The fight is tough for the ground troops, but for the pilots of army aviation, it's equally dangerous, if not more so. Posts here are at an altitude of 18,000 feet and even higher. ``And these are air-maintained posts. We supply food, water, medicines and ammunition to them. And we can only do that by dodging the Stinger missiles and the jutting mountain peaks,'' said an army aviation pilot.

The day for this young pilot begins at dawn. By the time he and his fellow pilots reach the helipad, there are several ``priority one'' evacuation cases. ``Take today's example. The soldier whom we evacuated had his leg cut into two in last night's shelling. He had lost a lot of blood and was unconscious. To get to him, our pilots had to fly extremely low along the course of theIndus,'' said an official.

Though the army has made gains in the sector, it is still far from safe. ``If we show ourselves above the mountain peaks, the infiltrators will fire a Stinger missile and bring the helicopter down. And we can't fly too low; There are places with barely enough space for the rotors. The only thing we want to hear when we take off every morning is somebody saying `happy landing.' And the intensity of operations is such that often we fly 10-15 sorties per day, evacuating casualties,'' said a pilot.

The shelling of Batalik town has forced its residents to flee to safer places like Lalung, Silmoo and other small villages dotting the picturesque landscape. The battle is on in full swing in the higher reaches.

``The infiltrators are well-entrenched here too. There is no way that the ground troops can spot them. Secondly, the terrain here is so difficult that an error of judgement could cost several lives. So we carry out our recce flights and study the terrain before the ground troopsbegin advancing. So we also act as Observation Posts,'' he added.

The pilots recce the area, looking out for and identifying the infiltrator locations and transmit the information to the fire direction centre. Then the artillery units begin pounding the locations. However, the enemy is clued in on their movements; ``As soon as they see us flying, they begin firing at us,'' said another pilot flying sorties to the Batalik sector everyday.

Despite all the hardship, all the risks and dangers, there's something special about flying these choppers that makes up for everything. ``The expression on the faces of injured soldiers when they see us landing, or that of the troops anxiously waiting for ammunition and food supplies when we drop the load, makes our job worthwhile. There is such gratitude in their eyes. They don't even have to say a word and often our eyes turn moist,'' said one veteran pilot.