India secures 1st position in stage 1 of Army International Scout Masters competition

New Delhi: An Indian Army team has secured first position in the first stage of the ongoing Army International Scout Masters competition here. Eight countries are participating in the competition, which has five stages.

The first stage of the competition was held on Tuesday and Wednesday which involved tactical drills of mounting in a helicopter by the scout squads to infiltrate behind enemy lines. The troops’ cross-country navigation skills by night over a distance of approximately 15km in a hostile territory were also tested in this stage, a defence spokesperson said.

India secured the first position, the second position was secured by Kazakhstan and the third by Russia.

Uzbekistan, China, Belarus, Armenia and Sudan secured 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th position respectively.

“The stage not only put to test the team’s battle drills but also gauged their professional acumen involving conventional navigation and survival skills utilising rudimentary maps and compasses,” the spokesperson said.

This stage of competition was to test all-round skills as well as physical and mental robustness of reconnaissance specialists scouts in the harsh desert of Jaisalmer, he added. Five stages of the competition, which was formally inaugurated at the Jaisalmer military station on Monday, are the stages of infiltration and ambush, scout specialist course, scout trail obstacle course, small arms firing, floatation and exfiltration.