The battle field, either in peace or in war-time, was always a preferred work station for him. He never liked to do a desk job even after hanging his boots from Indian Army. Even at the time of the supreme sacrifice, he bravely faced death on the battle field. Col Waibhav Anil Kale (Retd), the brave-heart, who was working as Security Co-ordination Officer of United Nation Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS),was killed in Gaza when the vehicle he was travelling in came under attack in strife-torn Rafah recently. He was killed while going to a hospital in Rafah region of Gaza. Col Kale’s death has become the ‘first international casualty’ in the world since the Israel-Hamas conflict commenced last year. He was the man who led the first cordon-off and sanitisation operation group of 11 JAK Rifles after the infamous Pathankot terror attack on January 2, in 2016. Col Kale was the Commanding Officer (CO) of 11 JAK Rifles and his team was the first responder after that attack.

 

“He was a true infantry man. He was always ready to serve his country. He served a long infantry tenure in Kargil and also added a feather in his cap when he served on ‘Siachen Glacier’, the highest battlefield in the world,” Col Kale’s first cousin Chinmay Kale told ‘The Hitavada’. “Waibhav took voluntary retirement from the Indian Army in 2022 and he worked with Amazon and one more corporate company for a while. But he was not made for desk job. So he left the lucrative salary and corporate world and joined UN to pursue his career one month ago and also because he was keen in humanitarian mission work,” said Chinmay Kale. Col Kale did his schooling from Pranjape High School in Nagpur and did his Class X from Bhavan’s BP Vidya Mandir, Civil Lines in early 90s. He was in Bhavan’s BP Vidya Mandir from Class VIII to X. Col Kale, was a Swayamsevak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from Laxmi Nagar Shakha during his school time and he was the resident of Laxmi Nagar as well. After his schooling, Col Kale joined National Defence Academy (NDA).

 

He and his family left Nagpur and settled in Pune by then. While in the Indian Army, Col Kale had participated in a UN peacekeeping mission in Congo in 2009-10 on deputation. In fact, that posting was a motivation for undertaking the latest UN mission which proved fatal for the braveheart. Col Kale was an instructor at the army’s Infantry School in Mhow. “Waibhav, who joined the army in 1998 and served more than two decades, also served in the north-east and became an instructor at the Indian Army’s Infantry School in Mhow. As a CO of Rashtriya Rifles in Kashmir, he was a part of counter intelligence and counter-terrorism operations in the valley,” Chinmay Kale said.