SHORT SERVICE VS AGNIVEER
LT COL NOEL ELLIS
18/XI/2022
‘Agniveer’ caught my attention again due to a WhatsApp forward (attached). It has been accepted and implemented. When the ‘Ucch Sena Adhikaris’ of the present have given a green signal, we veterans can only crib and lump it for whatever it is worth.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Who will eat it? Not the retirees of the next few years. Who shall bear its brunt? Obviously, all those who are going to serve beyond that. We now can only hope that this scheme which the forces have ‘adopted’ or were ‘forced to adopt’ becomes a success.
The idea probably germinated from Short Service Commissioned Officers. Then why shouldn’t we have ‘short service jawans’? A physically and medically fit man or woman is picked up, trained, tuned psychologically to the vagaries of the forces, and then given a choice at the end of their ‘bond’ to say goodbye or continue, depending on their performance.
Five years is a long time for an officer to decide whether the environment of the forces is congenial or not. There are various categories of people who joined the short service commission.
Some are the ‘junooni’ kinds. They join to serve and continue to excel in every field. Many a times they perform better than the Permanent Commission (PC) officers.
Some are fine, if they get a PC, well and good and if not, they have enough family backing to take care of for the rest of their lives. They really did not care if they were absorbed or not.
Few are causalities. They came in to try what they thought was their passion but fell in wrong company or were placed under the wrong hands. They were good but their bosses felt otherwise. Personal dislike by seniors has been the biggest reason for officers being shown the door.
Some were promotion exam casualties. They were good on the ground but when it came to writing promotions exams, they just could not. For them to slog on a mountain slope and face the enemy was better than to sit on the table and write. Such people also got weeded out.
Some Officers were clear in their minds from the very first instant. Five years and no further. They had plans to probably study, go abroad, become an entrepreneur or educationist. Some even had the skills for fine arts. Some had joined because their parents were in the fauj.
Some of them were happy go lucky kinds. ‘PC mil gaya to theek, nahi mila to wah.’ They enjoyed their five years. It did not matter if it was ‘Peace’ of ‘Field.’ They did their job and loved being part of the uniformed guys. Five years and off they went.
Then there were some who did wonders and even won gallantry awards. Some became expert mountaineers and excelled beyond the call of duty. Such guys were absorbed. But many of them became battle & peacetime casualties. That was the end of the road for them.
There were a few who opted for an extension. Maybe one tenure and then another one and finally after certain years they too bit the dust. Some got absorbed by Banks and other PMFs. It is a different issue that they performed better in those organisations.
They all went through the same selection process but at the end of five years they were at tenterhooks. There were many discipline cases also. Picking up a fight with seniors was most common for them to get sealed for PC.
Once you were out on the civil street, these people had a tough life ahead. Those who got absorbed in certain corporates were fine. The others struggled to make two ends meet. A man who just got married, had a small child, a motorcycle to drive was now left high and dry without pension and perks. CSD & Hospital facilities and other such privileges were all gone in a blink of an eye. An ‘Agniveer Officer’ had to start afresh.
There came a time when from one Short Service Officers Training Academy we went in for two. If the shortage of officers troubled the Forces, then why have short service at all. Somehow this dichotomy was never understood.
In 1971, we raised a commission called the ‘Emergency Commission’ to make up the deficient strength of officers when war clouds were hovering. What has changed now?
I fear the jawans who will have to go back to their villages after four years. Today, they want some sort of employment due to desperate times. Tomorrow, they would be ‘combat trained men’ roaming like zombies.
If all this is to save the ‘pension bill,’ then it is a shame and a pity for this nation. Are the Dhoti Wala’s really interested in the soldier? When they want votes, they can promise anything but when in power, they start seeing him as a burden on the exchequer.
Today’s Defence Minister may become the Supreme Commander tomorrow. Imagine, when you throw officers and men out and then you will have to raise another force to tackle such ‘blind bombs’ lying unexploded. Who will then justify when this ‘new force’ called the ‘PVAD’ (Poorv Agniveer Sambhalo Dal) will not only take pay but also pension for what the present guys goofed up so royally. Does it make sense? I wonder!!!!!!!!
JAI HIND
© NOEL ELLIS
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