RayC wrote:Service support should have officers of the same calibre as those of the combat arms since logistics is as important as operations. Without a good logistic support, no operations can be conducted successfully. As you will remember Musharraf came to grief in Kargil, even though he had an audacious plan, all because he did not bother to dot the ‘i’s and cross the ‘t’s as far as logistics is concerned. Along side there is the example of Siachen, which is a logistic war. Without high calibre service support personnel, it would be very difficult to sustain the operation in Siachen and make it cost efficient and operationally sustainable. Therefore, to my mind, I would not say that there should be lesser qualified officers in the service support. It is just that combat is more glamorous and hence, even in the Army, the service support people don’t get their due!
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There is no doubt that there is a serious requirement to downsize the Armed Forces and lateral exit points with career guarantee requires to be addressed!
I agree completely that logistics is the most important part of any ops, as they say "dilletantes talk strategy, professionals talk logistics"! The reference to ASC is a question of details, the bigger picture is whether the services, that have a total officer strength of 60-70k (this is IA, plus more for IAF/IN), can keep spreading the "butter", both in terms of talent as well as perks so thin across so many...
The fact is that services as a calling is relevant to a small, and declining minority of our youth..For the rest, it is a career option, just like many others on the civvie street..
Its not just about support arms...Does the IA need each platoon or company commander to be in the same bracket of "elite" officers? To me, for a lot of the "less elite" kids, a career option in the IA which is 5 years commitment + 2 years paid study leave has a fair chance of being up there in their options list..
We can keep bemoaning the lack of commitment in today's youth, rank parities or disparities, and keep insisting that every single of the 30k officers "short" need to be a potential FM Sam Manekshaw in the making..Or we can smell the coffee and reorient given the realities and constraints...
A lot of countries, including most tellingly, Israel, make do with reservist officers and troops even for elite formations (paras)...I dont see why IA cannot make do with an expanded SSC cadre!