Is this true of our army?

[a concerned Indian]

Indian Army fumes over critical US report






New Delhi: The Army\'s top brass is fuming over a secret US report which has labelled its officers as too intellectual and which says its infrastructure is crumbling, a weekly magazine reported.

The US report has further described officers from Pakistan as more flexible, accommodating and easy to work with while calling their Indian counterparts protocol-bound and easily slighted.

The 141-page report titled \"Indo-US Relationship: Expectations and Perceptions\" is an assessment by the American Defence Department and draws input from Pentagon officials working with the Indian army.

\"Indian elites are quintessentially intellectual. They thrive off finely-tuned arguments and logic, but US military outfits are businesslike and not interested in intellectual arguments -- they are interested in practical issues,\" the report says, according to the magazine.

\"Consequently, they find India\'s intellectual arrogance off-putting and counter-productive.\"

Army officers dismissed the conclusion saying that though their officers were well-educated, most did not have the luxury of time to indulge in intellectual reading or writing until after retirement.

They added that the Indian army routinely served in the fiery heat of its northwestern deserts and at the Siachen mountain range, one of the world\'s highest mountain ranges.

\"The comparison with Pakistan does not stand. Every Pakistani officer has done time in this or that US academy; they probably have the same military drills. The Indian situation is different,\" Brigadier Virender Saxena said.

The report also criticised the Indian army\'s infrastructure. \"Many American officers observed that while the Indians have a large military and is relatively more sophisticated than others in the region, the vast infrastructure is crumbling,\" it said.

One US general described his visit to Indian army headquarters as \"walking back in time.\"

The Indian army agreed about the need for modernisation of the force but said they were dependent on bureaucracy for funds, similar to any democracy.

New Delhi and Washington have been intensifying military cooperation in the last three years after US lifted sanctions against India for a series of nuclear tests conducted in 1998.

[Peeping Tom]

In Army - the officers take more responsibilities and do tit and tots of all trade to get everything in order. Indian Army is one of the toughest Armies dealing with the toughest regions in the world. The Indian army officer is expected to do all the duties both mentally and physically, which a normal civilian cannot do. A normal civilian officer has nice time to spend with his family, which case a Army officer don't have that privilege. There are no fixed timings for Army officers. Duty is at all times. But the most worrying thing is that the crumbling of discipline in the lower level. The alcohol supply should be reduced. Influential guys don't get tough postings, while ordinary guys might get nice postings through out the service. But in general Indian Army is more organised and disciplined than Pakistani one, which works hand in hand with terrorists. Indian Army needs more computerization at basic level.