Yet professionally rewarding and personally satisfying

(In tribute to the Late Major General Asoka K. Jayawardhana RWP RSP VSV USP)

These lines are penned in honour of the late Major General Asoka K. Jayawardhana who departed on December 17, 2023. AKJ, my Army Guru, imparted the ABCs and XYZs of professional soldiering during my time as a cadet under him at the Officer Cadet School, Army Training Centre, Diyatalawa, in 1971. Becoming an Officer Cadet under AKJ was a challenging journey, yet one that proved professionally rewarding and personally satisfying. Following an arduous 18 months of training, I graduated, receiving a Commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Sri Lanka Armoured Corps.

In the early 1970s, we schoolboys in our late teens and early twenties, chose the noble profession of soldiering after completing our ‘A’ Levels. ‘Kalu Asoka,’ an adoring nickname for AKJ due to his dark complexion, a Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, trained Captain of the Ceylon Light Infantry, served as our Course Commander. My first encounter with him occurred on a chilly Monday morning in June 1971, at the Officer Cadet School auditorium, after a long, night journey from Colombo in army trucks.

We arrived in Diyatalawa and were taken ‘On the double’ to a WW2 barrack room in Elle Camp for breakfast. It was a disappointing near frozen meal of fish curry, dhal, pol sambol and bread. During the first weeks, grudgingly known as ‘Hell Weeks’, cadets are not allowed to walk, they only run. We ran in squad formation for every conceivable activity, including meals with plate and mug in hand.

After the disappointing breakfast, and allowed a few minutes for ablutions, we ended up in a cold auditorium. The gentle early morning wind blended with the fragrance of ubiquitous conifer and eucalyptus trees was comforting. As we anxiously waited, the eerie silence and the cool breeze put me to a fitful slumber. Suddenly there were loud voices and the sound of heavy army boots. The Wing Sergeant Major standing sentinel at the auditorium door yelled, ‘Cadets Steady, the Commandant’. We braced up with our chins held high.

Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Perera, a towering six – foot giant of a man walked through the aisles and stood behind the podium. His size and stature dwarfed the small wooden lectern in front of him. He opened up by saying Gentlemen, sit at ease and welcomed us to the Officer Cadet School. His tone and tenor was powerful and penetrating, yet motivating and comforting. After a brief talk, the Commandant walked away wishing us well. Simultaneously, in classic parade square style, there came another yelling, this time by the Course Sergeant, a senior CLI Non-Commissioned Officer. He thundered “Cadets Steady, Course Commander, Captain A.K. Jayawardhane”

A medium built tall dark man walked through the aisles and stood behind the lectern and scanned us. His looks were unsettling. After a brief self-introduction, he spoke about the Officer Cadet School and told what is expected of us. He concluded the talk with some chilling words; ‘In this institution we will first break you down and then remake you so that you will never ever breakdown in combat’.

Fast Forward to the early 1980s; During this time, I was a Major, and later a Lieutenant Colonel commanding soldiers fighting a brutal and bloody separatist insurgency. AKJ’s chilling yet prophetic words often came to mind during difficult moments that I faced in combat.

Course Commander AKJ remained inconspicuous during the first few weeks barring a few lectures he conducted. The wiry Physical Training Instructors, Drill, and Weapon Training Instructors and the Course Sergeant ran the show. The senior cadets who were in their final term of training took care of us – not in a caring manner though, but harshly and at times brutally. The word ‘Ragging’ is taboo in the army. Therefore, the practice is sugar coated with the term ‘Breaking Down’. Some cadets simply could not face the relentless pressure and wanted to resign but pulled – along because of the counseling and encouragement given by the mature and experienced Course Sergeant. One cadet could not take it and resigned. I was in the school cadet contingent for many years and was used to army bashing. The Cadet School, however, was different, and a hell on earth, during the first weeks. Once I told someone who knew AKJ quite well that I was a cadet under him. He asked me with a smile, ‘how did you survive’. I survived because I liked soldiering.

