Reorientation And Restructuring of Pakistan Army

[TaimiKhan]

Wastefull Organizations:* Artillery Divisions, HAT, LAT in particular referring to the HAT and LAT battalions. If you recall that till the reorganization of the 60’s the Anti-Tank Regiments were part of the Corps of Artillery. The Infantry should have only two components i.e. the Light Infantry or the Mechanized Infantry
The remaining nomenclatures are just semantics. I visualize the anti-tank assets presently held with the LAT battalions be handed over to other infantry battalions of the formation thus augmenting their anti-tank resources. These units should be converted to light commando battalions on the pattern of US Rangers battalion in every division. Similarly the HAT elements if required to operate independently may be reorganized into independent companies to be attached with independent brigade groups.

LAT units have just 106mm RR as primary weapon, i fully agree that LAT & HATs be disbanded. What is a 106mm RR gonna to do the modern day tanks which are equipped with latest armor which can even take a hit from anti tank missiles. LATs should go and merged into normal stream and made infantry or mechanized infantry. Every unit can't become a LCB. Suggestion for HATs can be utilized in many ways, as independent formations, but i believe if they are attached with armor formations, they will be of more good use as HATs can be used to check massive armor thrusts and in combination with tanks they can be very useful. But what HATs have needs to be updated. TOWS & Bakhtar Shikan i doubt would be very effective in a few years time against the modern Indian armor which we will see. TOWS & BS should be given to infantry formations, while HATs should be equipped with more modern, lethal top attack version anti tank systems. We should start looking at the future from right now or else we will have inadequate weapon systems.

Balochistan:*Quetta has the largest number of General Officers in Pakistan after Rawalpindi. A senior officer is also a catalyst for development in his area as because of his seniority he can pull lots of developmental efforts in his direction. By sending the two GOCs to Loralai and Khuzdar and creating a ‘Mekran Military District’ at Turbat, half the Balochistan problems will be solved besides achieving much better interaction with local population.

Well the same task can be done by Brigadiers also, provided they are given the power. GOC is a very high level rank looking at these places. An effective system lead in the field by regional Brigade commanders with overall control by the Southern Command would be good option. Use FC in such endeavors also, and by the way, the Quetta based corps in collaboration with FC baluchistan are doing lot of development work, just the other day was seeing their add in some english newspaper.


Contd .....

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Did i said we need more resources ?? Don't think so. So instead of taking it out of context, it meant how to allocate resources and from where. it does not necessarily means more resources be allocated. By the way, Rs.100+B is allocated to education, and this year only the defence budget is reaching the Rs.500Bn mark, so the ratio is 1 to 5 minus the health budget, which if added would further decrease the ratio, so no idea from where you got the six time figure.

And instead of bringing in the defence budget, why don't you mentioned or should i say criticize the Rs.300B+ losses by the 8 big public enterprises which if even reduced to half would result in 150B more funds for education and health. Why not criticize or atleast mention the Rs.250-300B potential by putting agri income tax, or the 600-700Billion per year corruption in the FBR, or why not mention the hundred of thousands of people who have lot of money but not in the tax net which itself can generate something more then 200B. Even if half of what i mentioned is gotten into the revenue stream, it generates into nearly 1 trillion Rs, roughly something like 11+ Billion US$$ per year.

I wonder why not guys like you look at this picture which is much larger then the defence budget ??

I have never seen you mention or criticize what i told above, why just military budget because mentioning agri income tax, corruption in FBR, getting the rich in tax net, reducing losses of PSEs does not satisfy the ego ??

How on earth can you expect the baighairat liberal brigade to consider those issues? They would lose their bogus canards to bash the military with.

The reality is that the Army continues to enjoy close to 80% approval ratings, while the baighairat liberal brigade continues to use ethnic hate-mongering, bogus army bashing to hide the incompetence and corruption of the civilian governments, and suck up to the West.

 

[VCheng]

Same as usual. I still remember the day, you calling RD-93 as a Chinese engine and i think you still believe that to this day.

By the way, the education to military budget ratio is not reported properly in majority of cases. The comparison is done on the Federal Budget level as studied by me.

The real budget should be calculated by adding the education budget provinces allocate, which added to federal makes something close to 115-120B in this year budget i believe so if my figure is correct.

I have seen many times where only Federal Budget figures are used to quote such huge disproportion.

