Yuddh Abjyas 2018, a joint miliary exercise involving the armies of India and the United States of America commenced at Chaubatia in Almora district of Uttarakhand on Sunday. The joint military exercise began with a short yet impressive opening ceremony that saw the unfurling of the national flags of both the countries to the strains of "Jana Gana Mana…” and “The Star Spangled Banner". Soldiers of India and the USA stood side by side, and gave a ceremonial salute to the two senior most officers of the American and Indian side reviewing the ceremony.

The USA contingent was represented by the 1st Infantry Battalion, 23 Infantry Regiment, 2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team and 7 Infantry Division while the Indian side is represented by an Infantry Battalion of the Congo Brigade, Garud Division, Surya Command. General Officer Commanding of the Garud Division welcomed the US soldiers, and in his inaugural remarks highlighted the common shared beliefs of democracy, freedom, equality and justice that are precious to both nations.

Battalion strength army personnel from USA and an equal number of Indian soldiers from Surya Command are taking part in the two week long event that will see them hone their tactical and technical skills in countering insurgency and terrorism in a UN peace keeping scenario involving a combined deployment at a brigade level.

 State-of-the-art equipment for surveillance and tracking, specialist weapons for close quarter battle with terrorists, explosive and improvised explosive device detectors, as well as the latest communication equipment are being fielded by both sides. Both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well developed tactical drills for neutralisation of likely threats that may be encountered in UN peace keeping operations during division level command post exercise.

The experts from both sides will also hold discussions to share each other’s experience in varied topics for mutual benefit.