Of Matters Military. Mrinal Suman

age of 20 years served the defence forces for a much longer period than an officer commissioned at 22-23 years, as the retirement age remains fixed. It means that for the same quantum of resources invested in training an officer the services got better returns by way of longer service span. Officers commissioned at the age of 20 helped keep the age profile of the services young at the crucial levels of platoon, company and battalion commanders.

      On the other hand, the only advantage accruing from higher qualification and age is that the cadets get graduation degree at the end of their NDA training. A graduation degree cannot be the sole justification for forfeiting opportunity to pick the best youth for the services. With enhanced entry age students have multiple career options, the services being one of them.

      Even though a number of factors influence trainability, it is primarily a function of age. It is much easier to mould and train adolescents rather than grown up youth and develop their potential due to their impressionable age. It implies that in the case of younger age group, appropriate weightage can be assigned to potential and trainability. As can be seen in the accompanying box, it is best to induct cadets during their early adolescence and train them as per the requirements of the services through the period of middle adolescence, thereby ensuring that they get commission during late adolescence period with fully rounded personality. This was the advantage the services enjoyed earlier with lower entry age.

       Trainability is a Function of Age

      For boys, period between 15 to 21 years of age is considered to be adolescence. Adolescence is the bridge between childhood and adulthood – a period of physical, social and psychological uncertainty and related growth. It is also referred to as a period of storm, stress, self-doubt and crisis of identity. Adolescence is sub-divided into three stages – Early Adolescence (15-17 years), Middle Adolescence (17-19 years) and Late Adolescence (19-21 years). The Illustration below shows main traits of each stage and their affect on mouldability and trainability.

       Illustration: Training and Adolescence

      As can be seen, the period of early adolescence and middle adolescence are the best for imparting training and moulding trainees as per the requirements of the services. As a boy approaches adulthood he tends to become rigid in his behavioural traits and resists change. It, therefore, becomes more difficult to train him. It is ideal for the services to select candidates during early adolescence, train them during the period of middle adolescence and induct them as commissioned officer during late adolescence.

       Angularities in Personality

      Here are some true cases in which candidates were rejected for alleged angularities of their personalities. It shows flippancy and frivolity of the whole selection process.

       When asked about his Sunday schedule, a candidate replied that he liked to sleep till late and have a hearty breakfast of ‘paranthas’. The assessor felt that the candidate was lazy and lacked an urge to utilise spare time for outdoor activities.

       A candidate was deemed to be lacking in integrity when he accepted that he had paid money to a railway conductor to get a berth, as he could not get reservation due to short notice for the SSB interview.

       Cooking as a hobby is considered ‘unofficerlike’ by SSB. A candidate learnt it the harder way. Similarly, another candidate was rejected when he stated that his hobby was to taste cuisines from different regions of India.

       In reply to a question, a candidate (an Army officer’s son) replied that he would request help from the neighbouring unit to pack household goods for move on transfer in the absence of his father. He was found to be overly dependent on external help and hence declared unfit for the services.

       School Captain of a famous public school was rejected when he stated that he abhorred killing helpless animals for human consumption. The assessor thought he was soft and lacked the necessary killing instinct.

       When asked to name his best friends, a candidate gave out the names of three girls. The assessor considered him to be overly obsessed with the opposite sex and unfit for the service life.

       A candidate was asked to spell out three qualities in his mother which impressed him the most. “Sir, she is an excellent cook and cooks the best ‘biryani’ I have ever tasted”, was his innocent and honest response. But the interviewer thought otherwise and felt that the candidate lacked focus in life with misplaced priorities.

       A college going candidate was considered to be undesirable when he admitted that he smoked without his parents’ knowledge. Yet another candidate was rejected when he admitted that he skipped classes to see movies during college hours.

      Such are the triviality for which aspiring young men are rejected and yet, we blame poor intake material for the shortage of officers. As seen from the above cases, either the assessors are far removed from reality or are deliberately trying to convey an impression of seeking utopian standards. They must get rid of their antiquated attitudes and be aware of emerging trends. Assessing modern youth against archaic mindsets is bound to be a futile exercise.

       The Way Forward

      Unfortunately, most people tend to believe in the commonly touted reasons for the low intake of officers – youth is no more interested in service life due to tough conditions and greener pastures of the corporate world. If the above reasons are accepted, we are fated to live with the shortages, as neither the service life can be made less demanding nor can the service officers be paid at par with the corporate sector.

      The shortage of officers in the services cannot be permitted to continue indefinitely as it is having a debilitating effect on the functioning of the units. Increase in remunerations will have negligible effect as the corporate sector can never be matched. Compulsory military service is no solution as the intake will be of indifferent quality with no motivation at all. Presently, the services pride themselves in saying that they are ready to live with under-subscription rather than lower standards. It is a highly misplaced statement. Shortage of officers at junior levels is taking a very heavy toll of unit cohesion. Officers are holding multiple appointments and are overworked. They cannot devote adequate time to man-management with the result that ‘bonding’ suffers. Prudence lies in filling all existing vacancies with the best candidates available rather than look for the elusive ideal material.

      As regards the selection process, there is a need to change the basic approach. Of late selection boards have come to be viewed as rejection boards. It is commonly said that even the assessors would fail if they appear before their own selection boards. The present system of trying to probe for angularities and limitations is most detrimental to the overall environment. The selection process should focus on finding out if a candidate has the required qualities and the potential to be a service officer. All assessors should be asked to award marks to various qualities as per the assigned weightage. They should not be asked to brand a candidate fit or unfit. An overall merit list should then be prepared and call letters issued accordingly as per the vacancies available. Such an arrangement will eliminate tendency to create border-liners as also ensure that the best material available is inducted to fill all vacancies. In case all 36 percent border-liners are graded fit, there would be no shortfall at all. With an APR of 431, it can be reasonably assumed that if an objective merit list is prepared, the top order will be of sufficiently