So, as said, military budget is not the primary cause for education and health getting low budgets, its primarily due to the inefficient & ineffective governance of the civilian leadership. As said above, even if they are able to reduce to half the Rs.300B+ losses of the 8 big PSEs, you can have 150B additional for health & education. And even the PSE blunder is majorly the creation of the civilian leadership. Why not ask the govt to stop wasting money on the BISP and fund education & health with the Ts.60B or so funds. Why not ask the govt to tell how one single MNA costs more then Rs.25-30Million per year. Anyone asked how much benefits they enjoy, leaving aside the ministers of something like a 100 figure. Then add to them the provincial members. Have you ever gone to ISB ?? MNAs have more security compared to what a Lt Gen gets. Why not ask the govt to stop wasting huge money on security and divert it to education & health.

And yeah i can see what notion is balance in your view, have been seeing for months now.

So it is more accurate to call the RD-93 Chinese-supplied rather than Chinese? Is that all you've got?

And for all the calculations and machinations to hide the real size of the military budget, the fact remains that the education and health outlays remain dismal, with totally horrific results, no matter what Federal, provincial, local or charity resources are added up.

And of course, if an MNA costs 30 million per year, surely that justifies whatever a Lt-Gen can loot for himself and his cronies. That is the gist of your argument. Pathetic.

Oh, and and sure as the sun rises every morning, your buddies resort to cheap name-calling. Equally pathetic.

 

[TaimiKhan]

So it is more accurate to call the RD-93 Chinese-supplied rather than Chinese? Is that all you've got?

And for all the calculations and machinations to hide the real size of the military budget, the fact remains that the education and health outlays remain dismal, with totally horrific results, no matter what Federal, provincial, local or charity resources are added up.

And of course, if an MNA costs 30 million per year, surely that justifies whatever a Lt-Gen can loot for himself and his cronies. That is the gist of your argument. Pathetic.

Oh, and and sure as the sun rises every morning, your buddies resort to cheap name-calling. Equally pathetic.

It seems you are taking rounds in the same circle. Can you show me where did i said that if civilians to this, then army should also do that ?? No where.

So once again, don't take things out of context and try to give it the color you want to instead of what the real color is.

Simple point is, if you are critical of the military, be also critical of the other side too.

I am not in favor of the military taking over, or having any role in politics, their budget expenditure should be scrutinized, any extra privileges be withdrawn, austerity measures should be in place, officers should be given good after retirement benefits but not at the cost of tax payer money rather from the funds the FF or other military-civilian projects earn and each officer who gets plots should pay for them (which they do minus the generals may be), all commercial ventures should be under the scrutiny of the parliament and funds generated from them should be used in house on the cantonments, soldiers welfare and other stuff. It should work as an army, what armies do best,that is defend us from internal and external threats.

So, i do hope now you are to a little degree satisfied, that we do not go along with everything what the military does, its an army, it should work as an army.

But, same advice / suggestions for other side too, as they are much more in bad shape compared to the military and need lot of corrective steps compared to what the military needs.

This is called neutral / balanced view, where each party involved gets equal treatment.

Doesn't sound that much pathetic now, do I ??

Pathetic thinking.

 

[VCheng]

.........................

But, same advice / suggestions for other side too, as they are much more in bad shape compared to the military and need lot of corrective steps compared to what the military needs.

This is called neutral / balanced view, where each party involved gets equal treatment.

..........................

Good points, well articulated and well argued Sir, and therefore accepted by me whole-heartedly.

 

[Irfan Baloch]

It seems you are taking rounds in the same circle. Can you show me where did i said that if civilians to this, then army should also do that ?? No where.

So once again, don't take things out of context and try to give it the color you want to instead of what the real color is.

Simple point is, if you are critical of the military, be also critical of the other side too.

He is not at all critical of the army , he is simply trolling and I used my right to report his uncalled for comments. Either he provide the names or source of his claims where Generals and his crones are looting as he puts it or take his statement back
His post are snide and malicious and have pretty much steered the thread to another army QQ and bashing.

I am going to discuss the disparity in knowledge base and confidence to improvise between the officers and the NCO/ JCO’s and jawans and secondly the role of the existing Independent infantry and armoured brigades as mini battle groups that are self contained , specialised and mobile and show the trend towards a radical change in the structure of the forces.
Just in the process of collecting some information. The other thing I want to discuss is our primary weapons and likely battlefields but I fear that all such effort will be muted in the consistent onslaught of army bashing (not criticism).
I really cant care less about how the public sector , civil bureaucracy and our politicians behave and act, their corruption has nothing to do with the criticism on the army but its worth reminding the cynics that they need to have a balanced view otherwise they will be just ignored.
It seems that non-military corruption is given a silent approval and cynicism bordering hatred has become more of a fashion statement these days to lament over the army and it is done at every possible avenue. And it is done subconsciously and out of habit as well just like blaming the Zionists and Americans for all the ills in Pakistan.

