Panaji:
A letter written by a Navy pilot to his senior, seeking permission to “bite the bullet”, and the latter’s response saying “welcome to hell” have gone viral on social media.
To be sure, it was a marriage invite by Lt Cdr Nishant Singh to Commanding Officer of INAS 300 (naval air squadron) of INS Hansa, the Indian Navy’s air base in Goa.
But Singh decided to be a bit unconventional and the commanding officer decided to match the tone.
The letter, dated May 9, was captioned “Permission to Bite the Bullet”.
“I regret to be dropping this bomb on you at such a short notice, but as you would agree, I intend to a drop a nuclear one on myself and I realise that just like all the split second decisions we take up in the air in the heat of combat, I cannot afford to allow myself the luxury of time to re-evaluate my decision,” Singh said, disclosing that he was going to marry.
“In view of the above, I officially seek your approval to willingly sacrifice myself in absolute peace time, completely outside the line of duty, and follow up many other brave men into this graveyard spiral of matrimony,” the MiG pilot said.
“I promise to never repeat such a performance in air or teach it to my trainee pilots,” he added, inviting the senior officer to the wedding.
In his handwritten reply in red ink, the commanding officer reminded Singh that “I was your instructor in pre-solo phase, cleared your solo-check, saw your landing for first time on MiGs as ACP made me really proud.”
“Saw the spark in you and always believed you a different. When you become Qfl cleared you for instruction flying on MiGs….But all the good things have to finally come to an end,” the reply said.
“Welcome to Hell!,” the CO signed off.
A senior naval official said it was a private communication between the two.
“Finally, the couple has got married,” he added.
