Counterinsurgency and Jungle Warfare School

Counterinsurgency and Jungle Warfare School

The Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS), in Vairengte, Mizoram, India is a training institution of the Indian Army specializing in unconventional warfare, specially guerrilla warfare.

Motto

The motto of CIJWS is "fight the guerrilla as a guerrilla".

History

The original plans to setup a counterinsurgency unit to train soldiers came up following fighting with mizo militants in the 1960s. The idea to set up the jungle warfare school was conceived by former Indian Army chief Field Marshal S.H.F.J. "Sam" Manekshaw some time in 1967 when the army soldiers suffered heavy casualties at the hands of the northeastern rebels who were adept at hit-and-run guerrilla strikes and ambushes, and were experts at using the thick jungle terrain to their advantage.

The Army then was only trained in conventional warfare and this type of unconventional warfare by northeast rebels was unique in its kind. Therefore, a need was felt to establish an institution, which could train the Indian soldiers in this unconventional warfare. Accordingly, in 1967, Lt Col (later Lt Gen) Mathew Thomas, established an ad-hoc Jungle Training School at Mynkre near Jowai (Shillong). The school was shifted to its present location, Vairengte and was redesignated as CIJW School on 01 May 1970.The institute finally came into being in May 1970 with Brigadier Mathew Thomas at the helm of affairs.

The crisis in neighbouring Bangladesh (then East Bengal) however prompted a temporary rethink as the academy trained the Mukti Bahini guerrillas to attack Pakistan Army strongholds. Operation Jackpot was one such operation undertaken by the rebels largely aided and planned by Indians that drove home the strength of this school. After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, it returned to its primary focus of imparting serious counter-insurgency (COIN) lessons to Indian soldiers.

During the next three decades, the school at Vairengte has prepared troops to fight anti-India separatists engaged in low-intensity and unconventional guerilla warfare against the state forces in different parts of the country, particularly in the northeast and Jammu and Kashmir. The School presently runs four counter-insurgency and jungle warfare courses open only to officers and soldiers below 28 years of age. The CIJWS has trained more than 300,000 defence personnel since its inception.

Training methods

Since its inception, the School has constantly evolved in stature and strength, in keeping with the changing dynamics of insurgency and terrorism in the country. Its relevance has grown manifold with the mushrooming of small and big insurgent/terrorist groups in the country and worldwide. With its vast expertise in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism training, it has truly come into its own as a centre of excellence in such operations. The School has continuously incorporated all the lessons learnt during such operations and has painstakingly kept its training curriculum contemporary. It presently trains over 7000 officers and soldiers every year. Its scope and mandate has increased with Para Military Forces, Police, Services and foreign component adding to the numbers and compositions.

The reputation of the CIJWS lies in the fact that the training module is framed in a highly scientific manner - soldiers receive training in identifying improvised explosive devices (IED), jungle survival, counter terrorism, and interrogation techniques.

The training focuses on the physical fitness, reflex firing techniques and tactical lessons. The module for training is practical oriented with number of lectures, discussions, case studies, sand model exercises & outdoor exercises. Live situations are painted during the outdoor exercises to judge the reaction of the soldiers at the spur of the moment. The troops are taught to live in difficult and hostile terrain, eat and sleep like the guerrillas and strike as silently as the guerrillas. The school boasts of excellent training areas, training facilities, with thirteen innovative firing ranges and an outstanding training staff who have first hand experience in fighting the insurgents and the terrorists within India.

Today, the ultra is educated, uses the Internet for gathering information, disseminating propaganda, negotiating arms deal and is familiar with hi-tech explosives.