 

[VCheng]

He is not at all critical of the army , he is simply trolling and I used my right to report his uncalled for comments. Either he provide the names or source of his claims where Generals and his crones are looting as he puts it or take his statement back
.....................

I would suggest trying to breath normally IB.

My exact comment was:

And of course, if an MNA costs 30 million per year, surely that justifies whatever a Lt-Gen can loot for himself and his cronies. That is the gist of your argument. Pathetic.

and is a critique on Taimikhan's argument, not a literal challenge to you, or anyone else.

English is a nuanced language, is it not? At least TaimiKhan understood it, and I am grateful for that for sure.

 

[Irfan Baloch]

@Taimikhan

Like your self, I have come up with the similar conclusions regarding the author’s recommendation of “pentangular” structure and “cadrizing”. I think he was an infantry officer so his recommendations are for infantry forces.

He is suggesting a 3 company battalion (like British) along with other 4 battalions within a brigade which is bunched up in a group of five. Also he is suggesting doing away with the wasteful “organisations” like the presence of AT elements within the infantry brigades.

This is interesting and I see that he is pointing out towards duplication with other corps i.e. armour and artillery/Air defence.
I am aware of the usual “friendly” tirades among the armour and artillery officers, where gunners say that armour needs their support to advance and the armour guys say that they really don’t need them as they have their own artillery, the same logic can be used by the infantry saying that their HAT and LAT elements can take care of the enemy armour threat.


If the pentangular structure contains 3 infantry , 1 artillery and 1 armour brigade then this is worth discussing and analysing. All the elements will be specialists within their role and expertise and might produce better results. But this is leaving the “sappers” in this equation without which this whole restructuring is meaningless.

Also stripping the support elements within the infantry brigade goes against the idea of a highly mobile, independent and potent structure of an independent brigade. Which is supposed to fight with more flexibility and effectiveness as all the essential elements to keep it fighting are self contained.

like you mentioned and the author has also pointed out that the area of deployment will also dictate the strength and structure of the force e.g. Lahore vs. Bahawalpur. Keeping in view the type of terrain traverse during attack, defence, and counter attack, the engineers are a must have in this new proposed structure and for that reason 1 infantry company or whole battalion might need to be replaced with the sappers to keep this 5 brigade structure moving, clearing mines, laying bridges, deploying mines and taking out obstacles and fortifications.

This is bringing me to the idea of the American marine crops, who have elements of all the other forces and an independent force in their own right. If the 5 brigade structure is going to be across the different corps that would contain say 3 infantry brigades, one armour and one artillery/ Engineers Brigade then again its something to think about. This structure might be a “pig” to control and command as all people from different corps have a different mindset and people who have served in the forces or have someone close in the army would know what I mean. Its going to be interesting if not challenging whether it’s a Lt. General or Major General along with other staff officers helping him with commanding this 5 brigade structure.

There are some unanswered questions, about reserves, i.e. in a traditional 5 company battalion (alpha, bravo, Charlie, delta and HQ) if two companies are ordered to attack or deFend an assault, one of the other two will act as reserves and relieve the company that is pinned down or taken heavy casualties, with the new proposed 3 company structure, the Lt. Colonel doesn’t have much options but to seek help from other battalions that might be already preoccupied or deployed too far away to be of help in time. Unless, if the Brigadier deputes 1 or 2 battalions to act as reserve and keeps them close to the ones in combat with the enemy so that they can provide relief in time.

More later on rethinking the training of jawans and NCOs & closing the disparity with officers and COIN/ urban warfare + special forces aspect of training.

 

[VCheng]

What are the changes need in the command and organization structures, given that the very nature of any possible future war has been changed drastically by the incorporation of a nuclear deterrent by both Pakistan and India?

Is planning for conventional warfare, including tank and artillery pieces, still as relevant as it once was?

 

[Irfan Baloch]

dont get me wrong but there is a 'saying' in the military esp middle ranks, 'if u want an average life,join the forces'! - education is not considered a priority amongst majority of those who join the forces.

indeed but those who do well in Education also have more avenues available to them and thus get chances to do overseas courses as well. I remember back in the days when I was learning trigonometry for the first time, I think it was class 8th or 9th and was struggling with the concept and my father explained it very well to me using normal life and military examples, having a very strong visualisation I got the concept very well. His application of trigonometry was in gunnery.

 

[VCheng]

Of course, the first practical use of the first computer (ENIAC) was calculation of gunnery tables for the US Pacific Fleet, and now computers and networks are intrinsic to all modern warfare.

 

[Xeric]

A case for Total Reorientation And Restructuring of the Pakistan*Army

By:*Yasub Ali Dogar Brigadier(Rtd.)

