LIFE OF VETERAN IN INDIA : PART – 3 : VETERAN OFFICERS : HOW IS YOUR JOSH? Silence……
The smart uniform, the shining face, the ‘Dil Mange More’ variety – Shout loudly “HOW IS YOUR JOSH?” SILENCE WILL RESPOND.
Part 1 and Part 2 covered Recruit to JCOs. Here is the life of a veteran officer. These 3 Parts will shatter you. Writing truth invites wrath. So be it. If you are keen to know more, please go through ALL the links given at the end of this article.
My point always has been, if wearing uniform meant ‘pride’, why is it short lived? Why do 98% jawans have long faces and face doom at less than 42 years age? Why do jawans think that officers have a SEVEN STAR LIFE? Read this and decide for yourself.
In the Army an officer gets commissioned through Indian Military Academy OR Officers Training Academy. At both these places “Graduation” is mandatory. So let us get to the ‘crux’ of the issue. If you understand this table, the game of ‘age’ you have understood it all.
| EVENT | RIMC | SAINIK SCHOOL | DIRECT ENTRY | SHORTV SERVICE ENTRY |
| The Rashtriya Indian Military College is an Inter Services Institute and a Category A establishment of the Ministry of Defense | The Sainik Schools are a system of schools in India established and managed by the Sainik Schools Society under Ministry of Defence | Boys join after Graduation | Boys join after Graduation | |
| Min Age at entry11 yrs. 6 months | Min Age at entry10 yrs. | |||
| XII | 17 yrs. age | |||
| UPSC | 17 yrs. age | |||
| NDA – 1st Yr. | 18 | |||
| NDA – 2nd Yr. | 19 | |||
| NDA – 3rd Yr. | 20 | |||
| UPSC | 20 yrs. age. | 20 yrs. age. | ||
| Indian Military Academy | 20 yrs. age | |||
| Commissioned | 21 or less | 21 or less | 21 yrs. 6 months or more. | 21 yrs. or less |
| After five years | YOUNGEST | AT LEAST SIX MONTHS OLDER | LOOSE 10 MONTH SENIORITY | |
| Effect on Service | Remains youngest | Six months older than RIMC/NDA | Nearly One year Six months older than RIMC/NDA |
THIS AGE WILL CARRY AN OFFICER TILL LAST. It does not matter if you are from RIMC, NDA, IMA or OTA. It is the age in Years, Months and Days on the date of commissioning that will matter. Period. YOUNGER WILL WIN. A very highly capable officer will retire but the younger and less capable will stay. IT’S THE YOUNGEST AGE AT WHICH ONE MUST JOIN. Rest all are ‘also ran’ category.
Service Policies. Government permits an age bracket for joining, e.g. 17-20 yrs. for NDA, 20 to 23 yrs. for IMA or 20-26 years for OTA. If you are eligible to join, you will. If you are talented, brilliant, top of your batch (all officers having seniority falling in one calendar year) and have beaten everybody in profession BUT within your batch there are younger but much lower in calibre guys, THEY will go ahead. You will retire.
Promotions. Since vacancies for each rank are fixed, only finite number get promoted. Generally one rank gets promoted only once a year. Batch to be considered in a particular year is fixed for each rank and generally everyone knows when their batch will come up for Colonels promotion, Brigs and Maj Gens.
Retirement. Commissioning date and age on that date is already fixed. Retirement age is fixed for each rank, Colonel at 54, Brig at 56, Maj Gen at 57 yrs. and Lt Gen at 59 yrs. It simply means that what rank you wear on shoulder decides when do you retire.
Challenge. This journey from date of commissioning starts the ‘race’ and finishes at retirement age. Like Crystal Maze, the challenge is to get the ‘next’ rank before the gate closes. Age does not count much till Colonels rank but it can stop you in tracks at Brigadiers rank.
So, now that you know the challenges, let us find “HOW IS THE JOSH?”
Illustration.
