Meanwhile, Brigadier John Dalvi and his Brigade HQ were getting first-hand experience of the ground conditions in and around Lumpu, which was entirely reliant on air drops for maintenance. ‘I watched air drops at Lumpu and found to my chagrin, but not surprise, that 30 to 40 per cent of the parachutes were not opening out and the drops were total losses. The reason for this waste of air effort was due to our policy of retrieving and re-using old parachutes. For years we had been wasting energy and resources on collecting used parachutes from forward posts.’