I was born on 8th*Dec 1946. My father Maj (Late) Mahbub Ali was then a Capt of 6/12 FFR seconded to the Indian Army Education Corps. Thus you can say that I was born in the Army, grew up in the Army and got educated at the Military Collage Jhelum.

******I got commission in 1965 soon after the 1965 war, at that time the brigade, division and the corps commanders had no responsibility other than the operational one or to look after the welfare of troops under command. The then Corps Commander, Lt Gen M M Attiqur Rahman had known 2/Lt Yasub Ali personally and knew what books he was reading as he had questions regarding that book on his subsequent visit. Similarly as late as 1978 the GOC Maj Gen Shamas ur Rahman Kallue knew every officer of his division personally.

******This personal knowledge is needed for the simple reason that the troops have to be led from the front and it is only possible when you have deep intimate knowledge about everyone in your command.

******During this period of over 45 years I have seen a gradual degradation of the operational preparedness, efficiency, integrity and welfare of the subordinates particularly of the soldiers. It would have further degenerated had this trend not been arrested by Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The credit goes to him to once again prioritize the wellbeing and welfare of soldiers. However the recent events have clouded that good work.

******The degradation of the military’s professionalism started off during the era of Gen Yahya Khan, was grossly accentuated during Gen Zia ul Haq’s period of 11 years and reached its’*climax in Gen Musharraf’s decade long rule. Since then over a period of time the Pakistan Army has become unwieldy, over staffed by general officers and has been moving away from its core responsibility of defending the Nation. Now a day’s a corps or a division commander would be involved in some or all of the following activities at the time and cost of operational preparedness of his command.

The Brig is correct in analyzing the decline and at the same time also in recognizing that the incumbent Chief has taken steps towards the restoration of the same.

Now allow me to shed some light on the individual points, but before i do that, i must admit that most of the concerns raised by the retired officer are correct and true, nevertheless, i see some exaggeration, which ofcourse i would point put as i write further. Onle more thing that i would like to say is that i always wanted our military to be a bad-a$$, hard core professional military WITHOUT any administrative and secondary roles, but then in a country like Pakistan where we have nincompoops in almost every sphere, the military has to take on other roles which are not exactly rewarding in a classical sense when it comes to professional responsibilities. A few examples can be; managing the flood duties OTHER THAN the relief duties, which infact falls under the domain of the Irrigation Dept, looking after, planning and coordination the security around cantts with the Police, which infact should be the responsibility of the SHO/DSP of that town. i have seen the military doing almost everything (like not allowing people to rent out their houses to unknown persons/without verification, constituting committees of elders/senior of the particular town, keeping an eye over the happening way off the area around the immediate vicinity of cantts etc etc) which indeed is the responsibility of the Police/the SHO/DPO of that area, i have also seen MP guys regulating traffic around the cantts which should have been done by some farmy anda:

[*]DHA at all major military garrisons.

As has been discussed ad nauseum previously, DHAs do not exactly fall under the domain of Commanders at all levels. The PA Directorate is responsible for it, primarily, but then the senior most danda bearer (the Corps Commander of (note the 'major' in 'all major mil garrisons'), thus lowering the number of such Corps Commanders to a very few as DHA is available at a very few select (major) cities only) surely has an administrative cum ceremonial cum traditional role to play around the DHAs, and that is it. All the major decisions are taken over and above that Corp Commander and he has no significant powers/duties to execute in this case. Nevertheless i for one would like the Corps Commanders to be free of this 'burden', for it brings more criticism than fame.

[*]Logistics Areas i.e. which control the static installations which were under GHQ before 1977 were placed under command corps during Gen Zia’s period.

Nothing wrong with the either. Logistics was our weak spot (Kargil bore witness), and it is always guud to leave this important responsibility to the guy on ground (the Corp Commander in this case) rather than relating it to some guy sitting in Pindi behind his desk. Still, it worked well prior to when Gen Zia changed it and i am sure it would again do the same if the responsibility goes back to the GHQ.

[*]Garrison schools in the cantonments and admission for Army Public Schools/Garrison Academy’s

Problem Area and Recommendations

Operational Commands:* The corps, divisions or brigades should not have any station or administrative responsibilities.