Assume, 900 officers were commissioned from IMA, and after losing seniority 400 SS officers combined are called “2005 BATCH”. These 1300 officers are straight away split into two – ARMS and SERVICES. Infantry, Artillery, Armoured, Engineers etc. will be Arms, say 900 joined them. All logistics like ASC, AOC will be services balance 400 joined them.
2005 Batch (all 1300) were commissioned as Lieutenant.
2008-10 – Practically the entire batch (1300) will become Captains.
2010-2012 – Practically entire batch (1300) will become Majors.
2018 – 13 years’ service, practically entire batch (1300) will become Lt Cols.
2020- 15 Years’ service Arms guys come up for ‘Colonels Board’, 40% clear. Out of 900, 360 will become FULL COLONELS. 540 will remain Lt Cols. May be about 10 will get promoted out of these 540 over next two years. So we have 370 Colonels and 530 not promoted will stay as Lt Cols.
Important.
- All logistics guys remain Lt Cols and wait for their ‘Board”. 530 of Arms not promoted are called superseded (36 yrs. age) and will remain Lt Cols for next 11 years till they get ‘time scale’ Cols Rank.
- Age? All 540 guys are 36-38 years old and have NO CHANCE EVER OF BECOMING a ‘selection Grade’ Colonel. They will be automatically be promoted to Colonels rank when they complete 26 years of service or in 2031. Age? 48/49 yrs.
- A Colonel retires at 54 yrs. age, hence for next 6-8 years he has nothing to look forward in life. Nothing at all. In fact he had nothing to look forward to from 36 yrs. age. 18-20 years of frustration.
2022/2021 – Services guys come up for Colonels promotion. 40% make it. 160 become colonels and 240 are superseded.
Now out of 1300 in the batch, 530 are Colonels and 770 are superseded at less than 40 yrs. age with nothing to look forward to in army career.
Out of these 530 Colonels, only 170 will make it to Brigadier.
Out of 170 Brigadiers, only about 60 will make it to a Major General.
Out of 60 Major Generals just about 20 will make it to Lt Gens.
OUT OF 1300, 20 reached the top, 40 were runners up rest 1240 “ALSO RAN”. These 40 were the YOUNGEST in 1300 in their respective arms and services.
Having understood so far, we need to know more about what “Arms” and “Services” are, are all 1260 really ‘frustrated’.
We also need to find if in jawans all 48,000 retired at 40-42 yrs. age were frustrated.
In PART 4 we will come to who are the people desperate to quit army, who want to stay but suffocate. This will clarify recent controversy a lot.
Coming Next:
LIFE OF VETERAN IN INDIA : PART – 4 : DILEMMA OF “FORCED SERVING” AND “COMPULSORILY RETIRED”
MUST READ
AWARENESS SERIES : ARMED FORCES WIDOWS – PART 1 : WIDOW NOT BY CHOICE – https://colsanjaypande.com/awareness-series-armed-forces-widows-part-1-widow-not-by-choice/
AWARENESS SERIES : ARMED FORCES WIDOWS – PART 2 –WIDOWS – GO DIE A THIRD DEATH https://colsanjaypande.com/awareness-series-armed-forces-widows-part-2-widows-go-die-a-third-death/
AWARENESS SERIES – ARMED FORCES WIDOWS – PART 3 – DISCRIMINATION IN DEATH https://colsanjaypande.com/awareness-series-armed-forces-widows-part-3-discrimination-in-death/
LIFE OF VETERAN IN INDIA : PART – 1 : BIRTH OF “ORPHAN OF STATE” https://colsanjaypande.com/life-of-veteran-in-india-part-1-birth-of-orphan-of-state/
LIFE OF VETERAN IN INDIA : PART – 2 : PRIDE IN UNIFORM TO SHAME ON STREET
LIFE OF VETERAN IN INDIA : PART – 3 : VETERAN OFFICERS : HOW IS YOUR JOSH? Silence……
Col Sanjay Pande
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