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Sino-Pak Friendship 2010 Joint Military Exercise

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Well I've been to their forums, not very often though.

The overall issue I seem to have is that they are a far more equitable society with far less arrogance in them. Our colonial past and our social structure combine to create a society where the distribution of power is considered to be an unholy thing (just like devolution of federation). Our focus has always been on glitz and galmour of the officer cadre, whether it be the bureaucracy or the armed forces.

This plays out in our coverage of the entire society. Look at the people who sacrifice their lives for the nation. We're so inhumane that it's almost always (or always), "security man died", "5 security man killed", "3 FC men killed", etc. No names, no remembrance unless it's an officer. Look at the Americans. I know they loose far less number of soldier than us, but they cover their forces wildly. Soldiers are given huge televised remembrances. They try to glorify their heroes equitably unlike us. The British, the French all do the same.

Take the military dramas (we've had nearly a dozen televised serials). All of them almost exclusively deal with glitz and glamour. The charming officer, his fancy soon to be brides, the cars and the fancy locations. Of course there's the bravery factor with a mock battle or two involved there but see the military films across the globe and you'll notice that it's mostly focused on the soldiers and the soldiers get character development rather than acting like duds who get orders or are comedy relief. Officer focused war dramas are a rarity. Do you get my point? (I except you to be wise enough not to use exceptions in order to nullify a generalization and try to understand my point here)

You might want to say that the state covers their family expenses later, widows and children are given support but that does not equate the fact that we do not have that social culture where we value our down trodden ones.

I'm not saying it's a problem associated exclusively with our armed forces, it's our society's problem. We always try to hide our highly inequitable society. We focus on the becoming-rich and new aristocracy mostly, sometimes on the uber-rich and occasionally do we focus on the poor. Our debates are the same where the poor and their problems don't deserve a mention. The drama about the factory owner, the educated wadera vs the traditional wader and so on. Occasionally there is the rare one, but exceptions do not negate a generalization.

You are right.

We people are infected with this 'VIP' culture. Our society dont consider (poor) humans as humans but is ready to worship rich people as Gods. Last time i was in America, i saw the Governor of one of the states talking to the janitor in his state Capitol as if he was is bear buddy, and seriously i felt so ashamed of myself that i started cursing myself. There, in America (or for that matter West) a sweeper has the same respect as does the President, here, in Pakistan that is not the case. This is our National problem

But then linking every thing to the military is not quite prudish. Yes, officers are 'glorified' more and that's natural as the officer class in our armed forces and the civilian bureaucracy is 'selected' after much effort and those especially who tend to make to these slots from the middle or lower middle class, it becomes a huge achievement. Whereas, our men (most of them) in the military and other govt departments are picked up (mostly) because of the chit that they carry from some high ups. Though this demarcation is WRONG! It's kinda dictatorial and shows that relation between a King and his Slaves, but we have to live with the fact.

We need to blame the system, the entire system, to include the education system - for not making sure that only the deserving are given the degrees and not every TD &H, our selection system - for hiring safarshis, our awareness levels - for not raising voice against such a system, ourself - for letting ourselves accept such shyt and just adjusting ourselves as per the dictates of the system.

But lately, thanks to media and raised awareness levels, we have improved. i think the tele-film 'Sepahi Maqbool Hussian' was about a soldier since we made those Nishan-e-Hadier series both about Officers and Soldiers. Moreover, if you have been following the news reports (which i am sure you must be), you must have seen that those who embraced shahdat during the current ops were given almost equal coverage as were the officers. Though i agree, we must improve, almost every western war film revolves around a sarge and his privates!
 
xeric :- I tried to connect it with the military to make it somehow connected with the theme. It's our social problem. We're still stuck with gora times where there used to be two locals called "commissioner" and "sp" and they were the gods. We still treat the whole lot like gods. We ourselves treat our janitors, drivers, servants like crap and an inhumane way. As for the Sipahi Maqbool one, as I said there are exceptions but you would agree with the whole charming officer + fancy lady + glamorous life + some bravery material. We cannot show the life of a soldier because he really doesn't have a life. We can't show the life of a janitor, because he doesn't have one. We try to cover up the reality all the time. We are the personification of an elitist society. I PM'ed Taimi then as I tried to avoid derailing further.
 
i am resisting a reply, just because it would be 'off-topic. May be we can discuss it in other thread.
 
Some of our guys look really old. Experience counts, but I'm sure so many years in the SSG takes its toll on the body.

This is because our NCOs/JCOs and ORs (Jawans) typically serve for life in the SSG after they are selected from their units. They are only RTU'd due to personal or performance issues. SSG officers serve a 5 year term and this can be extended depending on circumstances or promotions. Thus you see much more older (yet physically fit, don't let a little bit of belly fool you.) yet very experienced cadres.

This is a huge benefit over conscript forces because they are constantly having to deal with churn and building/retaining experience.
 
This is because our NCOs/JCOs and ORs (Jawans) typically serve for life in the SSG after they are selected from their units. They are only RTU'd due to personal or performance issues. SSG officers serve a 5 year term and this can be extended depending on circumstances or promotions. Thus you see much more older (yet physically fit, don't let a little bit of belly fool you.) yet very experienced cadres.

This is a huge benefit over conscript forces because they are constantly having to deal with churn and building/retaining experience.

I don't disagree, but a young person does bring to the table speed and agility, but I guess its arguable if that is nearly as important as experience.

It's just interesting to see the differences and this article points them out as well:

China-Pakistan counter-terrorism drill continues CCTV News - CNTV English

Practical training is one of the biggest features of this year's exercise.

That is in a large part thanks to the Pakistani soldiers.

Most of them are in their mid-30s and some are well over 40. Many have over seven years of experience in fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

The average age of their Chinese counterparts is 22. The Chinese soldiers' flexibility, discipline and technical proficiency impressed them greatly.

Captain Sher Khan, Pakistan Army, said, "Our trainings don't have that much skills involved. We don't have the speed that you are having. Our training is more oppresion-oriented. The soldiers were at the battlefield and they are coming right from the battlefield."
 
Captain Sher Khan, Pakistan Army, said, "Our trainings don't have that much skills involved. We don't have the speed that you are having. Our training is more oppresion-oriented. The soldiers were at the battlefield and they are coming right from the battlefield."[/I]

The main thing to focus on here is:
The soldiers were at the battlefield and they are coming right from the battlefield.
Nothing is more important that cold, hard, battle experience.
 
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