Would love to do that, but then i would be idealizing the situation. Who like to work over time these days especially when you dont even get paid for it? Like i said, i would love to go to my office at 8 and come back at 2 and in between the only thing i would have done would be training and tough time training. But then who is going to make the cantt look beautiful? The Cantonment Board? Unfortunately they are only responsible for the major through fares and surroundings. The plantation withing the Units, their training grounds, their lawns and canteens are the Unit Commanders' responsibility. If not, then you wont find any difference between the WAPDA Colony and a Cantt. i know generals going down to Units and telling us how and where to plant trees etc. i know it sound bad, but then the hierarchy in the military is such that the CO of 123 Punjab cannot tell CO of 321 Baloch where to plant, grow, construct something, it is only someone senior to them who can can 'coordinate' such things by the virtue of his danda that he wields over both the COs, or else you would see the (Mango) trees infront of 123 Punjab with a spacing of 10 meters where as 321 Baloch would have Orange trees with a spacing of 20 meters that too at the rear of the unit. Ofcourse, this is coordinated by the Staff at the HQs and not the Generals themselves at most times, but then there has to be some coordinating authority somewhere. Now most would say that why not have a Standard Procedure for this? Why there is a need to do this thing over and again everytime? The answer is that the DCO's Office was at the same place since the dawn of era, his EDOs were doing the same very thing when Pakistan was born and even today they their Charter of Duties tells them the same thing thing, whereas a GOC would be changed almost every 2 years max, and at times even after 1 year. Also during this 1 or 2 years, 6 out of 10 Battalions under his command would have changed their locations because of the Relief/Rotation (the movement of units from one place to another after it has completed its tenure because of the peace/hard area posting of units etc).

Also, the renaming 4 Battalions would have their COs' changed at an average of 6 months per CO and the Officers withing the Units would have moved away and new ones would have joined the same units at the rate of 3-4 Officers per month because of the various professional courses these Officers have to attend and have to move to other stations, because some of them has to get their hard area tenures, because the also have to proceed on leave, because they also have to sit on different appointments (starting from the Platoon Commanders, Adjutants till 2 I/Cs - no officer stays at the same appointment for more than 6 months, those who stay there for 1 years are some lucky buggers). Now compare this to SHO Pind Daddan Khan who was SHO here since he was a child and even if he is posted out because he managed to earn the wrath of a local MPA, he still would go as SHO Manga Mandi. Also compare this to Manager United Bank who something when he joined that branch, them moved to the neighboring desk when he was promoted, then again moved to the desk to his right when he was again promoted and then moved to that glass Cabin right infront of the previous desk when he became the Manager. Damn, he even knows how many ants reside in that hall which houses the bank! Now compare this to poor Xeric who joined in at let's say hmmm...Dera Nawab, moved to Quetta after a few months, came back and did not join his owb Company but was now sitting in a new office, he was just settling down when he was sent to Pindi for a course, when he came back half of his Unit was fighting some aliens elsewhere, he then hoped between Posts and Cantts till all the aliens were killed, but then he had changed appointments from being a Section Commander to the Quartermaster and being an Adjutant and Company Commander, in between his CO was changed, his 2 I/C retired and his SJCO went to heavens, he then has to move his unit to another place because of some change in the operational plan though he was still part of the same Division/Corps, but then his Corps Commander was changed twice and his GOC once. By now he had already gone for 2 short courses at Cherat and Multan and everytime he came back a few more rooms were either added or removed from his unit's inventory because of the shortage of accommodation, the Army Public School which was his unit's responsibility was shifted to another unit as his unit had to take part in action, on returning the APS was not given back to his unit and instead a new project was handed over because by then the responsibility of APS had already shifted thrice and it was not desirable to take it away from another unit who had recently taken over the responsibility.

Now call this poor planning or rather one should ask the Almighty why our Norther Areas were hit with an earthquack and the came the Floods etc and the Units were to be mobilized quite frequently thus shifting the poor APS from one unit to another. Oh and yes, during this karwai...let's say there were 15 units in this particular cantt, 7 of them moved out of the cantt and new units arrived from elsewhere over a peariod of one year. This was in addition to the remaining 8 units moving out for either training, IS duties, operations or relief efforts. Now guud luck making a standard SOP for this cantt!

 

[Xeric]

[*]Garrison schools in the cantonments and admission for Army Public Schools/Garrison Academy’s.

Similarly all APS/Garrison schools be placed under the HQ Logistics Area and monitoring responsibility be that of GSO 1 (Education) at the HQ Logistics Area.

Last time i checked there were atleast 5000 students in APS Kharian, and this APS is not the first choice for most parents. The Garrison Academy at Kharian is the more preferred option for them and the numbers there are even higher. APS and Garrison Academy Gujranwala/Rahwali Cantt is one of the best Army Schools, and the numbers there are much higher than those in Kharian, same goes for Lahore and other major cities. i wonder if the lone GSO-1 Education can handle this, let alone sifting through the applications and managing the admissions.

