In its eighth tenure in the State since 1947-48, the 3 Kumaon liquidated 30 militants, including 23 foreign militants. In its earlier stint in the Valley, it earned the distinction of being the first battalion to storm in August 1992, in the bastion of militancy, Sopore town, and eliminate/apprehend 58 militants, including the most-wanted Hizbul Mujahideen insurgent, Bashir Ahmad Mir. Its crowning moment came in February last when its troops, waist deep in snow, climbed 5,000 feet at night to eliminate the Wandhama killers in a 12 hour-long encounter. Its soldiers killed the massacre mastermind, Maj Saiffullah and Capt Ali Sher of ISI, along with three militants of Harkat-ul-Ansar's suicide squad, the Al-Badr.

It was as if paying homage to a ``mother'' asemotions and affection for the battalion ran high among the battle-hardened soldiers at the farewell Sainik Sammelan organised by the 17 Jat today. Said GOC, Victor Force, Maj Gen R K Kaushal, who was commissioned in the 3 Kumaon, ``The 3 Kumaon is like my mother, it has brought me up and made me a General.''

Recounts Col Sudhir Uppal, CO of the 3 Kumaon, ``The 15 Corps Commander had set a deadline of three months to eliminate the 18 killers of Wandhama. Within two months, my unit had eliminated 11.'' The 3 Kumaon paid a heavy price for these operations and five of its officers were wounded and three soldiers died. But it won a Kirti Chakra (posthumous) along with four Sena Medals (two posthumous awardees). Nevertheless, the Kashmir experience saw the 3 Kumaon turning into a well-oiled machine with the soldiers and the officers becoming almost addicted to the adrenaline-pumping time of battle.

The 3 Kumaon, which was raised in 1917 as the first Kumaoni battalion, is revered in the hills of Uttar Pradeshas it granted upon them the coveted martial race status.