As I write these lines, 50 years later, the lyrics of the fascinating 1986 song “I am In the Army Now’ sung by the British Rock Band ‘Status Quo’ comes to mind.

At the end of fourth week of training cadets face the first test known as ‘Passing off the Square’. The Course Commander personally conducts the test and does a One – on – One closed – door interview later in the evening. I found AKJ more amenable during interviews. He highlighted my strong traits and cautioned me to guard against the negatives. A few weeks later, AKJ, unpredictable like the weather, punished me for dozing off during a classroom lecture. I had to run up to ‘The White Gate’ and come back to class. The dreaded White Gate is a small wooden wicket gate perched on top of a steep hill where cadets regularly run up and down carrying heavy wooden logs and mock artillery shells during endurance training and of course, for punishment.

The Quarterly Commandant’s Parade is a big event in the Army Training Centre where recruits in the Recruit Training Wing and the Cadets go on parade attired in their best. During one such parade Lt. Col. Denis Perera while reviewing the troops stopped right in front of me and adjusted my ‘Side Cap’. The headgear may have got displaced while performing drill movements. As the Commandant moved on, AKJ walking behind him ordered ‘Two Pack Drills’ for me. A harsh punishment!

Pack Drill is a midday highnoon punishment drill done in the parade square in full Battle Order wearing the steel helmet, military backpack weighing over 20 kg, full water bottle and personal weapon. During my cadet days we had the British made Self Loading Rifle – SLR which was introduced mid-way during our training. The weapon was designed and developed for the much stronger British soldier and weighed about 11 kg. With the bayonet fixed it was four and half feet long. The grueling punishment includes non-stop quick marching, running with the weapon raised high over the head and lasts 40 minutes each. I did the drills on two consecutive days. Fortunately, they were my first and last Pack Drills in the Cadet School.

Field exercises depict realistic war scenarios. During the Platoon in Defence exercise, we had to dig trenches, fight day/night mock battles, eat, live, and sleep in a trench for four days. One section of the trench known as the Shelter Trench should have strong overhead cover purportedly for protection against mortar and artillery fire. In principle, overhead protection must be reinforced with locally available tree trunks, a layer of boulders and earth. Trench digging and preparation is excruciatingly hard work and cadets often cheat by having flimsy overhead cover.

AKJ once came and checked our shelter trench and found we had cheated. He told two of us manning the trench to get under the shelter trench. Then he got on to the top and started jumping on the overhead cover making the timber, boulders, and earth fall on us. He shouted saying these are artillery and mortars falling on you. Steel helmets protected our heads, but we had a few bruises and scrapes. There was no easy day with AKJ!

During the tail end of training, cadets face a tough physical endurance test ‘The Mother of All Tests’. It is a 10-mile run ‘In Battle Order- wearing the steel helmet, combat backpack weighing nearly 25 kg, full water bottle (although water is there, you are not supposed to drink because the instructors would check the water bottle after the run), and the personal weapon with which a cadet has lived, slept, carried, and maintained, during training.

Our instructors often told us to treat the personal weapon like the way you would care for your spouse. Gospel truth! Its your weapon that would ultimately make you live or die in battle. Even in a game of chess the Queen protects the King. Our endurance run started at the Maha Thotilla Oya Bridge on the Welimada-Bandarawela road, then went through the Badarawela town to Diyatalawa. The run had to be completed within a specified time. After running ten miles, we reached the Army Polo Grounds hoping to drop on the grass and take a breather. The course Commander was there to push us further. He said one of the buddies was wounded and ordered each one of us to carry a course mate using the ‘Fireman’s Lift’ and run another hundred yards. There was no easy day with AKJ!

I could write more about Major General Asoka K. Jayawardhana until the ‘Cows come home’ as he would have said it, but I beg your forbearance. In my final Officer Cadet School Course Report, among other things, he described me as “Good Officer Material.” The tough, hard driving yet nobly generous Officer and Gentleman is no more, but his legacy remains indelible. Thank you, General!

Brig Sri Mudannayake (Rtd)