Do You Know Your Army?

Random friend: I heard your dad’s in the army. Is he a major?

Me: No, he’s a Colonel.

Random friend: I bet he carries a gun with him everywhere.

Me: Not really, we don’t personally own any fire-arm.

Random friend: Woah! He’s got the license to kill.

Me: My father is not James Bond. He’s an army officer.

Every time I meet a civilian, I usually end up having a similar conversation as above. It makes me sad to be a part of such conversations. People’s idea of army is just something brewed from Bollywood. Movies like Border, Loc, Lakshya etc. have exposed people to just one tiny aspect of army, but there is more.

Let me take this opportunity to educate you little about our country’s Army.

The basic formation and structure.
- Division: Each Division is headed by General Officer Commanding (GOC) in the rank of Major General. It usually consists of 15,000 combat troops and 8,000 support elements. Currently, the Indian Army has 37 Divisions including; 4 RAPID’s (Re-organised Army Plains Infantry Division), 18 Infantry Divisions, 10 Mountain Divisions, 3 Armored Divisions and 2 Artillery Divisions. Each Division composes of several Brigades.
- Brigade: A Brigade generally consists of around 3,000 combat troops with supporting elements. An Infantry Brigade usually has 3 Infantry Battalions along with various Support Arms & Services. It is headed by a Brigadier, equivalent to a Brigadier General in some armies. In addition to the Brigades in various Army Divisions, the Indian Army also has 5 Independent Armored Brigades, 15 Independent Artillery Brigades, 7 Independent Infantry Brigades, 1 Independent Parachute Brigade,3 Independent Air Defence Brigades, 2 Independent Air Defence Groups and 4 Independent Engineer Brigades. These Independent Brigades operate directly under the Corps Commander (GOC Corps).
- Battalion: A Battalion is commanded by a Colonel and is the Infantry’s main fighting unit. It consists of more than 900 combat personnel.
- Company: Headed by the Major or Captain, a company comprises 120 soldiers.
- Platoon: An intermediate between a company and section, a platoon is headed by a Captain or Lieutenant, or depending on the availability of commissioned officers, even a junior commissioned officer. It has a total strength of about 32 troops.
- Section: Smallest military outfit with a strength of 10 personnel. Commanded by a non-commissioned officer of the rank of Havaldar or Sergeant.

National Defence Academy.

The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the Joint Services academy of the Indian Armed Forces, where cadets of the three services, the Army, the Navy and the Air Force train together before they go on to pre-commissioning training in their respective service academies. The NDA is located in Khadakwasla near Pune, Maharashtra. It is the first tri-service academy in the world and is rated amongst the best in the world.

The NDA offers only a full-time, residential undergraduate program. Cadets are awarded a Baccalaureate degree (a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science or a “Bachelor of Technology”) after 3 years of study. Cadets have a choice of two streams of study.

The Science stream offers studies in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Computer Science. The Humanities (Liberal Arts) stream offers studies in History, Economics, Political Science, Geography and Languages.

Apart from academic training they are also trained in outdoor skills, like Drill, PT and games. The emphasis in NDA is on character building, esprit-de-corps, mental and physical robustness, leadership and a sense of keen observation.

I hope that the above information has been helpful.

There is a certain sense of pride I feel while telling my friends about the army but the responses I get shows the amount of indifference towards the army which disheartens me. Our troops have played a major role in the protection as well as the development of this nation. The NSG’s commendable performance during the 26/11 attacks, the rescue missions that took place in the Uttarakhand valley during the natural calamity this year, the work of the troops posted in Siachen-Glacier, the militant prone Kashmir valley and the troubled regions of North-East, The soldier in foreign countries as a part of UN peace keeping forces. These are just few of the achievements of the Indian Army.

It doesn’t end there, apart from guarding our nation; the army is a part of many social welfare and educational activities. Army Welfare Education Society (AWES) is an organisation formed to promote the educational needs of the children of army personnel. It is a purely non profit welfare organisation. Army Public School(s) was started by AWES and now they are established in the smallest of towns to the largest of Indian cities. As the families of the troops move very regularly, these schools have always been there to provide the army children with top-class education. AWES has also started many colleges providing professional choices.

Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) another voluntary organisation started by the army for the holistic development and well being of army wives and their children, as well as rehabilitation of war widows and differently abled. These are some of the organisations that bring the army closer together. Army is like a huge yet close knitted family, it makes sure to look after you and include you. It has provided so many facilities and opportunities and I’ve made sure to grab every one of them. I feel truly blessed to be a part of such an organisation.

Proud to be a Fauji-brat.