The Silos of Men and Machines

 

Excerpt from the script of a talk that Lt Gen Satish Nambiar delivered on Saturday 23rd July 2022 at Defence Colony, New Delhi, commemorating Kargil Diwas.

'Hence maintenance of a credible military capability is imperative. Such a capability cannot be built on procurement of weapons and equipment alone. It has to be anchored on human resources - the apolitical Indian Armed Forces - that need to be respected and well cared for in times of peace.'

In an earlier post, I had said that men and machines are an inalienable mix in the Forces. The Capital Outlay cannot be in separate silos of  men and machines. Yesterday's unfortunate death of two young pilots owing to the MIG crash is just one more example of destinies of  men and machines being irretrievably intertwined in the Forces. As many veterans and others have said in various fora and platforms, the operational effectiveness will plummet if either's robustness is degraded.

That said, it is unfortunate that we have started using Coporate language in our Forces: human resources for human beings is just one example. Equally, we think nothing when Army's idioms are adopted nonchalantly by the Corporates: in the line of fire, I am with you in the trenches, last man standing, etc. In my view, language is very important for a discerning perspective. Demeaning and dilution of our idioms will, in the end, erode the truth and pithiness of our idioms. It will germinate within the public a perception that just as Managers in the Corporate world manage their teams, junior leaders in the Army can manage their subordinates (read Agniveers) to their death.

We know that it is impossible to stop someone from using a particular idiom or phrase. But, we can call out a person whenever someone in the civvy street utters our sacred idioms offhandedly. Social media is powerful, and let's fight them where it hurts them the most: in the social media, in metaverse.