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 kilometers long glacier at 5, 400 meters altitude (nearly twice the altitude of Ladakh and Kargil) in itself means you have to defy all of your physical, mental and spiritual limits. You have to be a super soldier, a hero. And that’s what each one of our soldiers out there at Siachen glacier and on posts at even greater heights really is!

9. Soldiers find ways to entertain themselves when they can.

We are, after all, a cricket crazy nation.

10. Fresh food – that’s rare. Very rare. At Siachen, an orange or an apple can freeze to the hardness of a cricket ball in no time.

Rations come out of tin cans.