There's a complete unit that is responsible for the maintenance/security/administration of APS Kharian. Same goes for Garrison Academy Gujranwala. APS Mehfoozpura Lahore is also looked after by two units. An officer of the rank of a Brig is the Chairman of ONE APS. The units/manpower looking after the APS' are in addition to the administrative staff (Malis, sweepers, clerks, masons, ayas etc etc) of the APS. All these APS were built by the faujis by their hands. The masons, the maintenance of lawns, renovations/refurbishments etc are all done by 100% own resources and manpower. i wonder if one Officer of the rank of a Lt Col could manage all this. No wonder the fauji danda over the civilian staff and the sheer hard work of faujis made these schools wanted by all.

Now i would love to hand over these schools to the civilians and rest myself, but then the question is, would they deliver as per the Army's requirements? i dont think so. Now i dont under estimate the potential of civilians but then APSs are a different story. Why? Because at Atichson you wont find the son of a guy who makes 5k a month. Same goes for Beaconhouse or City Schools. Here at APS, the children of Generals and Sepoys are together. May be i being and officer knows how to conduct myself during a parents/teachers meeting, but the poor Jawan who is being thrashed all day long might not be able to give that kind of time to his kids, also he may not be able to afford and evening tuition for his kids and he may also surpass the limits when dealing with civilian teachers at the school, so the Army expects the APS to behave, understand the shortcomings of the that Jawan and his kids because of his humble background and at the same time give the kind of and education where he may not require a fringing evening tuition. So i seriously doubt that a civilian run school would be able to deliver all this that too with a tuition fee range from Rs 300-900 per month to my soldier. Only with the explicit involvement of Officers, senior Officers and their wives and the sweat of the Jawan who mows the lawns and paint the walls at the APS, these kind of 'luxuries' and standards can be maintained.

i say this out of experience because i have been looking after two APSs at two different stations and believe me it is the worst job that one can get. A bloody thank less job for which you need an higher kind of moral binding and motivation to run. Or else, with all the other fauji, sarkari and professional tasks which are done perfectly parallel running an APS, and to which one cannot think of losing concentration, one simply cannot devote enough time for things like APS. But then making both the ends meet (the professional and the APS) requires either anni motivation or a big danda from your boss, both of which are in abundance in the Army, which unfortunately the civilians might able to gather (motivation) or digest (danda). See, the civilians teachers at the APS are one big pain in the arse. Make them match your speed of work is terrible.

i dont say they are not worthy or as if they are incompetent, but then i can sit in my officer after giving a PT Test at 5 in the morning, attend 3 conferences, still walk 20 acres of land while telling where to plant trees, conduct Smalls Arms Firing, come back in the office, sit without electricity for 3 hours, see the mail, bee ess a few soldiers, motivate a few others, write 40 pages of angraigi, coordinate move of men from Siachen to Khuzdar with 15 other people over the telephone/mobile phone, listen to the personal problem of 3-4 soldiers, talk to 3 DPOs and 2 DCOs and ask them to assist my men, dandofy WAPDA guys at chak Jhomra so that my soldier can get an electric connection, go and over see the training activity of the unit, participate in digging of trenches, smoke a pack of cigs and take 10 cup of teas and then go to the APS at 5 in the evening straight from the office to see if the new furniture had been properly unpacked without damage and placed as instructed and still find the headmaster saab scratching his balls complaining that sir ji..wo light nahi the tu mainy kaha zara tehar k kaam karwa longa and that he could not counsel Miss Kolsoom against whom we had received a complain just because he had absolutely nothing to do during that day except gupofying with the school staff, though janab had once been a senior teacher at some Beaconhouse. So, i was saying i could do all this daily, can you?

See, i have been schooled at one of the most prestigious schools of this country. The number of teachers and staff there was approx the same as in any APS, though the strength of students was almost half because, one, not many could afford that school and two, that school was not supposed to make sure that every soldiers' kids should get the same standard of education as any other officers', three, our parents could afford and expensive tuition after the classes. Also, my school had no problem with the accommodation. The school administration just bought the entire block of flats housing approx 500 rooms and washrooms when they were establishing that particular branch, what do they say - paisa phaink, tamasah daikh?. On the contrary without names, one of the best APS today was started in a single hall that had only 5 make shift bathrooms 10 years back. Today, the APS is pred over 80 acres with unknown number of rooms all built and maintained by the faujis themselves. i had the opportunity to over see this APS and had access to accounts, so i did a quick comparison once (i had been in contact with my ex principals back at home to learn some 'how to manage a school'). And as an appetizer, the total cost that was spared for making a 80 acre-big school from a 22 x 22 feet hall was less than the 3 years annual maintenance cost of the school from where i had matriculated from. Say thanks to the sweat of faujis. Or else, the APS would have stayed the same size or at the best add a few more halls from what it earns from the school fees.

