Editor's Note
This piece by Gp Capt AG Bewoor on military thinking was triggered by the MVI Debate on the subject published a few days back. It is a good overview / analysis of the subject and all aspects of professional military education that form a vital part of our academic system for officers before and during their service . It also draws our attention to the fact that many civilian agencies study international relations and become experts in that field. The author makes a strong point in saying that military officers should not be burdened with non military civil subjects with which they have no use during the first half of their service. What the author finally advocates for the armed forces officers military training system makes eminent sense and should be viewed seriously. This piece undoubtedly has the right answer to our very approach to professional military training of officers.
………………………………………………………….
1. The tragedy of our Fauji veterans is that they want to declaim on matters that do not concern them, but since that subject attracts the attention of civilian analysts or publisher who have connections with Govt, it is pursued. No more than a few retired faujis, have educated themselves adequately to write about international intercourse. Even if he is a psc Dagger, LDMC dagger, HCC Dagger, NDC Dagger and held command appts from Div, Corps, C-in-C, he has never had the exposure or opportunity to do deep studies on non-military, diplomatic,financial international equations. Where was the time for him to do that? Besides, as one commentator says, our military education system does not cater for creating such scholars. That is not the task for the military education system. And I hasten to add, it cannot be changed to suit the desire of a few who demand that military officers must have a wide understanding of international equations and world diplomacy. There are possibly a dozen other Govt agencies who indulge in these non-military disciplines, and their members study in this direction. Why should a wide number of faujis get into this sphere? Does the in-service education syllabus for IAS / IFS / Audit Officers / Railways / Academia / Medicine include study of military strategies and tactics? No. In fact they disapprove of any link to military history. Then why should Cadets at our academies be burdened with this subject? What will they do with this data for the first 25 yrs of their service? The syllabus at NDA/IMA/AFA/NA/OTA and DSSC has been fiddled with to the detriment of the students. The clamour to produce academically strong scholar warriors, who will smartly navigate the 21st century’s complex canvas, has encouraged this manipulation.
They have all forgotten that the contemporaries of our Cadets; who are studying BSc, BE, BA, B Com, M Tech, B Ed, Law, Business, Political Science, Sociology, Botany, Zoology, Bio-Tech and are going to join the Indian Civilian Work force, will never be even exposed to military matters. Not one civilian student is given even a whiff of any military subject or international relations and so on. Then why under the blue sky, should the military Cadet get taught any of these non military disciplines? Defies logic does it not?
2. Why must the military student, our Cadet, be force fed in their late teens, subjects that are irrelevant for the first 20 yrs of their service? Are India’s civilian students taught matters military while in colleges? No, because Fauji issues have no bearing with the first 20 yrs in their chosen profession. It is irrelevant what the western Academies do. They have been tweaking the academic content in their military academies and inserting non military subjects. Then let’s see what military results they produced? Since the late 50s, when non military subjects became intrinsic and were taught to the cadets in the Western military academies that output entered their armed forces. Their Armed Forces have been intimately involved in many wars and regrettably they have all been defeats.
Malaya, Suez, Vietnam, Iraq, Africa, Falklands; ending tragically with Afghanistan. Now it is Ukraine. Recall the false threats created by Pentagon, Deptt of State, CIA, MI-5, MI-6, Royal United Services Institute, RCDS, American War Colleges, and the Think Tanks of famous universities in USA & UK. All done to generate huge forces of men and material, to defend the imminent invasion by USSR, which never happened and would never happen, as each of these agencies knew. USA invaded Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Panama and Cuba but failed. Soviets invaded Afghanistan and came out bloodied. Observe that with all the international education that these Western military academies gave to their cadets, USA military went into Afghanistan after the Soviet failure, and they too flunked, and look at the tragic mess they left behind? Has international studies helped? Our academia, journalists, netas, babus and military pay heed.
3. We are not a Europe, which is bound by centuries of internecine wars but with a common faith, the same God, the same Saints with same thought processes because of their interconnectivity. We, on the other hand have Pakistan, B'Desh, Maldives being Muslim republics; Lanka, Myanmar & Bhutan are Buddhist, Nepal is Hindu but stretched northward by Communist China. It is this geographic cum religious fact and reality that has never gets factored or mentioned into the writings of our veteran journalists cum strategists. Do you read such critical matters in their debates and discourses? Then if in their writings at the age of 60 yrs, they cannot include these matters, why do they want to be included in the Cadet’s reading syllabus? When our Desi warriors cum scholars rewrite western military philosophy for Indian readers, they discard this vital fact that Europe & USA, together made NATO, to defend Europe and not to attack USSR. Not one of them says this with authority. Neither do the experts say so in our military journals from where the piece by Ms Gazala has emerged.
