Officer of Engineers

Antlelope, Re-address yourself to a superior officer.

It is precisely that the Captain was an Indian Army Officer and not an American officer that you will have to re-evaluate and reaccess your knowledge. In fact, your accessement is completely false vis-a-vi the Cold War. Coy and Bn CPs had an expected surivial time of 10 minutes. Indian and Pakistani officers were far more aggressive than us (it's effectiveness that we have a debate about).

__________________
Chimo

Anon

I sense a cat fight coming...

FlyingCaddy

Another factor is sometimes sexual harrassment is nothing more than verbal comments or acts done for laughs, I worked with an all male labor crew a few years ago and I heard some of the most perverted nonsense come out of thier mouths but it was all made in just. Its not like the majority of men in the military are enlightened figures, most people do find humor in the most base things

Officer of Engineers

Maybe but the Indian Army has far more experience in these issues than us.

Anon

Well if they're set up on the Soviet model then it's likely their officers would see a lot more combat than ours.

The Sovs always undervalued the value of high quality NCOs with authority, and therefore had a higher ratio of officers at small unit levels.

Officer of Engineers

They're British regiment style but their officers always had a credo about leading from the front. Remember that the Brigadier himself lead his re-enforced company through an enemy minefield at night.

During Kragil, a Lieutenant-Colonel personally took charge of a counter-attack.

There are arguements about the good and bad of this system but the fact remains that for the Indian Army, being an officer does not mean you see less combat.

Even for myself, I was never out of range of enemy rifle fire when it was raining steel.

Officer of Engineers

And had the bad guys got a guy like you in their TOE, I would not be here.

Anon

Maybe one of these days it will rain beer for a change.

Odds are, i'd rather have a drink with most soldiers-where ever they may be from- then kill them.

Bluesman

Hear him; right on.

And as I've said before, that definitely DOES NOT APPLY to the animals we're at war with right now. Soldiers almost always follow an honor code; terrorists NEVER do.

Kill 'em all.

__________________
"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it, and if one finds the prospect of a long war intolerable, it is natural to disbelieve in the possibility of victory."
- George Orwell

Anoop C

Colonel,

One of the reasons the IA is officer-led to the extent it is, is because of the vast number of languages in use among the Jawans. That brings a need to have a common language to communicate in, which because of the colonial influence, was English. Since most of the Jawans are peasants, it is difficult for them to attain a level of proficiency in English very quickly - so you have officers who are bilingual in English and Hindi, to communicate among themselves in English, with the JCOs in Hindi, who then communicate with the Jawans either in their native tongue or in Hindi.

The other reason it is led at the section level by officers is probably a remnant of the past - British officers had to lead by example to command the loyalty of the Indian natives, given the vast cultural difference between them.

Third, the psychology of the society from which the Jawans are drawn is to look up to authority - that makes it essential for officers to lead.

There are steps being taken to make the JCOs take more initiative particularly after Kargil, but it is a slow process in such a large army.

The advantage of this system, as you noted, is that the junior leadership in the IA has always been exemplary. Not that the senior leadership has not been (!), but given the extent of civilian oversight and our geopolitical situation, the senior leadership has generally been cautious rather than adventurous.

IA officers on this board can correct me if I'm wrong.

bonehead

About ten years ago I overheard an air force major talk about women in combat. " what we need are two brigades, One normal and one blue haired. when the fighting comes to a standstill, open a Macy's behind the enemy lines and have a 4 hour 50% off sale. Send in the blue hair brigade. The enemy's lines would be as good as broken. For the other front, air drop vast amounts of chocolate behind the enemy's lines. Those poor bastards won't know what hit them when the"normal" women punch through. God help the enemy if the macy's has a sale on chocolate."

The major has since been promoted to colonel.

-{SpoonmaN}-

"I've SEEN that happen in the military. IMO the majority of sexual harrassment allegations in the military occur because the female isn't happy with the way she's being treated/used/promoted/wants out, and blah, blah, blah. And guess what...with a female CO or NCO, the men pull the same crap."

Hell I know plenty of guys that would. Probably more so than the girls I know.

-{SpoonmaN}-

And what happened to the ranking thing for how many posts you'd made? I was up to coporal and now it just says that I'm registered.

Julie

Have you tried posting more than every 2-3 months?

roadKill

I served in the Army for 4-years and 10-years after as a contractor. Having women serving in the military was a real blessing. It gives you a reality check & good feeling. I found the women more reliable than men when it came to the following out of orders. You can count on the them! These ****ing guys posting that women are "this or that" don't know ****. I was in a half of dozen firefights in Panama, never had a problem with the gals.