSGN qualification badge featuring a vertical dagger superimposed over a midget submarine is worn over the left pocket on dress uniforms; parachute wings are worn over the right pocket.

Inthe Pakistan Air Force recommissioned the Special Service Wing and their headgear is distinguished by maroon berets with the airmen wears insignia on the beret, and a wing on the right side of the chest. Contents move to sidebar hide.