How 2 brothers risked their lives to save others during Kargil War

Brothers by birth and brothers in arms. This stands true for brothers Col (retd) GPS Kaushik and Sq Leader SPS Kaushik from Lucknow, who participated in the Kargil war risking their lives by evacuating injured soldiers and retrieving bodies of the bravehearts who were martyred in the line of duty. While being deployed on duty by the Army and IAF, they briefly met during the war and carried out their responsibilities diligently.
Col GPS Kaushik (67), who commanded a helicopter unit of Army Aviation when the Kargil War broke out in the summer of 1999 (May-July), successfully led 3500 operations and evacuation of over 1500 soldiers, both injured and martyred.

Squadron Leader SPS Kaushik (60), who joined the Indian Air Force in 1987, his task in the war was to train fighter aircrew for para training by the Indian Army and IAF.
Commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery in 1980, Col GPS Kaushik joined Army Aviation in 1984. In the first week of May 1999, Kaushik was ordered to move to Kargil. While doing an aerial recce atop Kargil ridges, it was revealed that Pakistani infiltrators were lodged on almost all the ridge lines in remote Kargil-Drass-Batalik sectors. Then, only Srinagar and Leh had airstrips from where defence aircraft could take off and land. GPS Kaushik had three main tasks to accomplish.

“We had to locate exact enemy positions, destroy them by directing artillery fire, and rescue our injured soldiers. On May 9, when the Pakistani Army began heavy shelling, we began deployment and redeployment of troops, dropping them right opposite the enemy lines. Aerial missions were carried throughout the day,” he said. “The evacuation of the casualties was the most challenging task. Injured soldiers along with martyrs were carried to field hospitals. We did this with fearlessness by landing and taking off from makeshift helipads despite the enemy’s constant shelling,” he added.
Sharing an anecdote, the veteran officer said: “Operating helicopters in the war zone was the most challenging task. Most of the Pakistani positions had 12.7 mm machine guns and stinger missiles. Being slow-moving, helicopters are easy targets to air defences, missiles and small firearms. This difficulty was overcome by Army Aviators having very good and in-depth knowledge of the ground and full picture of enemy deployment. The missions were carried out flying tactically, using folds in the ground, most of the time landing on one side on the mountain slopes, accomplishing the mission with running rotors and with a quick getaway. This minimised the exposure of helicopters to enemy artillery.”
He said despite this, many helicopters were hit with small firearms several times, and a few had narrow escapes from stinger missiles. Both are retired from service.