The Sixth Pay Commission.

The Musings of a Military Dinosaur

“Annual income twenty pounds,annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six,result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery”(Mr Micawber)-David Copperfield-Charles Dickens

The Sixth Pay Commission has caused more heart-burn then any previous such commissions-at least, amongst the “retired fraternity”. The problem at present apparently stems from the recommendations of the 6^th Pay Commission, which has decided to fix the pension based on pay bands, instead of rank. The concept of clubbing several ranks in one pay band is thought to be illogical, especially in the military, which has distinct ranks. These pay bands are applicable from a particular date, leading to a differential in the pensions of persons of the same rank retiring before 1997, between 1997 and 2006, and after 2006.

I suppose it is justifiable to protest. But it goes against the grain for us in the military to resort to mob-like dharnas and what have you. We have a well-established method of airing our grievances through “proper channels”. In the case of retirees, this is normally through Ex-Services’ Organisaations, like the Indian Ex-Services League,founded by late Field Marshal KM Cariappa,and recognized by the Government. There is also an organization in the Defence Ministry,which deals with ex-service problems. Of course, the serving officers do take up our grievances-if not purely for altruistic reasons, then for the simple reason that like death, retirement comes to all.

But for my generation of officers, pay though most welcome, was not the only raison de’etre for joining the Army. There was fascination of glamorous uniforms, the stories of derring-dos of military heroes during the World War of 1939-45, and there was always the great appeal and allure of the prestige that a military rank conferred on one. This was of particular relevance before Independence, when Indians were mostly treated as second-class citizens. For us this is far more important than filthy lucre. It is the down grading of our ranks, vis-à-vis the civilians that rankles most.

When on commissioning in 1947,we were sent off to attend the Weapons’ Course(at that time in Saugor) we learnt a lesson ,which struck us more than all we learnt about weapons. At the first Mess Meeting ,the Commandant, a Major, having highlighted religion, politics and women being strict no-nos for discussion in the Mess, also upbraided an officer for complaining about the Mess Bills. Never, said the Major, must you ever raise money matters in a Mess.

All this has come to me after reading a wonderful article by, a Canadian officer, which I reproduce below.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE TIGERS GONE?

This article was originally written by Colonel DA Nicholson;he is now retired near Kingston,Ontario,Canada

“The dubious honour of prompting this diatribe belongs to an anonymous young helicopter pilot with whom I recently shared a few drinks and a fascinating couple of hours one evening while I was visiting one of our larger training bases. This young man in his second year of service at the ripe old age of 22,spent the entire time outlining for me the plans he had made to cater for his retirement some twenty year hence.He earnestly explained his calculations, including projected promotions, pay increases and investment programmes, which would guarantee him the interest on several hundred thousands dollars as a supplement to his pension.It appeared that he had devoted a considerable proportion of his spare time to the management of his financial program. All in all, it was a most impressive display of logical reasoning and planning,and it left me deeply disturbed about the future of the Armed Forces. There may, I suppose,be those who do not find it incongruous that a young officer, on the threshold on what should be an exciting ,challenging career in fighting forces,should be so completely preoccupied with financial arrangements for a distant retirement. If such there be I suggest they turn now to some other reading material.for they will never understand my concern.

I found myself trying to picture this young man applying this cold logical reasoning process to a situation which required him to assume some degree of risk to land his helicopter in a dangerous spot to evacuate an injured or wounded man ,or to extricate a hard-pressed infantry patrol. I arrived at the unhappy conclusion that our young man might well deduce that to complete such a mission would be neither logical nor sensible, and that in the interests of flight safety and the successful completion of his long term retirement plan he should abandon the attempt.

I do not mean to imply any personal criticism of the young man in question. What I do wish to imply is that this young man has chosen the wrong profession and that those who recruited and encouraged him did so under false pretences.

It is not my intention to decry the importance of logic and planning ability in military officers, obviously these are essential qualities. I do, however, question whether a young officer who devotes most of his waking hours calculating his retirement income possibilities is likely ,in the face of the enemy, to rise to his feet and shout ,”Follow me”, or to inspire others to comply,even if he should in a rare moment of passion consider such a “non-cost-effective” course of action.

What preoccupies me is the suspicion, confirmed by one experience as a member of a promotional board, that the higher-rated officers are the earnest, colourless young men whose chief virtue is technical diligence; who never express boisterous exuberance in the mess;whose manners and social conduct are impeccable;and who always accord their seniors(and their seniors’ wives,of course) the proper degree of reverence. There seems to be a concerted effort to prevent the advancement of any young man who deviates from the nice,neat,grey middle ground.In other words, to flattering ARs. and to promotion, seems to be open primarily to those who “do not rock the boat”. I find it hard to reconcile this approach to officer development with my own experience’ It has always seemed to me that those people with the greatest lust for life are the ones most likely to attempt, in defiance of logic, to achieve the “impossible goal”

You will no doubt begun to detect, and I really admit it, to a twinge of nostalgic longing to meet once again a type of young officer who was fairly common a short years ago. This was the young man who did occasionally express a certain degree of boisterous enthusiasm for his profession. whose exuberance sometimes led to a heart-to-heart talk in my office and an extra tour as duty officer, and who, fortified by a few draughts of “happy hour elixir” would corner me in the bar for a forceful lecture on how I should really be running the unit. These same young officers may have required frequent guidance and steering, and occasional restraint but, bless them, hey never required prodding. They could always be relied upon to put forth that essential extra effort which often means the difference between success and disaster in both peace and war. No task was difficult and no hardship could deter them.Their senior NCOs looked after them like fathers. Their men loved and respected them and followed them without question. It was comforting to know that such men would be available if the crunch came. I am grateful for having had the privilege of serving with them. I only hope that their enthusiasm, gaiety and sheer zest for living have not since become squelched by the pervasive ,bloodless “man in the green flannel suit” syndrome of which I have spoken. Dismiss these remarks, if you will, as the musings of a military dinosaur ,but at least give some thought to the possible validity of this basic plea.

So gentlemen, please let us accept, cherish and develop, along with the nice, manageable pussycats, at least a few TIGERS.

Dehra Dun

Lt Gen RK Jasbir Singh
September 2009