Brig SK Datta

A belated obituary to Brig SK Datta by Col PK Gautam (Retd) Gunner

It is only on 15 January 2010 that I came to know that Brigadier SK Datta has passed away in 2008. Brigadier Sukhwindar Singh (Retd) happened to come to the IDSA for a seminar. On being introduced and coming to know that he is from the Corps of Signals my first reaction was to enquire if he knew Brigadier Datta? Surely he did and he then informed me that he was no more.

From a former army officer of the Regiment of Artillery this was one unforgettable gap in information and communication technology. However I hope the readers will pardon this delayed response and I wish all strength to his wife and daughter Diviya. We only served together for about nine months but that was enough to record his sterling qualities.

Brig SK Datta joined HQ 28 Infantry Division as Colonel Q in its temporary location at Nimu in Ladakh in 1988 after having commanded 1 Armoured Divisional Signal Regiment. Those days the division was responsible for both Siachen glacier and Kargil sector. Logistic responsibility involved both air and road maintenance by fixed wing aircraft and helicopters of both the army aviation and air force units– in total a tonnage of 720 tons per year to be delivered on helicopter maintained posts by 15 of the army with another 20 of the air force helicopters of the Cheetah variety. Lower altitudes were looked after by air dropping or landing by MI 17 helicopters and transports aircraft of the AN -12, AN- 32 and Il-76 types. Road tonnages were by hundreds of army trucks beefed by civil hired trucks. Concepts like daily tonnages, daily off take , advanced winter stocking, movement, maintenance, accommodation were terms we had to deal with inclusion casualty evacuation on a daily basis mostly from the glacier or road accidents.

Those were the high intensity artillery fire days in the glacier. After recapture of Bana top and in successfully having repulsed attacks on Saltoro glacier till 1988 by India, the central glacier was the next area of action in Operation Ibex where Pakistan was attempting to capture some heights. Constant artillery duals with movement of men, material and ammunition was the norm.

The then Colonel Datta setup a logistic command post and with help from mathematically inclined personnel from the artillery brigade the cell became the hub of all activities. Rather information was at times sought even by the General Staff Branch from this cell. In one sense it was very much like a modern “ call centre” . Colonel Datta used to say “good staff officers first have to be good regimental officers”. Under the generalship of the then Major General VR Raghavan, we thus performed our silent service with our Colonel Q who looked more like a regimental officer than a staff officer as was also borne out by his tall and well built figure and handle bar moustaches. He was the least bureaucratic the way some military officers take pleasure in being one. The atmosphere in the division was also different. It had only one mess for all officers and all officer transients were welcomed for meals in the mess.

Movement by road was also vital as 80 per cent of tonnages were involved from Pathankot till Base camp. That time the relations between Ladakh Buddhist Association with muslims of the valley was showing signs of strain due to local politics. The manifestation of this was frequent clashes and assault by Buddhist on Muslim truck drivers who were bringing supplies up. Colonel Datta was the first to reach those sites and facilitated conflict resolution.

He motivated his staff to undertake weekly visits in a 4 ton vehicle to negotiate Khardungla to keep the Border Roads Organisation aware that their good job is being checked and appreciated by staff at Divisional HQ. Rather, unlike a stereotypical staff pushing files in their “bukharied” offices, what he showed was the importance of being practical and visiting scene of logistic action for a better grasp. It is on his initiative that the div staff also accompanied MI-17 dropping sorties to get the feel. Facing hardships as those of the troops was message that he gave and we as Staff respected his leadership in being outward bound and not chair bound or not being commanded by our chair comfort and telephones. Frequent visits to Khardungla also made me understand deployment of RR – which “ fires” a beam much like gunners “fire” the gun.

He also understood the need for rest and recuperation for his staff. He urged us to take one day off and visit various Buddhist monasteries and natural spots of interest in the region. This gave his staff a good opportunity to know the local culture. Due to his initiative I with the ADC could walk down the frozen Zanskar river to Chelling village and see for myself how artisans in remote villages inscribe the Buddhist mantra on stones “Om Mani Padme Hum”.

Later I was in touch with him via snail mail new year cards for few years, but in 1995 when I got posted to Project Management Organisation, Artillery Combat Command and Control System in the EDP enclave I felt the need to quickly confide in him that how clueless I was about terms such as the “nine transportation layers, protocols and throughput's”. I rang him up and he said that he was an “unparh”. He had dealt with carrier quads, engineering and operations– grass root soldiering and only well educated officers could tell me what those esoteric terms mean. I was so happy to learn from him that digitization was then a new and emerging field. Though I privately thought that like Guderian who was a Signal officer, Brigadier Datta had all soldierly ingredients to be the new Indian Guderian of the networked centric warfare and RMA era as he was in an Electronic Warfare Group.

On his practical advice, I then got hold of books from the CIDSS library. The work involved lot of theory. I did catch a few important concepts so much so that on Wednesdays when all were in civvies, some casual visitors in the EDP mess at lunch thought I was from the Corps of Signals.

One lesson of camaraderie which he allowed me to carry the day in Nimu was passing instructions to the artillery brigade to organize Bara Khana for incoming and outgoing units in transit. I had learnt its importance during induction for the Bangladesh war. This became a big hit and later when I left the Div HQ to join my unit de-inducting I enjoyed good lunch as OC Advance party at Kargil, courtesy the local artillery unit.

Thus Brigadier SK Datta with whom I served on staff was paradoxically to me a role model of a regimental officer- the bedrock of sinews of an army.

Col (Retd) PK Gautam is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, IDSA, New Delhi.
IDSA