26/09/2019
- Cheng Qiang was just 12 when a magnitude 8 tremor destroyed his village, but he never forgot the heroism of the soldiers sent to help and swore one day to join their ranks
- Now a squad leader, on October 1 he will also be part of the National Day celebrations in Tiananmen Square
Cheng Qiang was just 12 when his home in Sichuan was hit by a massive earthquake and airborne troops were sent to help. Photo: People.cn
A young man who survived the devastating
Sichuan earthquake and vowed to one day join the ranks of the soldiers who spent months rescuing people from the rubble will on Tuesday lead his very own squad of airborne troops in
Tiananmen Square as part of the celebrations for the country’s 70th anniversary.
Now 23, Cheng Qiang was just 12 when on May 12, 2008 he and a group of friends played truant from school to go swimming in a local river, Xinhua reported on Thursday.
When the boys had finished their fun they returned to their village in the township of Luoshui to find their school and many other buildings had been razed to the ground. The death toll from the magnitude 8 quake would eventually rise to 87,000, with 370,000 people injured.
Cheng says he is ready to “continue the glory of the airborne troops” at Tuesday’s parade. Photo: Thepaper.cn
In the days and weeks that followed the devastation, tens of thousands of people from around China and the world descended on towns and villages across Sichuan to help with the rescue effort.
But the ones who impressed Cheng the most were the soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with the word “Airborne” printed on the helmets.
“Sometimes they had to remove the debris with their bare hands which were already covered in blood,” he said.
“But they just carried on and eventually pulled dozens of people out of the rubble. I knew then that I wanted to be one of them.”
Cheng said that after the quake having the troops in his village made him feel safe. Photo: People.cn
Having the troops in his village made Cheng feel safe, he said, and he spent his days following them around and doing what he could to help.
Three months later, when the soldiers had completed their work and were preparing to pull out, Cheng said he was determined to show his new heroes just how grateful he was to them.
As the villagers gathered at the roadside to bid farewell to the men who had become their saviours, the young boy held up a handwritten sign. It said simply: “I want to be an airborne soldier when I grow up.”
The moment was captured on camera by a press photographer, and the image soon became a symbol of the gratitude felt by the people who had seen their lives and communities shattered but knew they had not been forsaken.
Cheng said he felt dizzy when he first jumped out of a plane. Photo: People.cn
Five years after the troops rolled out, Cheng was preparing to go to college when he heard the PLA was recruiting and that there were places available with the airborne division.
The teenager did not need a second invitation, and after securing a place on a training course and successfully completing it he joined the ranks of his heroes in 2013.
Not that everything was plain sailing, however.
“When I first jumped out of a plane I felt very dizzy and didn’t really know what was going on,” he said.
Thankfully Cheng managed to overcome his vertigo and went on to become a squad leader.
Tens of thousands of troops will take part in China’s National Day parade on October 1. Photo: Thepaper.cn
When the preparations were being made for next week’s anniversary celebrations in Beijing, Cheng said he and his squad were chosen to take part.
He said that during the rehearsals for the grand parade, he was repeatedly reprimanded by his trainer for not keeping his knees close enough together, for lifting his feet too high and for letting his gun slip off shoulder.
But he was determined to get it right, and after weeks of hard work and 11 years on from the tragedy that devastated his world, he said he was now ready to put his best foot forward.
“The nightmare of earthquake has long gone,” he said. “I am here to continue the glory of the airborne troops. I am ready for inspection.”
Source: SCMP
Posted in 70th anniversary parade, airborne, airborne troops, bare hands, captured, celebrations, Cheng Qiang, China alert, college, completing, covered in blood, debris, destroyed, dizzy, earthquake, farewell, first jumped, forgot, grand parade, gratitude, helmets, heroes, heroism, image, invitation, joined, local river, Luoshui, magnitude 8, National Day, October 1, on camera, People’s Liberation Army (PLA), place, plain sailing, plane, press photographer, ranks, ready to join, recruiting, rehearsals, reprimanded, roadside, rubble, saviours, school, securing, sichuan province, soldiers, squad leader, successfully, survivor, swimming, symbol, teenager, Tiananmen Square, trainer, training course, truant, Uncategorized, vertigo, Village |
Leave a Comment »
31/07/2019
Xi Jinping (C), chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), poses for a group photo with a soldier and representatives of three military units during a CMC ceremony in Beijing, capital of China, July 31, 2019. Xi has signed orders to honor a soldier and three military units. At the ceremony on Wednesday, Xi hung a medal around the neck of Du Fuguo, who was awarded the title “Heroic Demining Soldier”, and presented him with a certificate, and went on to confer honorary banners to representatives of the three units. (Xinhua/Li Gang)
BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) — Xi Jinping, chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), has signed orders to honor a soldier and three military units.
The title “Heroic Demining Soldier” was awarded to Du Fuguo, who in an operation last year lost his eyesight and both hands trying to protect his fellow soldiers from a landmine explosion.
The three military units honored are an air force group, an astronautical ground station and a scientific research office.
At a CMC ceremony on Wednesday, Xi hung a medal around Du’s neck and presented him with a certificate, and went on to confer honorary banners to representatives of the three units.
Xi took a group photo with them.
Source: Xinhua
Posted in air force group, astronautical ground station, Central Military Commission (CMC), Heroic Demining Soldier, landmine explosion, military units, scientific research office, soldiers, Uncategorized, Xi JinPing |
Leave a Comment »
21/02/2019
As the country mourned the Pulwama killings, there has been an increased demand for according ‘Shaheed’ status to the martyred jawans.
SNS Web | New Delhi | February 21, 2019 2:20 pm
In a fresh attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the “jawans gave their lives but have been denied the ‘Shaheed’ status.
