This is map of Siachen , where it situated at .The highest combat zone on planet earth, siachen glacier is one place where fewer soldiers have died on the line duty due to enemy fire than because of the harsh weather conditions.
For Indian forces deployed in siachen, it is less of a challenge to watch out for the frail Pakistani forces but to just stay atop this 76 km long glacier at 5,400 meters altitude ( nearly twice the altitude of ladakh and kargil ) in itself means you have to defy all your physical mental and spiritual limits.
1. In siachen, you are at the risk of getting a deadly frostbite if your bare skin touches steel (gun trigger for example) for just over fifteen seconds.
2. Mountain climbers climb when the weather is at its best; soldiers serve in these treacherous terrains all year round.
3. The human body just cannot acclimatize over 5,400 meters.
When you stay at that altitude for long, you lose your weight, don't feel like eating eating, sleep disorders come around in no time and memory loss - that's a common occurrence.
4.Speech blurring is as obvious as toothpaste freezing in the tube.
5. Snowstorms in siachen can last 3 weeks.
Winds here can cross the 100 mph limit in no time. The temperature can drop well below minus 60 degrees.
6. Yearly snowfall in Siachen can be well over 3 dozen feet.
7. Soldiers find ways to entertain themselves when they can .
8. In last 30 years , 846 soldiers have sacrificed their lives at Siachen.
9. A war memorial at the bank of Nubra river has the names of Indian soldiers who laid their lives in Siachen.
10. Local saying :"The land is so barren and the passes so high that only the best of friends and fiercest of enemies came by."
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