REFLECTIONS ON A MILITARY CAREER (COURTESY Medals and Ribbons vol 1 July-Sep 2021)

REFLECTIONS ON A MILITARY CAREER

Medals and Ribbons is perhaps an interesting magazine for both parents and students to sit together and decide whether a career in the Indian military is worth considering, given the galaxy of opportunities available today. Arguably such opportunities were unthinkable in our days. Yet there are so many of you who are attracted to the uniform, the respect it invites from our citizens and the chance to serve the nation. Is the Military the only option to serve the nation? Of course not. But it is the only vocation that asks you to sign a blank cheque to make the supreme sacrifice if and when the Country calls upon you to do so. When Pavandeep Rajan sang,” Teri mitti me miljawan….” at the Indian Idol 2020 show there was not a single dry eye in the audience both in the studio and perhaps in the virtual medium too. That is the emotion that the military profession evokes in people. 

Given the nature of military service, it is only logical that induction, training and many other aspects are unique to the Armed Forces. Let us consider just one entry, to the NDA, popularly called the Cradle of Leadership. Even if you qualify the UPSC entrance examination, you are required to get through a rigorous test at the Services Selection Board (SSB). The specially trained officers of the SSB, put you through a psychology test, followed by a group obstacle test, finally culminating in an interview with the Commandant and his staff. Not many of you would know that every six months, over 5 lakh students write the entrance examination, of which the UPSC shortlists less than 10000. The selection centres spread across India then send about 300- 400 to NDA every six months provided the candidates are medically fit.

To exemplify this process, let me tell you a true story about a young boy who opted for the military way of life from the VIIIth standard. His story may tell you that one does not have to follow the rigidly perceived entry guidelines to the military and that so long as your heart is set on a career in uniform you may exceed your own expectations.

The family under discussion moved from the foothills of Kodaikanal to Coimbatore in 1959. Soon after settling down in a school, the young boy was inducted into the NCC airwing. The PT Master Mr. Siddappaji - given an Airforce rank but in NCC uniform, soon became a mentor. Airforce subjects, parade training and aero modeling were activities twice a week under the able guidance of a serving Squadron Leader and a Flight Sergeant. Soon the young man rose to the rank of cadet Flight sergeant and was a part of the State contingent for the Republic day parade in 1962. The unit was delighted when he was chosen as the best All- India cadet and awarded a trophy by the then PM Pandit Nehru. The news trickled down in a few days both to the family and the school. That photo of receiving the trophy in 1962, is still displayed at the school in Coimbatore.

 

The sudden attention, along with rising expectations from older and younger people around him was a challenge beyond the maturity of the young man. He had to learn to manage the expectations of peers and superiors. I shall list the lessons he learnt at every stage of his career, starting with this episode of his life.

Lesson one-keep your feet firmly on the ground and pursue your passion.

Along with accolades came ready recognition. Loyola College at Chennai was happy to admit him for the pre-university curriculum. He was a natural choice for the NCC Senior division air wing. Additional challenges of balancing activities with academics had to be tackled whilst being away from home. He did win more medals at the state level. Consequently, he was readily accepted by St Joseph at Bengaluru for the under-graduation science degree course in 1964. By 1966, with more awards and a visit to Singapore, then part of Malaysia, for a camp, and a solo badge for piloting a Tiger Moth, he was all set to join the Armed Forces. Fate intervened at two levels. First, he missed the bus for the entrance to NDA as pursuing a degree course and all his extra-curricular activities including cricket left him with little time. There was no one to guide him on a future course of action. 

Second, it was not to be the IAF. Suffice it to say, the Indian Navy (IN) launched a short service scheme for graduates and by end 1966, the young man was in the Navy. Everything that he learnt had to be unlearnt. Uniform, the salute, parade and drill, the vocabulary -all of it.

In 1969, he was selected to go to the Soviet Union to train for Missile boats. This young officer returns in 1970 and takes part in the 1971 war - on the first attack on Karachi on 04 Dec 1971—now celebrated as Navy Day! Soon, the euphoria of war subsided and the Navy offers him a Permanent Commission. Many of his coursemates declined the offer and went their way.

Now came the real challenge. The Navy had rightly assumed that a massive modernization programme,  underway since the Chinese invasion, could not be managed without corresponding increase of manpower. The lead time to induct personnel and make them ready for sea service needed detailed preparations and it would not meet deadlines of the acquisition programmes of the Navy. Hence the graduate entry- short service scheme of 7 years-was found to be a solution. To sweeten the deal, officers so inducted were offered the rank of Ag Sub Lt from the date of entry. It may be noted it was not until 1974 that cadets of NDA passed out as graduates.