In strong words, the Congress president said the “PM has never given and only taken”.
In an indirect reference to the government allegedly supporting industrialists like Anil Ambani, as accused by the opposition, Gandhi tweeted, “Jawans give their lives but are denied the status of “Shaheed”. While this man has never given & only taken. He’s gifted 30,000Cr of their money & will live happily ever after. Welcome to Modi’s NEW INDIA”.
As the country mourned the Pulwama killings, there has been an increased demand for according ‘Shaheed’ status to the martyred jawans.
The CRPF jawans were addressed as martyrs in resolutions passed in various state assemblies to condemn the terror attack and to announce compensation for the bereaved families from the respective states.
While the Madhya Pradesh government announced compensation of Rs 1 crore, the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments announced Rs 25 lakh each.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat also assured government jobs to one member from each family.
According to the set rules, the Central Government provides Rs 10 lakh as ex gratia for the death of jawans due to accidents in the course of duty or death due to terrorist acts in the line of duty. Apart from this, the wife of the dead jawan would receive a pension, which would go to parents if he is not married.
The government does not recognise the term ‘martyr’.
In December 2017, the government had informed the Central Information Commission that there was no term as ‘martyr’ or ‘shaheed’ in the army or the police. Instead, a soldier or policeman killed in action is called ‘battle casualty’ or ‘operations casualty’, respectively.
In 2016, the Ministry of Home Affairs informed the Lok Sabha that the word ‘martyr’ is not used in reference to any casualties from the Indian armed forces during battle.
Earlier in 2015 too, the Government had informed the Parliament that the term ‘shaheed’ or martyr is not defined “anywhere” and that there is no official order to accord the same to defence or paramilitary personnel.
The CAPFs like CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF, SSB and NSG have made representations to the Union Home Ministry that ‘shaheed’ salutation is being demanded by the personnel of these forces.
Source: The Statesman
Posted in army, Central Information Commission, CRPF, denying, Government, Jawan, Lok Sabha, martyr, Ministry of Home Affairs, parliament, PM Modi, Police, Pulwama, rahul gandhi, shaheed, soldiers, Uncategorized, union home ministry |
Leave a Comment »
03/01/2019
The police said that the operation is in the final stages and one or two militants are still believed to be hiding in the area and are engaged in the gunfight.
SP Sharma | Jammu | January 3, 2019 3:59 pm
The police said that the operation is in the final stages. (Representational image: IANS)
Two terrorists belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen were killed and three soldiers sustained injuries in an encounter on Thursday in the forest area of Gulshanpora Tral in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
At least six stone pelters were injured as they clashed with the security forces near the encounter spot.
There were reports of three terrorists being trapped in the area and so far two have been neutralised, reports said, adding that fresh firing has started in the area even as clashes are also going on at some distance from the encounter site.
Police said that the gunfight broke out after Army’s 42 RR, SOG, and CRPF launched a cordon-and-search operation following inputs about the presence of a group of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists in a hideout.
The injured soldiers were rushed to Army’s 92 Base Hospital at Srinagar from where one critically wounded soldier was airlifted to Army’s Command Hospital at Udhampur for specialised treatment.
The police said that the operation is in the final stages and one or two militants are still believed to be hiding in the area and are engaged in the gunfight.
Sources also confirmed that two terrorists have been killed and the operation is on.
Posted in encounter, India alert, injured, Pulwama, soldiers, terrorist, Uncategorized |
Leave a Comment »
03/12/2018
The project was supported by DRDO, department of science and technology, and IIT-K.(Picture for representation)
Scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) said on Monday they have developed textile-based metamaterials that can help defence personnel and vehicles avoid being detected by enemy radars.
The project was supported by the Defence Research Development Organisation, the department of science and technology, and IIT-K. It was carried out by Kumar Vaibhav Srivastava of the electrical engineering department and J Ramkumar of the mechanical engineering department of the institute.
They said the material can be used as uniforms for personnel and skirting or covering ground vehicles to avoid their detection by the enemy’s advanced battlefield radars, motion-detecting ground sensors and thermal imaging systems. The material is flexible and can be customised for different climates, they added.
“In a major achievement, we have designed and produced micro-structured infra-red metamaterials with processes that can be readily scaled for mass production to cover large area surfaces. These infra-red metamaterials are applied on any given surface to reduce the thermal emission to create infra-red stealth,” professor S Anantha Ramakrishna of the department of physics at IIT-K said.
Transparent meta-material absorbers have also been developed for vehicular windshields or a canopy of slow aircraft like helicopters.
“We are also in the process of developing robust meta-materials for radar stealth which can be applied on high-speed aircraft and switchable meta-materials for active camouflage applications,” Ramakrishna said.
He said at the beginning of the 21st century, new composite micro-structured materials called meta-materials were found to have very unexpected properties due to their specific structure that caused resonant interactions with electromagnetic waves.
Ramakrishna said they began working on defence applications of metamaterials, which will reduce radar detection in most radar bands, around 2010.
“Stealth fighter aircraft were already in use but they used very different concepts and heavy ceramic ferrites for achieving stealth. Meta-material based absorbers held the promise of lightweight, ultra-thin and flexible materials that could be applied literally on any surface to give the required properties at radar frequencies, infra-red frequencies or even optical frequencies,” he said.
The professor said they have also been able to realise metamaterials for infra-red light that will enable forces to completely control the emission of infra-red light from surfaces, which can be used for infra-red stealth.
“Laboratory level development of demonstrations has been completed and now we are proceeding for field testing,” he said.
Posted in avoid, detection, enemy, IIT, India alert, soldiers, Uncategorized |
Leave a Comment »
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 