Let us not get stuck in the business of reading from electronic devices. It is obvious that the electronic device is a poor replacement for books. When will our Desi think tank strategists accept this truth and reality? Have a close look at him.
4. He is now sitting in retired comfort as a Three Star man. He is just 60 yrs old, children well settled, handsome pension, lives in his own home, financially stable, a fine circle of friends, reasonably healthy, attends veteran’s gatherings and family functions and still holds his drink. Add the fact that, having attended all those courses of instructions and been a DS everywhere, he must now be heard and read, as it was not always possible while holding all those appointments. He may not have been given the attention he felt was due to him during debates /discussions/ debriefs deliberations. There are many veterans who believe that they were suppressed during their careers and their thinking and strategising strength was never recognised or allowed to blossom. Now that the veteran is free from the shackles of military binds, he must express himself. But regrettably, that exposure to the big picture, the wide canvas, the global scenario was never given to him; it was not in the scheme of things. Besides, the Armed Forces are not training their officers to become international equation experts. If a Fauji officer wishes to pursue that path in all seriousness as a profession, then he must exit at about 20 yrs service and take the route to study this specialisation. Having done that, he now merges his military knowledge and then becomes eminently suitable to write and debate and indeed demand changes under the blanket of his true international broad spectrum perception and reasoning. I reiterate, just having retired with 3 stars on your flag, does not make you a repository of varied wisdom; because the wisdom you now possess is severely curtailed to just one aspect of the very large canvas, about the other you have too little exposure and cognition. Just as it needs very sound military knowledge, experience, exposure and education to become a 3 star officer, it takes much more than being a 3 Star officer to write on international matters with full intermingling of military nuances and impact on India and other nations. This is true.
5. Is there really a need to change the curriculum and content at NDA / IMA / AFA / NA/ War Colleges, to create that international strategic analyst but in fact will be a Fauji in the next 30 years ? The man, or woman, will follow paths that take them through difficult terrain, seas and skies; to become leaders and managers of military resources in battle and in peace. While the journey is tough and competition is severe, many will make it to Three Stars. Disappointments are regular, unfair means by the unethical is prevalent; falsification and placing of impediments on ones street can and does happen. Quite similar to any other profession, it is not unique to the Fauj. Now the 60 yrs old veteran, harbouring that pent up inclination to say what he always wanted to, ventures ahead but the guiderails are absent and he is embarking into the unknown, and may falter. His only support is the unlimited written words that come from on the other side of our Earth, or books & articles that encompass the wide spectrum he seeks. He reads all of that and more, to become an expert and autonomously creates article branded as original; the veteran is on his literary journey. He becomes a darling of the Youtube, Prime Time TV, innumerable military magazines & strategic portals. He is unstoppable.
6. This style of journalism is a spill over from the Cold War, where most analysts in the West, in cahoots with their patrons in the military-industrial powerhouses, bring into existence the chimera of unimaginable threats to the West’s existence and way of life. That is their inherent way of thinking and they go through school & college and initial employment under this misapprehension. Fortunately, that is not what India wants to do; our model is completely at variance with that of the West. So how does our Desi veteran make his mark on the strategic scene in print and on TV? Borrow freely from across the Oceans, paraphrase their words and intersperse it with Red Sea, South China Sea, Suez, Hormuz, Malacca,10 Degree Channel and such names. He will give figures and numbers of enemy ships, aircraft carriers, guns, aircraft, submarines, manpower, reservists, GDP, balance of trade and so on to show India as a dwarf against them. Then emerges the master solution; create huge unwieldy theatres. In truth the solution should be only to make our existing 14 operational commands more robust and capable to absorb attacks, while retaining the ability to strike back fiercely. This Offensive capacity within our Defensive strategy has been our Firm belief and Rock steady policy, and it has served us well. If there is any weakness, as there will be, then create forces and enhance our fire power to overcome those disadvantages. This is what is meant by Thinking Out of the Box.
7. The many non-fauji writers who talk of changing military education are not an integral part of the Fauj. They listen to views of military experts alluded to earlier, and write their story with quotes by military veterans thus giving respectability to their words. But recall that our Desi military expert has got his expertise from the western journals whose writers want constant variety under the guise of enlarged threats that do not in fact exist in the enormity they are presented. Finally, one distressing truth is that the non-military writers never declare the names of the generals/air marshals / admirals whose words they quote. That Fauji always remains anonymous. Why?
In our Fauji culture and books; anonymity is frowned upon, it is unacceptable.
Relevant Reading :
Comments