Bala Vignesh wrote:
Most of us were complacent on the operator injuries since not even one report mentioned about it, which is strange considering the way our media operates. Had there even been an inkling we would have reacted differently.
This is the difference between information and knowledge, but BRFites outside of the armed forces do not understand. A few days ago a cynical reply to one of my posts suggested that I need not be especially sympathetic to the armed forces.
But I think don't any one of us comes anywhere near living in dangerous conditions, to the extent that we come off as not just ignorant, but plain stupid. In society a doctor is given the right to tell his patient that he is ignorant and stupid and needs to learn, but a soldier is not supposed to do that. Most cynical civilians seem to think that armed forces people are at risk only if there is war and in peacetime they lead a cushy life skimming off Army canteen subsidized stuff.
But even carrying around ammunition and firing a gun puts one's own person at some risk. Most desis have zero experience of holding a weapon let alone shooting a firearm and it is deadly powerful stuff - that can put one's own life in danger from various issues ranging from mishandling to component failure. And this is at peacetime when no one is shooting at them.
All of us must have read Deejay's heartfelt message about his mate who died in a helo crash while rescuing flood victims. Flying itself is unnatural and flying up in a 5 ton metal box is definitely more risky than going to office every day.
On the other hand we have forum strategic thinkers who tell us "Oh 105 mm is not enough for Himalayas. We need 155 mm" and so on. We see these weapons as toys that will kill Pakis and Chinese and do not even think for a millisecond that an artillery shell is a bomb that is thrown forward by another bomb. One bomb (the propellant) goes off within a few meters of the faces of men who are operating the cannon and the other bomb is supposed to fly off tens of kilometers and burst under a paki's ass. Great fun. No one on BRF stops to think about the risk of bomb no 2 (the artillery projectile) going off a few meters away. Only people who have operated this stuff or have seen it from close by can see how dangerous this equipment is even when handled well and with no failures and how these people are actually putting their lives on line every day - peacetime or wartime. They just don't talk about it. And some of us take the attitude that we pay them to die. Nice.
So by and large we are a bunch of ignoramuses and operate under the excuse that "We are here to learn". Fine. Let us all learn - but no one is going to learn anything by contempt for the people whose job we want to learn about. I think soldiers need to be given space to speak and for us to listen. The media are idiots, no better than us. Anyhow - I am hoping to see some positive changes in BRF.