Lastly, as a rule, an APS is supposed to give admission to a faujis kids at any time of the year if he has been newly posted. This rule was broken and bent by most of the APSs where the administration was independent to an extent. Reluctantly, many faujis' kid had to lose a complete year in order to get into the same class as he/she would not be given admission in APS or any other school as officers and men would be posted out randomly round the year. It was only when Gen Kiyani took over that he gave a bumbozal to the APS administration to make sure that our kids are given admission whenever we are posted out to a new station. i wonder if this would have been possible had these schools been under civilian control?

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Jari hai...

 

[TARIQ BN ZIYAAD]

Assalam alaikum

pak fouj have done gr8 job. it is professional, it is disciplined etc. but i don't like when they accuse the civilians r less capable or lacking in many fields. the nation has been feeding these jawan and offficers. there is no comparison, it is obvious from obove ur post they get the best education, a general's son gets the same education which a sepoy's son get, most of the civilians can dream about this situation.

MashaAllah but a gr8 peice of info

TARIQ

 

[Xeric]

Ok, before someone starts getting the wrong picture i must clarify that the points raised by the retd officer and the recommendations thereof are very valid, it's only that i want to show the other side of the picture so that the begairat brigade (FTW Agno ) should not get carried away because these things are easier said than done.

i am just trying to balance it out, leaving the readers to decide what's best for this military.

Problem Area and Recommendations

Operational Commands:* The corps, divisions or brigades should not have any station or administrative responsibilities. They should just concentrate on their operational roles. All other aspects may be looked after by other organizations/HQs within the Pak Army.

The Logistic Areas: They should fall under the GHQ with control over CMH’s, supply depots, ordinance depots and all other static installations.

Though i agree with the suggestion but then my concerns are as follows:

In an idealized situation there should be one man for one job. Many professions today are able to follow this, still many others cant. Ask a cashier at a bank, he has been counting money since he was recruited and still doing the same one thing. Ask any other guy in the same bank what 'new' thing has he done today? How many executive decisions has he taken today? Even the manager has to make one odd difficult decision every 6 months or so, like making a fake/temporary credit receipt for some student who want to study abroad or to approve a loan to someone not exactly worthy of it. Rest, it's same old routine. The Audit Officer at any place has to check the ledgers everywhere, the engineers and technicians would also do the same thing except if some fault occurs somewhere, even then there are standard procedures to follow to troubleshoot some machinery, even doctors these days work with routines - cough, ok XYZ syrup, loose motions, flagyl zindabad, cant find something bad, write them a few tests, let the science find out what's wrong with you, except ofcourse specialists especially surgeons. Scientists/researchers are another exception and also those who create are part of this league.

In the (Pakistan) Army, one has to experience almost every thing possible starting from professional responsibilities till designing flower pots. The Army's demands are versatile and sometime unprofessional. Though these may at times, and as pointed out by the writer, be detrimental towards the professional outlook of a soldier but then keeping view the paucity of resources and funds, the high standards (of results) that are required to be maintained and to keep the begairat brigade at length, sometimes such things are necessarily done.

For instance, what would your boss do if he wants to throw a party for you guys or have a musical gala arranged? First, he would not do it. With almost all of his employees residing in the same city with their families who wants 'by order entertainment' on Chand Raats? Then with a Eid Bonus and 3-5 days Eid leaves when can always go attend a live concert anywhere. But if he decides to do it, he would simply get some hall or hotel lounge booked or arrange for a third party transporter to carry you guys if it had to be outdoors or ask you guys to drive to the place. He would get a caterer and tell him what you guys would like to eat. The decoration guys would make the place glittering and shining, huge sound systems would be rented, some stage-managers would look into the stage presentation and so on and so forth. Ofcourse he will not ask you guys to bring your own chairs or assist the decors or see if the caterers are making a guud food. He would do this because he can afford it or the company can afford it. The richer the donor the better it would get.

But things dont work like this in the Army. First, only 1/15th of the total men in a unit are living with their families inside the cantts, the rest are away from theirs atleast since 3-4 months. They cant go on leave either because someone has to stay awake. So even if it is Eid or some other event, we guys like the Police, Railways, transporters, some doctors, factory/productions lines stay on duty. Ofcourse their numbers and ours varry. That soldier who has been away from his family since last ten years and only visits them on quarterly basis and was guarding the mosque where Eid prayers were held the same morning and was then standing sentry at various locations inside the cantt and would do the same at night and the officers and men who were with the QRF/IRF to counter any untoward incident and those who were in uniform, and the Eid day or 14 August or any other such day was just any other routine day for them, and those who cant even leave the cantt and go get something guud to eat from the outside without an Out-Pass etc surely deserve some entertainment. Those men who get up at 4 in the morning and till the sun sets would be either in uniform firing/maintaining a weapon or tracksuite mowing some lawn/digging some dirt, those who would never had got a chance since years to go for hoteling and those whose wives and daughters did not go to meena bazars as the soldier was on duty sure deserve something better. You and may be to an extent the Officer lot, may be able to enjoy such life. i mean i can go out of the cantt at will, i have wheels and can go 80 kms away, eat guud food and come back with an hour if i am required to, but a soldier cant do it, he doesnt own a car nor does he can afford or spare time for such luxuries.

