Feel The Zeal.......................
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an article by some ARMY young officer in Newspaper I came across ........

Apropos for the article "Cost to Govt:4 Times Salary On Paper by ASHISH SINHA from XLRI"

Hope you read this in good spirit and good health.

First of all you should never compare army perks without due knowledge of the service conditions that we live in.

Iam 24 year old with 10 months of service A lieutenant in the esteemed Indian Army.....Not seen much in life BUT I have seen enough to send shivers down your spine....My friend I live in A stone age bunker of dimension 6 by 6 by 6 feet at 17000 feet where the temperature remains mostly at -16 ( that in summers) and in winters drops to whopping -30(so much for the perky sprawling accomodation for officer cadre). Do you know the refrigerator you use cannot even chill your beer to that level but we guys are used to hypothermia so forget that.

The kind of so called perks that you see is all superficial..... how much leave can you avail in army with 11,500 officers shortage running in the organisation-- you an MBA from reputed XLRI right? Please Do your math’s and tell the govt So we can go home when our parents are sick or when our first child is born or list is endless coz we miss all the important functions, ceremonies et all ....freind leave apart using your free rail passes.Its all a government stint to fool you..a delusion and the irony is we all get fooled by it. I hardly remember using my free pass.

In 365 days a year Iam at home for 45 days(does it pinch you that much?) .... in a year I come home only once unlike you guys coming home every weekend. And even if corporate's like you cannot come home on weekend's plz dont crib atleast you have the gift of staying in a civilisation, being in touch with cellphone, meeting freinds, recreation like movies, discos, girlfreinds,wives but we being fauji enjoy small things in life . Do you know how much I enjoy watching trees ., streetlights, electricity, television , roads , meeting people with different faces, cellphones when I come on leave........ Because where I live there is no electricity, no trees, no roads.... just one solar lamp and if its cloudy then you can say bye bye light tonight. There are no phones...Only internal army wireless with restricted access .I speak home once in a month. MOstly IAM in touch via letters which get lost(thank you postal deptt) or reach after ages when the valentines day is over.

You can see only cliffs all around ..all covered with dead icy sheet of snow..miles and miles ahead..and around all white..no bird no life but you and the enemy ...EYEBALL TO EYEBALL. Iam only 24 , people my age party on saturday nightS while I stay up all night dreading an enemy attack. Everynight before going to sleep my men remember their wives, kids and parents because they never know if they will live up to see the daylight.
There are only 7 men who stay with me for months ...They are my family, my mates, my brothers for each and every passing day. Where I live there are no roads, no trees, no light, no communication, no animals..... You cannot even sleep properly coz dozen times you wake up at night panting for breath - that’s called rarified atmosphere. At such altitudes men are prone to diseases like HAPO,HACO,FROST BITE, AMS, CHILL BLAIN (REFER DOC) and impotency (and the million dollar question is >>will you live such perky life for 8250 basic salary gross income with allowances 16900 taxable income...if your answer is yes than we are looking for you).

And most crucial is the mental agony you have to face when someone at your home is on his death bed and you reach home after one month because dear the route is blocked with 10 feet of snow ...all route is avalanche prone...and your senior does not give you permission to risk your life.....or you reach home after 2 months past the birth of your first child? Think about it. Have a heart!!!!
It takes 4 days of walk. (Some places it’s more). Yes walk with all your baggage in your rucksack (sorry no coolies, if its heavy --ITS YOURS) to reach some of the posts on the Borders...Coz its Mighty Icy HIMALYAS, coz there is no road .. all mountains and one cannot be airlifted coz its no mans airspace . ....anything close to LC will be shot down by the enemy.
Fauj hai mauj nai

Its very easy to comment on others when you are not in his shoes and like its said grass is always greener on the other side. Even if I offer you to trade place with me for lac per month -You wont, Leave apart commanding men and planning operations besides keeping your cool and waiting desperately for your leave after 6 months
It takes a toll on your mental and physical self.
Don’t forget that you sleep coz you know There is someone there who is up and strong. Many of the soldiers have given up their today.....for your tomorrow. Had they known their service, their regiments, their very organisation this institution for which they have laid down their lives will be criticized this country would have had a different future.

I have nothing else to say but you will witness the consequences (with the V I pay commission panel who propose to give us peanuts) as you see this year the 50% of vacancies at IMA, NDA and OTA Premier “officer training academies” were not filled. Army can never compromise on the qualities of a leader in a person for filling up vacancies and it should never coz Its the officer which leads the troops to charge in an frontal attack , he being the first one to charge, to lead, to motivate and the first to taste the bullet, and They assess him in such a way which shows that in event of an attack he will not run away or dessert his troops or shy away from laying down his life. With the current pay package army as a career has won a big thumbs down for the aspiring youth. All thanks to civilians like you who write such articles sitting in an air conditioned offices tapping keys on laptops deciding what the guardians of frontiers should get giving govt all the more reasons to make our service less attractive.