Yes, our forces are doing a great job and deserve glory, respect and fair pay package. You can feel their presence every where in the country, let it be Sunami, Floods in Bihar or Hostage drama in Jammu. They are living in tough conditions and just think about those soldiers posted in Siachin or those sailors sailing in rough sea. They dont have trade unions to represent and to play vote bank politics.
But, the other side of the coin is not so bright. The major problem in our forces is lack of professionalism and morale of its men, especially at the bottom level. It is due to the fact that Military top brass are much worried about conducting ceremonies, VIP visits, Parties, Area maintenance etc than concentrating on profession. The increasing pre-matured retirements are not due to the lesser pay package, but in search of a better atmosphere where ones profession is respected and nonsense and ceremonies are less.
Discipline has a different definition in Military and it is very much mixed up with slavery. Following rules and regulations should be the meaning of Discipline. But here it means you are not supposed open your mouth in front of your superiors whether they are right or wrong and if you dont follow even an illegal order you will be considered as an in-disciplined and immature. Three of our ex-Naval Chiefs; Admiral Nanda, Admiral Sushil Kumar and Admiral Arun Prakash are under CBI scanner for their patriotic and disciplined contributions while in service.If you are good in Polishing and best in harassing your subordinates you are considered as a well matured man there.
The extra power that the Military leaders enjoying like stoppage of leave, fast trials etc are to tackle war and emergency situations. But they are used indiscriminately in day to day life. Even a Brigadiers visits in a Unit makes the life horrible there and enough VIPs are available there to visit through out the year. If a Jawan asks for leave to visit his ailing mother, the Boss will talk about patriotism and service requirements and at the same time dont hesitate to send this Jawan for accompanying his madam for marketing or children to go to school. Let us do not mix up discipline, patriotism, war, service etc for personal gains.
It is not the right place to discuss all these things, but just as our market is closed today.
My post is not to hurt anybody, but just trying to remind the concerned personnel (if read it) about the importance of quality and talent at every level of our forces. Let our force be a Professional one with highest degree of morale.
Jai Hind