A CAREER IN THE ARMED FORCES: DO YOU HAVE IT IN YOU?

Col (retd) Balen Chandra Das (balen258@gmail.com)

''Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." This is a famous patriotic verse in Latin meaning – it is sweet and glorious to die for one's country. We have our own – 'Janani Janmabhumi Swargadwapi Gariyasi' in Sanskrit. With such patriotic and inspirational verses being in abundance, there should have been no dearth of suitable volunteers for the Armed Forces. However, this is not so. The Indian Armed Forces are facing an acute dearth of suitable candidates who volunteer for commission as officers. That despite concerted promotional PR and advertising campaigns with inspiring and challenging tag lines like - Do You Have It in You? In the case of Assam, unfortunately, the volunteers for the Armed Forces are alarmingly poor.

There was a time when coming across an Assamese person outside Assam was a rare phenomenon. Very few Assamese ventured to step out of Assam and try a vocation outside of Assam. Thanks to better connectivity by road, rail, air and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) explosion via TV, Telephone and Internet, these days there are hordes of Assamese diaspora flooding the country, even globally.

It looks like the sleepy Assamese people have woken up from their eternal Rip-Van-Winkle like sleep and have shaken off their legendary lethargy to venture, if not to conquer, fields afar in search of a better livelihood and life. It is a very healthy and welcome advent. It is now clear that the Assamese youth is ready and is armed with the capability and competence to take on the world in diverse fields. They are taking up the challenge and doing well in all endeavours.

However, despite all this, there is an odd void; not many, in fact, hardly any Assamese youth volunteer or aspire to join the Armed Forces. Though, one finds sufficient representation in the Other Ranks of the Armed Forces due to specified vacancies allotted, in the officer cadre in particular and in even in the case of other ranks in the Technical and Clerical categories the representation is alarmingly poor. This is a severe loss to Assam in terms of jobs and opportunities, that too, in a coveted and elite category. At the very outset, it would be pertinent to clarify doubts, if any, that there is no discrimination in the Armed Forces. The Assamese youth are as welcome to the Armed Forces as any other. It is also not correct to assume that they are not capable or they lack the potential to be soldiers. Nor even that they are not charged with patriotic emotions.

Potentially, the Assamese youth is as good as any of their counterparts elsewhere for the Armed Forces. What they lack is motivation and awareness about the Armed Forces and specifically the procedure to get into it. So, there is a definite need to put in concerted effort to bring awareness about the life and glamour in uniform to inspire, motivate and guide the youth to join the Armed Forces. What is needed is a clear cut plan to motivate and inspire the youth to take up the Armed Forces as a career and reap the benefits that accrue with a career in uniform.

The myth of lack of attraction for the Armed Forces as a career in the youth of Assam needs to be busted. It is pertinent to mention here that Assam and the North East despite the low representation can boast so many famous personalities - politicians, intellectuals and businessmen who have sent their wards and children to the Armed Forces. At least three Chief Ministers of Assam and one from Nagaland come to mind. Late Gopinath Bordoloi had two sons in the Army. Late Sarat Chandra Sinha and late Keshab Gogoi of Assam and Late Hokishe Sema of Nagaland had one son each, all three proud SSGians, in the Armed Forces as officers. Maj Gen Jarken Gamlin, who was the GOC, Guwahati Sub Area a couple of years back is the brother of Late Jarbom Gamlin, former CM of Arunachal Pradesh, who himself was an alumnus of SSG.

Another inspiring aspect is that most of the veteran officers from Assam have sent their children to the Armed Forces. Those who have experienced life in the Armed Forces, both the parents and the children, surely understand and know the value and are lured by the glamour and glory of the uniform. It is high time suitable measures are taken by the Assam Government as well as the enlightened citizens to encourage, motivate and train the Assamese youth to join the Armed Forces. The Government should include preparation for the Armed Forces in the Skill Development Programmes.

It will be worth mentioning here that, in the earlier batches of Sainik School, Goalpara (SSG), the success rate of joining the NDA was very high. However, soon thereafter the numbers started to dwindle due to most of the SSGians preferring to opt for Medical, Technical and other materially lucrative or softer options. But today the Armed Forces offer a reasonably lucrative pay package and perks laced with numerous advantages which enable one to lead a very honourable and distinguished life. So it is high time that the Fatal Attraction for the NDA blazer, which was a craze during our days in the SSG, in particular, and the glitz and glamour of the uniform, in general, is revived. It is pertinent to note that the doors of the NDA are being thrown open for women also.

Man does not live by bread alone. Patriotism and emotions charged with patriotic flavour are neither enough to attract the youth to the Armed Forces in the present-day materialistic world nor are these enough to sustain the spirit of a soldier for a prolonged duration. In times of emergencies like the Chinese aggression of 1962, Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971 and the recent Kargil conflict in 1999, there were hordes of patriotically inspired youth who volunteered to join the Armed Forces and go to the front. This is a good sign but it is not a practical course that could be adopted to recruit and selectmen for the Armed Forces, especially officers.

"Patriotism," as General Patton of the US Army said during the Second World War, "is not about dying for your own country. It is making the other man die for his country." To do this, a soldier has to train hard and long during peace and achieve a very high degree of tenacity to face severe odds and a fierce lethality to annihilate the adversary. To be able to undergo and complete such rigorous training, an individual has to be very determined with nerves of steel, physically tough and agile, mentally robust with a very high degree of tenacity and endurance. He has to have a cool resolve to succeed in his mission - come what may! To muster these qualities a soldier needs to be highly motivated. Such motivation comes with a price. Price is in terms of honour, dignity and social as well as monetary relief, compensation and security.

So the single most important factor to attract the best and brightest youth to the Armed Forces would be to give due attention to improving the pay package and quality of life. Other aspects, which should be kept in mind, are an up to date selection process, facilities for coaching aspiring candidates and a continued awareness programme about the Armed Forces. It may be highlighted that today the pay and perks in the Armed Forces are quite lucrative compared to what it was in the past. However, more is needed to be done for it to keep pace with the dynamics of the changing environment, aspirations and the expectations of the youth. It can easily be summarized that for candidates having motivation and potential, the Armed Forces are the best career option as officers as well as Other Ranks. It is hoped that the government of Assam will do the needful to seize the opportunity to get the maximum possible youths recruited into the Armed Forces. There are enough armed forces veterans who can help in this endeavour if the government takes it up seriously.