At the same time the trainee is trained with native skills like using easily available materials in forest which can be used to devise deadly traps that can kill an elephant with nothing more than bamboos and vines. The inherent characteristic of insurgency in the NE indiais its small scale, low profile activities, with the main insurgent bases located across the border. The main ideology is terrorist use hit and run tactic that are meticulously planned and ruthlessly executed by small units, which force a large deployment of armed forces to counter them. But simply deploying large force is useless as it never produces any result. Learning to operate in small teams, studying the pattern of the militants, establishing an intelligence network, knowing their traditional sanctuaries, maintaining the element of surprise, selecting the site for counter ambush, observing the discipline of when exactly to open fire, knowing field craft and jungle craft well enough to remain undetected, and improvising within a given situation, is the kind of stuff that breaks an ambush. And it’s this which is taught nowhere else better than at CIJW School.

To fight in the jungle is tough, both physically and mentally. Jungle operations test soldiers to their limit which needs special tactics, techniques & procedures. In this scenario soldiers were given physical drills and common-sense tips on how to survive in the jungle by studying its characteristics, Dense vegetation with limited visibility, heavy cross compartmentalization, streams & rivers, heat & humidity, few roads, numerous tracks and limited communication. It is in this theater that students live and train.For no matter, how crucial physical fitness is, it all depends on mental toughness to survive, trust No One and be alert.

The normal schedule is about six weeks, during which a soldier undergoes strenuous drills that make him conversant with guerrilla warfare and low-intensity conflicts.The training module is non-conventional and once a soldier undergoes training here, he can face deadly situations anywhere in the world in all-weather terrain, eat and sleep like a guerrilla and strike as silently as a guerrilla. The training module includes lectures, seminars and mock operations in the rugged jungles in Mizoram.The trainees are also exposed to media interaction, civic actions plus fraternisation, human rights and collection of intelligence and their analysis.

Soldiers undergoing a course here not only go through rigorous physical training, but also tough mental training through lectures and problems posed by the capable instructors of this school. An importance placed in the top list of this school is how to avoid collateral damage as much as possible. With precision shooting, the soldiers engage in exercises where live rounds are used to shoot down plywood terrorists inside homes and stores without hitting the civilian population.

The training imparted in this school is of such high quality that many countries all over the world have recognized this school as the only place available where their troops can receive training to combat insurgency and terrorism.

International Participation

Taking in to account the successes in combating militancy to a great extent, New Delhi in 2001 threw the school at Vairengte open for soldiers from other countries with three US army officers being the first overseas batch to be trained.After the 9/11 terror strikes in the US the jungle warfare school at Vairengte began attracting military cadets from across the world.In 2003, a group of about 100 elite US commandos completed a three-week anti-insurgency combat training at the institute. The exercise, codenamed Balance Iroquois, saw personnel of the US Special Forces undergo an intensive exercise along with soldiers from the Indian Special Forces battalion at Vairengte. Troops were trained to feed on venomous vipers, dogs and monkeys as part of military exercises to sharpen their skills in jungle survival and combat. [http://www.dawn.com/2004/04/10/int7.htm]

Indian Army soldiers and U.S. Army and National Guard soldiers trained together in Operation YUDH ABHYAS 04-1 the two forces focused on reflexive firing, ambush, jungle patrolling, survival in the jungle and a fast roping technique called slithering. [http://forum.apan-info.net/fall04/30-33/30.html]

France, UK, Israel and Italy are the latest have sought India's help to train their soldiers in counter-insurgency operations at this elite facility.

Other Institutions

The success of this school prompted Indian army to open another counterinsurgency training centre, in North Eastern India called as the Kaziranga special jungle warfare training school in Assam.

India also has a high-altitude commando school at Tawang, also known as Parvat Ghatak School, in Arunachal Pradesh province in North East India bordering china. This High-Altitude Commando School is the highest of its kind in the world.

Forum Discussions and Blogs

* [http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/002207.html Guerrillas in the Mizoram] , "Sepia mutiny.com"
* [http://www.strategypage.com/militaryforums/30-70021.aspx Forum discussion about CIJWS]
* [http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=24236 Forum discussion about CIJWS]
* [http://www.echarcha.com/forum/archive/index.php?t-21137.html Another forum discussion]
* [http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/cat_military.html] , "Sepia mutiny.com"


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