MANOJ TO MANOJ
LT COL NOEL ELLIS
20/IV/2022
The long speculation as to who would be the next Army Chief has finally been laid to rest when the government declared Lt Gen Manoj Pande as the next Chief designate. Congratulations Sir.
Gen Pandey is from ‘Engineers’. I am convinced that the Engineer Regiment builds and maintains. It could be bridges, structures, roads etc. These are the guys who can move anything on earth. If required they can also demolish what the enemy can build. They are trained to work and rescue in a Nuclear Biological and Chemical Warfare environment. They are multifaceted and multitasking people. Could there be a better choice than ‘this Engineer’ leading an Army which needs to be nurtured and built up to face adversaries who are encroaching on our land?
One of the news channels must be reprimanded for calling the Chief designate from the MES (Military Engineering Service). My due apologies to personnel who have served in it, as this service is famous for ‘de-engineering’ of a different kind. Ask anyone who has been on the wrong side of MES, maybe it for accommodation or repair and maintenance of accommodation. I rate them 1 out of 10. Besides, MES also stands for ‘Money Eating Service’. Why? They would know better.
Gen Pandey, my request to you is to sort out this ‘termite type’ of an organisation in the first month of your taking over. Also sue the channel which had the audacity to call you from MES. With the credentials you hold and the experience of service behind you, you will come out with flying colours. I wish you ‘Good Luck’ and ‘God Speed’.
What excites me most is that all three Service Chiefs are from 61st course NDA. This was the senior most course when we joined NDA Wing Ghorpuri in Pune. By joe, knowing the ‘course mate spirit’, I wish you get together every evening over a ‘chota-chota’ and suggest to the government a solid plan to sort out what is ailing our Forces and veterans welfare. Instead of manpower cuts, pension reduction may you guys bring their attention to the real task at hand. We are meant to keep the ‘enemy’ at bay. How should the government help you achieve that objective, should be the aim?
Welfare of the serving and more so the veterans should be your top priority. Time flies fast and may you people not regret, that wish ‘I’ had raised and flagged such concerns and influenced the people in power to look after the serving and those who served well and now have a (Retired) after their names. At least manoeuvre the government to withdraw court cases, where men and women in and out of uniform are at loggerheads with the ‘Mai-Baap’ for decades.
Looking after the separated families, whose husbands are deployed in active areas also needs a rethink. Besides, veterans need better treatment. Various ECHS are jam packed & medicines not available. Procedures need to be simplified and done through a single window clearance. Sick and old veterans cannot visit polyclinics. Luckily when one fell sick, there was a course mate who stood by me. Thank you ‘Balveer’.
One more suggestion for ‘jointmanship’. Like we had cross attachments from Infantry to Armour and also within other arms, it is now to depute Officers, JCO and OR to be cross attached to the Navy and the Airforce. The time period should be two years minimum. Cater for that vacuum in manpower by handing over the RR (Rashtra Rifles) to MHA permanently. Unless we know how an Air force station functions and a Naval ship or submarine stays afloat, the cocoons will never be busted.
Conversely, let the Navy and the Airforce also come to land and enjoy the life of the Indian Army. You may find bonds amongst men getting better. If need be, a pilot gunner could fire a naval or an air force missile. An infantryman be able to take over duties of a “watch” on the ship or the ATC. Why not? This would be real amalgamation and oneness of forces if we are looking to real synergy. If need be, to absorb a man with a flare for the other service permanently. This suggestion is to be read between the lines, knowing how well versed we are between Infantry and the Armoured Corps. Big ask!
All this might sound gibberish and suggestions being made by a veteran who can only sit and write. Gen Pandey, consider these from a veteran who always keeps the nation first. It could also be a suggestion for the next CDS too.
Let me also thank Gen MM Naravane, who took the Army from strength to strength. Three cheers to you sir. for you are a jolly good fellow, so say all of us……….
Wishing Gen Pandey, a very successful tenure. Are my suggestions any worth and who would be the new CDS? I wonder!!!!!!!!!!!
JAI HIND
© NOEL ELLIS
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