“Tour Of Duty” Proposal Is A Grand Idea Will be Good For India
By
Colonel Awadhesh Kumar
Dated : 26 Dec 2020 (IST)
There will always be some nay sayers to any idea even if it is in the National Interest. On their own they will never come out with any concrete proposals but will try to oppose and even sabotage any Idea proposed by others. So no wonder such people are calling the Indian Army’s ‘Tour of Duty’ proposal as “ damnned ideas “.
Naysayers feel that 3 YEARS Tour of Duty is an ill-conceived scheme as it allows young Indians to become MILITARY TOURISTS who may be forced to serve in the combat forces in the frontline without adequate military training.
As per them this scheme at the best will have youth experiencing the thrill of action in uniform for three years before they move on to other walks of life.
Naysayers are trying to pass snide remarks that combat units will not welcome such recruits. They feel that close cooperation between soldiers and long-term bonding that helps through combat drills and dangerous situations will get diluted.
“The reader may well imagine the muddle such induction of military tourists would induce in frontline fighting units” is what the Naysayers think. The above Pundits are also criticizing the proposal on the grounds of short training period, they have also begun implying that while recruiting there will be no entrance tests of any kind and all will be taken in blindly.
The most important …..they are worried as to How the political leanings of such individuals going to be kept in check? They are trying to advocate that since such recruits are only going to be in the armed forces for a short term and may be more inclined to show their like/dislike for a given political ideology.
Now lets examine things in detail :
*The Indian Armed Forces are totally a volunteer force unlike many other armies. So instead of conscripts only volunteers will be recruited even for the Tour of Duty.
* All applicants will be certainly tested and screened because of the simple fact that vacancies will still be finite.
* Conscripts in the various Armies are recruited for 18 months to 24 months only and they perform quite well. So why volunteers will not perform well when recruited for 36 months.
* A short recruit training has been seen to be quite adequate for such short service. Even in emergency in the aftermath of 1962 War, training period had been shortened even for regulars. Training in the Army is a continuous process and thus on job training is a daily affair.
* These volunteers for Tour of duty will not be sent to specialized outfits but to Infantry and may be a few others to basically act as boot on ground.
* It has been seen that even short attachment periods of three months creates bonding / pride then why 36 months will not achieve It?
* As it is, in every infantry unit around 25% manpower gets turned over annually. So why should there be fear of new faces etc.
* Of course if Tour of Duty is also made applicable to officer cadre then first they will have to pass the SSB and then undergo around 6 month straining and thereafter they may have to serve for 36 months or 48 months. In the USA even West Point graduates have the option to opt out after this much service.
* The TA Units are something on this line and they have performed very well when deployed in various operational duties including Sri Lanka and Jammu& Kashmir.
* As to the political meanings….well everyone has it even regular soldiers. However you learn to become politically aware which you must but not practice it. For anyone stepping out of the line, there is something called the ARMY ACT.
We must remember that the Regular British Army at the beginning of WW2 had to face the Dunkrik moment. Then the new expanded Army which landed at Normandy comprised of short term conscripts who beat back the Germans.
Similar was the case with the American Army. Presently Army recruits around 60000 men per year. Say if 10% of this ie 6000 recruited against Tour of Duty will go a long way to reduce the expenditure on pension etc.
Another 40% of the Regular inductees after 7 to 10 years colour service should be laterally inducted into Government Services through a proper instutionalized seamless process. This will reduce the pensionary and other expenditures by 50%.
It will also keep the Forces young and fighting fit. So there should be no worry of any kind that the fighting efficiency and cohesion of our Combat units will get diluted even under the most trying circumstances.
Such a process will thus provide an opportunity to those youth fired by a desire to serve the nation but do not want to serve permanently. The civil side will also get a cadre of well-disciplined trained youths ready to work for the well being of society.
