NEW DELHI: Lieutenant Colonel MS Dhoni has begun his latest innings. The former India captain joined his Territorial Army (TA) unit in Srinagar on Wednesday. Dhoni had opted out of the West Indies tour to complete this stint.
"Dhoni's 15-day duty period (till August 15) with his unit 106 TA Battalion (Para) begins today," an army officer said. .
It was in 2011 that Dhoni had been made a honorary Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army. He was assigned to the 106 TA unit, which happens to be a para battalion in which every combatant is trained to jump from air using parachute and operate on ground.
Dhoni had already earned his wings by completing the mandatory five para training jumps in 2015 at Agra.
It was the former India captain who had requested the Army Chief for permission to be with the troops in actual duty.
"As requested by the officer and approved by Army Headquarters, he will be taking on the duties of patrolling, guard and post duty and will be staying with troops," Army sources said.
The unit is in Kashmir Valley as part of Victor Force. It is deployed in counter-terrorism activities and does 'static duties' like guard and sentry, and taking care of road opening and installation security of the important Badami Bagh Cantonment.
When it comes to active operations, Dhoni, however, will not be allowed as he has not been trained for this.
“Dhoni will be with the unit for seven days during which he will be carrying out his assigned duties. During the deployment he will be like any other officer and he will be given his own personal weapon (AK-47) with three loaded magazines," the sources said.
He will also be visiting other military formations and going to four Army Goodwill schools to meet the students there. He will also get introduced to five local cricket teams and will play matches with them.
Dhoni is the second cricketer after Kapil Dev to wear the Territorial Army uniform.
The other known faces who had been with the Territorial Army are politicians Sachin Pilot and Anurag Thakur, shooter Abhinav Bindra and South Indian superstar Mohanlal. Former cabinet minister KP Singh Deo was also part of the Territorial Army.
Presently the Territorial Army (TA), the troops of which are also addressed as 'Terriers', has a strength of approximately 40000 comprising of Departmental TA units such as Railway, IOC, ONGC, and Non-departmental TA units of Infantry Battalion including Home and Hearth Battalions, Ecological Battalion (TA) affiliated to various Infantry Regiments and Engineer Regiment (TA) for maintenance of Line of Control Fencing.
The TA units were actively involved in the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars. The 'Terriers' have also taken part in Operation Pawan in Srilanka, Operation Rakshak in Punjab and J&K, Operation Rhino and Operation Bajrang in the North East in a most active manner.