Pod#119 - Baqar Hasan - A Pakistani Soldier's Tale - FATA, Siachen, life after

6th September is commemorated as Defence Day in Pakistan, a day on which the nation honors the sacrifices made by the members of its armed forces. No better day then to put out a chat with a soldier. The Pakistan Army is often in the conversation for a multitude of reasons, from politics, to economics to more philosophical subjects. What is always missed is that the army is not a monolith and the lives of ordinary service men is rarely discussed in any nuance. That's the purpose of this podcast. Glad we found such a unique guest to help up accomplish this. Things discussed in this episode: 00:00 Intro 03:28 Australia Corona catchup 09:43 How this chat came about from both sides 14:40 Why did he sign up for the army? 23:54 What’s the entrance process for the army and how did he do? 31:14 +2 years in the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) 39:34 Passing out of the PMA and being assigned to the Frontier Force 45:28 The FATA Chapter - Quick Reaction Force, Zarb-e-Azb, Salala 1:00:40 A discussion about training and leadership 1:05:42 Missing the little luxuries of life while in the field 1:12:41 The Siachen Chapter - Two years in the highest battlefield 1:23:14 Leaving the army, leaving Pakistan 1:28:39 PTSD incidence in Pakistan, recognizing the perspectives of the enemy, being in a high stimulus situation for 2 years 1:44:34 The end of the War on Terror in Afghanistan 1:51:05 Armchair experts, and the public relationship between the army & the nation 1:59:46 Ali’s trivia questions 2:04:45 Talking about stories turns into a Jinn Story! In Siachen! 2:12:08 Wrap-up, outro and a video from Siachen LINKS: Baqar's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baqar_hasan/ Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)! Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below! SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupper Rizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkhar Sarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan