Captain Suresh Babu is an executive officer of the Indian navy who is a specialist deep sea diver and marine commando. In his 33 years of service, he has commanded various naval ships and shore establishments including the premier marine commando base at Visakhapatnam. Being a specialist diver, he has planned coordinated, and executed various marine archeological exploratory dives on the ghazi wreck off Visakhapatnam, sunken temples off Visakhapatnam and Mahabalipuram, sunken ships off Karaikal and sunken ship off Lakshadweep.

I look forward to conversations with the para SF personnel. We had one legend Vijaypal Rawat on the show.

They are best friends. Suresh Sir shared his experience of serving the country.

Happy reading!

Special Force Mentality

“We all are peace lovers. We are trying to save lives, and in that some casualties happen. We try to make the best of our life. Our policy is to be happy and keep the people around you happy. One is put through so much training that what we learn is to restrain. So we are taught that hands are given to protect. You become stronger physically and softer mentally.”

Why Is Indian MARCOS Better?

“We are used to living in dirt and having a minimalistic way of living and having a humble beginning. So Indians can take more hardships. We are used to pollution and sitting on the ground to eat. When boys join MARCOS they are already prepared. We push a guy physically, yet we try to break him mentally. We want average guys who are mentally strong. Hell week is all about mental toughness. You have to figure out what you can eat at times.”

Ghazi Attack

“Scariest was when I went down Ghazi. When we went down, there were years of fishing nets covering it. Our legs were getting trapped. We couldn’t reach the bottom at first. We tried entering and saw a big fish coming towards us. It wasn’t a shark .”

“In 1971, Ghazi sailed out of Karachi, and the Indian navy had some adversaries to believe that our aircraft carrier was in Vizag. But it had never left Bombay harbor. There was a miscommunication. Ghazi sailed out to destroy INS Vikrant. She sailed on 14th November. And on 28th November, she reached here and got the orders to destroy Vikrant. Unfortunately, they had to first identify before launching. When it came out, they saw a larger naval vessel, and to avoid the collision, they took an emergency dive. But the torpedoes that were ready to launch blasted.”

Sharks And Other Sea Animals

“Sharks has a blind arc in the front. If you stand in front, they won’t know. But you need a little confidence to stay still. They can feel your fear. Animals are the helpful creature.”

“Dolphins can be trained to cover mines. They are trained for shows as well. We have trained dogs, but we haven’t trained dolphins in India. Dogs even have ranks. They are taken for skydiving. It’s still in process.”

“Dolphins are intelligent. There are cases where they have saved people from drifting.”

Training In Combat

“The navy does take you through many regions during training. We have gone to Russia, the US, and even Australia.”

“Most of the training involves weight or using hands for climbing. So we are usually buff. But an average navy guy is not as bulky as the guys in the western.”

Near Death Experience

“A trawler is a big ship. The Indian Ocean is the only ocean where fishes die of old age. We don’t consume them as much. Once I was asked to salvage one of the trawlers. It was sunset time. I decide to dive and check. One of my team members suggested I wear a surface supply, and not an independent one. In an independent one, we can last up to 20 mins. So I listened to the officer, and when I took a dive the whole trawler turned to one side, and I was trapped between almost ten layers of fishing nets. It took around four hours for them to get me out. I couldn’t even communicate with them.”

Last Message To The Listeners

“Learn to be happy and keep people around you happy, and everything will fall into place.”

MARCOS Legend Capt. Suresh Babu On Combat, and Near Death Experience