So the Army plans that in order to give the families residing in the cantt the feel of chand raat, a meena bazar (for ladies) should be planned and that a Tambola session can be held so that all can get together in a free and easy environment away from the routine senior junior stuff and that may be a small function can be held. Now one can take the same steps as did your boss to arrange a guud night, but then the budget and your taxes are not meant for our luxuries so we cant spend money for halls, caterers and dancers. We cant even afford a guud sound system on rent. So what does the Army do? It does everything by itself!

Once i remember, our unit was tasked to establish a meena bazar type thing for ladies and children. And guess what, we cant even get ONE civilian to work for us! The Mehandi Wali Aunty says, she has to go to Liberty as she would earn more there, the chaat cholay wala said, why would he come to the cantt when he would make more money while standing at Saddar Karachi, the tattoo maker said he would busy at Fortress Stadium so he cant come. So now what? The same teachers from the same APS which the Army run were requested to help. Wives and daughters of officers and men did the job. Waiters and soldiers established stands for food, young officers ran games like whack a mole for kids, officers and men sang, senior officers narrated jokes, sweepers planned skits, technicians from Signal Battalions did the lighting and established sound system (on job training), soldiers established the tents and kannats, soldier and officers planned the decorations, the same soldiers and officers provided security during the event and the event was so successful that all of the ponders of the area tried their arse out get in as they left liberty/sinbad/out side bazars in favor of this one.

Now ofcourse almost all of this was non-professional activity, but then so what? In addition it did reward us professionally. How do you think militarymen had such mental endurance? PT/games alone cant do that. A Lt/Capt on that day did the following; he commanded his men out of the professional sphere while he was explaining them where they had to pitch the tents, it's an informal interaction which one seldom gets while he is in uniform, but it is this bond and affiliation and the easy-feel type mahol order and execution connection that would make these men take a bullet for you during war. The same officer and men also interacted with civilians, teachers, civilian residents of the cantt, police, WAPDA guys to ensure provision of electricity, WASA to water and clean the park/lawn whatever, they also contacted the municipal committees to ask for assistance like water bowsers, it was the officer who told the WAPDA guys to shift the load shedding schedule and sector so that during the event almost everybody in the cantt would be at the venue so the residential areas can be shed the load and the saved electricity provided/spared for the event - see, how else to the Army learn what to do during IS duties? This officer now knows what a peon at municipal committee is supposed to do, what all duties are entrusted upon the SHO, how an XEN or SDO can manipulate provision of water/electricity, he knows which grid station/DS station or DPs provide power to which sector etc. All of this will come handy to this officer when 10 years from now he would be interacting with DCOs/XENs/DPOs during Moharram duties/election duties/census/flood/earthquake relief duties or for that matter fight LIC in an COIN environment. They same men also coordinated with the intelligence guys, an opportunity a Lt/Capt seldom gets during his professional life as the int channels are at command level. These guys were in uniform in the morning, after taking lunch withing 20 minutes they were in tracksuites, then they were back in uniform again, then then were standing at guard, and then they were relived so that they can also enjoy the evening after they get all dressed up. The sheer fluidity of the situation would make many around here dizzy, still guys like them still enjoy at the end of they day after getting fatigued for 12 hours. No wonder our men dont commit suicides!

So the thing is administrative task would go along with the professional ones. We are not the US military who establish their media centers in Hilton Hotels during invasion of Iraq. i hope you guys know that this particular hilton was surrounded by a new blast proof wall at the expense of american tax payers in order to save the media/PR military officers who ran the media center. We are not the US military that tells the contractors to supply XYZ type of food at ABC long/lats and gets it there as it pays billions to the contractor. It's easy for them to rent out a satellite so that their soldiers can enjoy the broadband internet during a war in Afg, here when our Signal Battalions (they all are Software Enggs) do the same with own resources and jugard, you call it being and unprofessional activity?!

The day the Pakistani tax-payers would start paying for the golf-courses, messes and clubs and the militarymen would be paid and provided with the luxuries the civilians enjoy, we might think of leaving these 'unprofessional' activities aside.

Worthlessness, who the *** wants to work for something when one can pay for it and get it done while sitting on the couch? Please, bar us from wasting our time on these activities and start paying for it, ASAP