A lesson in armed forces’ discipline

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Famous words of the late Field Marshal S.H.F.J. Manekshaw, Padma Vibhushan and Military Cross, addressed to parents of cadets at Passing Out Parades of pre-commission training academies where he was often the chief guest, were: “You gave us boys, we give you back men!”

During the growing period till the teens, it is parents and elders at home and teachers in schools who play major parts in shaping the minds of children. But the years spent in officer training institutions are very different from colleges and universities, where students go through the mainly academic curriculum in quite a relaxed state of mind and body.
Training academies of the Indian Armed Forces are known the world over for the combination of high degrees of both physical regimen and mental pressure aimed at transforming young boys — and for almost two decades, girls also — into highly physically fit and mentally robust young officers. The physical standards for women trainees are lower than those for men owing to the biological difference, which is applicable in all fields including sports.
While intense physical training by itself adds to mental toughness, instructors anyway maintain a high level of mental pressure on cadets. Physical activity falls into three main categories — physical training, better known as PT, drill and games.
PT is based on a series of exercises, which build the body’s stamina and flexibility. Drill, described as the “bedrock of discipline” and synonymous with marching, is a series of military style movements done with a combination of precision, rigidity, flourish and grace. Meant largely for ancient warfare, it is still relevant for ceremonial parades and military discipline in general.
While both PT and drill are essential prerequisites for effective handling of weapons and for developing the kind of reflexes required for soldiers in conditions of protracted combat, proficiency in sports is one of the bonuses of PT. Both drill and PT, combined with studies, have been known to contribute considerably in the character and personality development.
Col. Vinay Dalvi, a second generation officer, commissioned into Maratha Light Infantry, opted after eight years of service, to join the Army Physical Training Corps, meant for imparting physical training to all ranks of the Army and para military forces. Serving as an instructor over a period of three decades in three of India’s premier institutions, National Defence Academy, Indian Military Academy and Officers Training Academy, he observes that while there are strengths in the system, it is high time some concepts and procedures are reviewed in keeping with all the changes that have occurred over the decades since Independence.
One cold hard fact is that while there are very long lines of aspirants to enlist as soldiers outside recruiting offices, the officer candidates that the Army looked for and got till the 1970s, began dwindling resulting in a serious deficit almost 12,000. The Navy and Air Force too are short of officers. While the nation’s politico-bureaucratic establishment has to bear the blame of reducing the status of officers and not keeping up with the monetary index in past decades, there are some reasons which the author traces to outdated or not properly implemented procedures.
One of his observations is that whereas in the recruitment procedure for soldiers, the aspirants’ written and medical tests are only conducted once they pass basic minimum on-the-spot physical tests, officer candidates who are selected in the post-written exam Services Selection Board Interview are not tested physically at all. And when those selected land up as freshers in academies, they are immediately subjected to a sudden change of lifestyle, the very first aspect of which is every movement from points A to B “on the double”, i.e., no walking, only running, front-rolling continuously for long distances etc, plays havoc with muscles and bones. One of the most common ailments for the “first-termers” officer training academies is stress fracture in the lower leg. The good old attitude of “Oh well, that’s part of the game, he will shape up soon” is not really the most sensible one.
Another tradition followed in drill movements, now continued in very few armies, including India’s, of stamping the feet clad in hob-nailed boots very hard and flat, sounds great when done on the drill-square, but is not good for the brain.
The author belongs to the generation of officer candidates who were commissioned into the Army shortly before to the 1971 India-Pakistan war, with those who reached the highly competitive “pyramid-turned Eifel Tower” heights serving as the current lot of senior Lieutenant Generals. They began their careers as Second Lieutenants with a basic pay of `450, which by the 1970s was indeed a pittance in monetary terms, which did not change till 1975. Their motivation to join the Army, the Navy or the Air Force came from a combination of family tradition, a desire to be part of a unique elite and those who as schoolboys who had some recollections of pre-1971 wars that India had been subjected to and wanted to literally “fight for the country”. Role models, ranging from their family members who served in the Armed Forces, to instructors ranking from non-commissioned officers, junior commissioned officers to officers-both young and old -in the training establishments made profound impacts on their minds at very impressionable stage of life. While most were positive in the long term, there were few negatives.
By the 1990s, the socio-economic scenario in India had further changed. While the Central Pay Commissions (CPC) from the 1970s onwards did increase the index of pay and allowances, they did not keep up with the kind of opportunities and pay-packets that the corporate sector offered.
Besides, a reality that became more obvious to youngsters was that the Indian Army is one which is involved not only in border tensions, but many internal insurgencies and terrorism from across the border. The kind of officer candidate the three Services sought- those with “officer-like qualities” (OLQ), began dropping and has reached the figure mentioned. The recent 6th CPC has hiked salaries considerably, but has not really made much of a difference to the intake as expected so far.
Dalvi has listed some recommendations, which he feels are overdue and will make a difference to the officer intake as well as development of officer personality traits and physical fitness. His book, including observations and suggestions on character, personality development and physical fitness for officer trainees, is certainly worth studying in depth and detail by not only the leadership, psychologists and doctors of the Armed Forces, but also of para-military and police forces.

Anil Bhat, a retired Army officer, is a defence and security analyst based in New Delhi