 Implicit in the decision of inducting Short service Commission Officers were three assumptions. That, graduates being older than the cadets of the regular entry, would be mature; they would be technically better placed to absorb new technology as only those from a science background were commissioned; and, that they may not need all the specialist courses that the regular entry counterparts were subjected to. The backbone of the service was the regular entry officers. In theory, it looked good.

The young man with a total training period of 6 months found himself pitted against the regular entry counterpart having done three full years at NDA, 6 months on the Cadet’s training ship, six more as a Midshipman, and a year plus for Sub Lieutenants’ courses (called “Subs courses”), It appeared to be an unfair battle. The experiment was doomed to fail. But did it?

The quality and quantum of training being so diverse, performance levels had no definite pattern to gauge in the short term. In the medium term, the performance appraisal by the Commanding Officers began to narrow the perceived gap in the output of the two entries. Given that no one really under-performs intentionally, what then was driving the under-trained to bridge the gap? The burning desire not to be publicly rebuked for inadequacy and to be treated with dignity may well have been the cause. The positive outcome for the service was that it created a healthy environment of competition and the winner had to be judged by performance-based indicators, solely driven by merit and leadership traits. Consequently, the young man found himself making progress in selection for courses and appointments overseas.

Lesson Two- Do not judge a book by its cover. Judge impartially and reward merit.

By the time the young man transited from time-based promotion to selection-based Promotion Board results, he could not but acknowledge the fact that all his seniors who mentored and groomed him were neither parochial nor biased and had the service interest paramount while grooming future leaders.

Even as he grew in rank and stature, along with those he admired, he did encounter officers who were incompetent, unable to display leadership qualities and those who were lacking integrity. Some bad eggs do slip through despite checks and balances. They exist in every walk of life. But in the military, they are unlikely to lead their men to victory.

 Why he asked himself, is it that the military expects high standards of professionalism, unbiased assessments, high quality of leadership traits and impartial conduct with ethical and moral underpinning? The answers were stark and staring in his face. Is it the fear of swift retribution, and disciplinary action that kept them relatively free of need and greed? Is it possible to practice ethical conduct and moral virtues when the environment outside the military was sullied by quite different values? He learnt that just as he is expected to make the supreme sacrifice when needed, he has to also ensure the safety and welfare of the men he leads. The only values that the men admire are the core values of the military. Why would they want to follow you to the end of the earth, and certain death if they did not see you as professionally competent, trustworthy, patriotic, and a role model? Such a demand for leadership qualities and integrity is not a part of the DNA of any other profession but the military. Victory in war cannot be assured without fighting for a cause or the “ashes of your fathers and the temples of your Gods” as put so eloquently in the ballad Horatius. The stanza in Ronald Hopwood’s famous poem, The Laws of the Navy, “On the strength of one link in the cable, Dependeth the might of the chain, Who knows when thou mayest be tested?  So live that thou barest the strain,” gave him the answers that became his beacons for the rest of his career.

By the time the young man reached fairly senior ranks with all its trials and tribulations he had seen both good and evil.  The Serenity Prayer came to his rescue when in serious doubt and the same navy poem, The Laws of the Navy gave him the course to steer in rough and calm seas. Just one line each picked at random should raise your curiosity to find them on the internet. “GOD, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change…….”  And “Count not on certain promotion, but rather to gain it aspire…….”

 But a caveat would be appropriate. You have tons of information at your fingertips but that alone does not give you wisdom. You need to live your life and go grey before you have wisdom.

 So, the young man who is now old with grandchildren in their teens is still to find the right answers to deal with the mysteries of life. But one clear answer to the question ‘what would you do if you had a choice in the next life’- without doubt or hesitation, with a childlike enthusiasm, he is bound to say, “Join the Military”.

 

Consulting (Naval) Editor’s Note: Having reached the end of this fine recounting of lessons learnt, a reader may be wondering who is the author talking about. The author is talking about his own life and career and did not particularly think it was necessary to write in the first person. However, to give the article some life, I think it may be appropriate to mention that the author is Vice Admiral Suresh Bangara, who retired as CINC of the Navy’s Southern Naval Command. He has also been the Commandant of the National Defence Academy. “Bangs” has always been an energetic, feisty officer who encouraged juniors to speak their minds to him and to others. That he was often heard doing the same to HIS superiors made this easier for him to expect from his juniors. I still enjoy an argument with him on phone even as I benefit from his counsel more often than he knows. We were fortunate, as I mention in my own article elsewhere, to benefit from more than a few seniors who lived by the dictum, “Example is the Best Navy Order.”May I say, that Bangs was always bang-on for that.