Dear VIPs, Here’s How Visits and Inspections to Army Posts Should Work

Being a non-productive organisation funded by tax payers’ money, the regulations and accountability standards of the military since time immemorial have been expressed in absolute terms. For enforcement of military regulations and standards, a hierarchical system prevails throughout the chain of command. For battle readiness, individual, sub unit (company level), unit (battalion level) and formation (brigade/division/corps) standards and mission essential tasks (METs) – what a sub unit/unit/formation should be capable of doing in battle – are clearly laid down. Standards are quantified in specific terms and METs are expressed in terms of capability. Apart from these, standards are also laid down for all administrative aspects in peace stations and operational areas.

In order to check that the sub units/units/formations are battle ready, formal inspections are carried by the next higher commander as per a laid down procedures and an annual forecast is given out well in advance. The aim is to ensure minimum interference in the training and administrative routine of the unit. Upto the unit level, the functioning is more cohesive and interaction is almost on a daily basis, but inspections are still carried out. Brigades, divisions, corps and commands have varying number of units/formations under their command and it is incumbent upon higher commanders to carry out supervisory visits to ensure adherence to their directions and also to assess the subordinate commanders as per the appraisal system. The unwritten rule is simple: orders not checked are orders not obeyed. These visits are generally limited in scope and restricted to a briefing by the subordinate commander and to ‘meet and greet’ the troops. The general principle to be followed is to give maximum freedom of action to the subordinate commanders and keep interference to the minimum.

Apart from these visits, the Chiefs, Raksha Mantri, Prime Minister and the President also pay symbolic visits to units to raise the morale of the troops, to get a feel of the ground situation and to send a message to the adversaries.

Since absolutist ideal environment only exists in Utopia, in actual practice the system of inspections and visits is more complex. At all levels, the standards and capabilities are rarely upto the desired absolutes. Since assessment by superiors is linked to the reputation of the unit and careers of commanders, there is a tendency for false reports and image projection. This in turn leads to greater interference by higher commanders through visits. The end result: a ‘fear syndrome’ with respect to inspections and visits, and misery for the troops.

It is the duty of Army, Corps, Division and Brigade Commanders to ensure that this does not happen. But here again, overriding preeminence of operational effectiveness and personalities of the commanders come into play. Based on my experience, I would say that the prevailing culture of inspections and visits is only 50 percent of what is desirable.

Be that is it may, in reality, every visit of a higher commander virtually becomes a matter of life and death for the unit. Too much time and effort is spent on the superficial aspects. Sprucing up the unit area is a troop intensive task. Practice is necessary for tests and rehearsals must be carried out for various aspects that are likely to checked by visiting officers. This is to project the best image. The actual unit routine and training is given short shrift.

It takes a minimum of three to four weeks to prepare for a formal inspection of an immediate superior and a week for other visits by immediate and higher commanders. The number of visits made by higher commanders depends on their personalities and the prevailing standards of administrative and battle readiness. The irony is that units/formations do their best to project a better-than-actual image and the visiting higher commanders do their best to demolish this false image for remedial action.

The problems can only be overcome by self-actualisation, better professionalism, higher standards of leadership and enlightened higher commanders. Onus for this is more on the officers in general and senior officers in particular. Senior officers must ensure that a common chain of thought prevails from bottom to top with respect to standards, capabilities, responsibility, leadership and accountability. Apart from the necessary formal inspections, the visits must be kept to minimum and should be unannounced. Mutual trust and respect should be the guiding principle.

The culture highlighted above prevails in all armed forces of the world to a lesser or greater degree. This culture has led to a repository of military humour. I had in my earlier columns described how my unit used to keep the visiting officers engaged with the unit mascots – a panther and a Himalayan Black Bear – to eat into the visit time. There is an anecdote about a General (known for his fault-finding and demolishing the reputation of units) once visiting a unit whose Commanding Officer (CO) was known for his professionalism, uprightness and cool demeanour. The General went over the unit with a fine toothcomb but could not find any fault. During the last phase of the inspection, he visited the barracks. He looked under all the beds and lockers to find dust or litter. After much effort, behind a locker, he found a cigarette butt. He picked it up and with a triumphant look, showed it the CO. The CO put his hand into his pocket and fished out his gold-plated cigarette case. He snapped it open and said, ” Sir I am sorry, I did not know that you were looking for a cigarette, here try one of mine.”

On another occasion a General was visiting our unit in an operational area. He was a down-to-earth soldier and had directed that the only purpose of the visit is to have tea with troops. As the CO, I welcomed him at the helipad. His first direction to me was that he wants to visit my hut – a single room mud shanty with a makeshift toilet. He ordered me to drive fast as he had very limited time. As soon as we reached my hut, he rushed into the toilet. The General was suffering from an upset stomach. Suddenly it dawned on me that there was no water in the toilet and neither was there any toilet paper. We were being supplied by a single water truck from a water source 10 kilometers away and my quota had been used up. I slipped a note under the bathroom door: ” Sir, the newspaper.” The General understood the situation and used an old newspaper lying in the toilet. As he came out, I gave him my only bottle of cologne to sanitise his hands. I was feeling a little embarrassed by the situation, but the General said, ” HS, good that you live like a soldier.” He addressed the troops and narrated the entire episode to guffaws of laughter from the soldiers. The General was a great hit with the soldiers. Next day, I received a new bottle of cologne. The unit was sanctioned additional water storage tanks.  

During my service I have seen all the Presidents, Prime Ministers and Defence Ministers visit the Armed Forces units to raise their morale, identify with them and send a message to the adversaries. Most of these visits in operational areas are restricted headquarters or bases in the rear areas where administrative troops are located. Very rarely, frontline troops are visited. In peace stations, these are restricted to an address to the maximum number of troops and a cup of tea with them. Given the prevailing culture of Armed Forces with respect to visits, it is best that these visits, particularly in operational areas, should be unannounced or at few hours’ notice to prevent taxing the troops. The visit should be to the most difficult forward posts/locations. Interaction with the troops must be informal. Forbid other senior Commanders to rush to the location. Visits on holidays are best avoided. The focus should be on the troops and not on the media blitz. Imagine the moral impact of an unannounced visit to the troops on the  Bum La pass or Demchok on the Line of Actual Control or (depending upon the security situation) to posts on the Line of Control. At other places, one gets to meet only administrative troops. Visits by other political leaders are best avoided.

A political leader after attending a ceremony at Leh was taking a trip along the Indus (Sindhu) River to Batalik. He decided to make an unscheduled halt at my Brigade Headquarters. I extended the normal courtesy of a cup of tea to him. While leaving, he gave me a small packet wrapped in gift paper and said that it was a gift for the troops. When my staff opened the packet, it contained Rs 10,000. I promptly took the money on charge and informed the higher headquarters. Due to the good work done by politician’s staff, there were reports in vernacular papers highlighting the visit and gift to the frontline troops.

As per rules, the money gifted was to be sent to the Army Welfare Fund at Army Headquarters. However, that never happened. By design or default all currency notes were fake!