If modern conflict is all about ideas, then it follows that the soldier must also wield the pen as deftly as he does the sword.
It was indeed heartening to see that Lt.Gen. Prakash Menon (retd) and Capt. Srinath Raghavan (retd), two soldier-scholars of some distinction, were co-authors of Non Alignment 2.0: A Foreign and Strategic Policy for India in the Twenty-First Century, an important foreign and strategic policy document that was released on February 28, 2012. Though the document has not received as much attention in the media as it deserves, I felt that it has enough to spark a debate within the armed forces on whether we are doing enough to equip our officers and men with the wherewithal required to cope with the rapidly changing nature of modern conflict and the global geo-strategic landscape. So here are some thoughts!
The National Defence College (NDC), New Delhi, is the last bastion of semi-formal education in the Indian armed forces. It provides a fantastic opportunity for budding senior leaders in the three services and the Civil Services to widen their horizons and graduate from being “top class operational practitioners” to becoming active participants in both military and national strategy formulation; or so everyone wishes it to be! In reality however, most of us return to our operational cocoons, talking wistfully about the truly wonderful times at the NDC without trying hard enough to uphold one of the prime missions of the college, which is to “Nurture the Soldier-Scholar and the Bureaucrat-Scholar.” There is the adage “the pen is mightier than the sword,” but what history does not stress is that many a time it is the soldier-scholar, wielding both the pen and the sword who has shaped the destinies of nations and dictated how wars are fought, and how the peace is won.
Treatise on modern warfare
The motivation for me to write this article emerged while I was reading a book “The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World” by Gen. Sir Rupert Smith (retd), a British general, and one strongly recommended to us by the Commandant at the NDC. The finesse with which Gen. Smith traces the evolution of modern warfare and intrinsically links it to the contribution made by intellectually gifted soldiers like Clausewitz, Bismarck, T.E. Lawrence and Mao in shaping not only the principles of soldiering, but also those of statecraft too is wonderful. Has anyone given a thought to who are the drivers of modern Islamic extremism, one of the primary tools of current conflict? Surprise! Surprise! It is the intellectual and scholarly capabilities of soldier-clerics like Osama bin Laden and Ayman-al-Zawahiri who managed to first corrupt, then simplify, communicate and finally convert the tenets of Islam into operational concepts of “Jihad.” If we are prepared to accept that we are entering a period of momentous change in which the war of a “network and ideas” is overtaking the established state, we need to take a close look at what propels this warfare. A reality check reveals that the terrorist-scholar, the cleric-scholar and the insurgent-scholar have outmanoeuvred the soldier in recent years. Therein lies the heart of my argument that calls for nurturing of the soldier-scholar in the Indian armed forces.
Are we adequately nurturing our soldiers to expand intellectually and be nimble and flexible in thought and action? The answer is fuzzy — maybe yes, maybe no! The NDC is too late a stage to nurture them. The process has to start much earlier and as soldiers we need to question more, research more, read more and write more; not because it is a bonus for our climb up the pyramid, or a fashion statement, but because it is an absolute imperative to “stay ahead and stay alive.” If chaos is the signature of modern warfare, it has to be countered with more unpredictability and chaos, something that is alien to structured militaries the world over. Am I suggesting a change in the core competencies of the armed forces? Absolutely not! What I am suggesting is that traditional military skills, a systematic problem solving abilities and structured thinking has to be supplemented with creatively modified academic and intellectual skills at every level.
Encouraging higher education among mainstream officers has been a weak area in our manpower planning and skill accumulation strategies. We need to aggressively pursue affiliations with the Indian Institutes of Management/Indian Institutes of Technology and other premier postgraduate institutions, and send officers with academic potential to pursue fellowships/post graduate courses that are exploitable in service, as well as those that provide security in a second career.
We need to network with high quality foreign universities and send our officers to do PhDs in diverse disciplines. The armed forces must upgrade their academic and research skills in various realms. Nation building is a complex issue in today's fast changing environment. Nurturing the soldier-scholar is one such strategy that is bound to pay rich dividends in the years to come.
(Air Vice-Marshal Arjun Subramaniam is a serving officer from the Indian Air Force. He is presently the Assistant Chief of Air Staff looking after Space, Concepts and Doctrine at Air Headquarters in New Delhi.)
Keywords: Indian Army, National Defence College
Otto von Bismack a soldier? Hmmmm. The good air vice marshal doesnt seem to have
received much history in his education......
The Indian Armed Forces's antecedent are British. It's rankers do not
reason why but to do and die. The officers strut about like superior
beings. There is no political discourse. In fact to talk politics or act
in the interest of the people and the country as a whole is treasonable.
In Blighty the powers that be, are the right wing capitalists who ensure
that the military well and truly protect their interests within and
without the country. This corruption is evident in its Indian counter-
part too.
An armed force comprised of citizen soldiers, sailors and air-men will
not need laws like the AFSPA to undertake nefarious activities against
its own citizenry. There will be no need for the likes of Al Qaida,
JKLF, Naxalite and the myriad of liberation fronts to take up the cudgel
and fight for and on behalf of the aggrieved, the disenfranchised and
downtrodden. Are there other options.
So, AVM could your supplement include open political discourse?
If not, dream on Indian liberation
First of all its great to see , that someone has thought in this direction to put together a relation between soldiers - scholars and those who shaped history.
In armed forces we already have a good number of measures to promote solder-scholar culture be it submission of annual concept papers "Service Papers" and essay completions. However, There is a need to promote originality of thoughts in all.
In addition what we can have is to form voluntary groups to take up writings on varied subjects of geo-political importance to promote soldier-scholar culture.
it is a matter of seeding a culture through encouragement, nurturing it by recognition and sustaining it by incentives.
In a large amred forces likes ours every one may not be a great thinker , writer or a visionary . But, there will definitely be a few who may have these inherent abilities. The talent and inclination can be recognized at an early stage of carrier and can be encouraged.
Of course,in NDC Brig Rank Officers rub shoulders with Civilian officers much junior in age and learn bits of everything, threat perceptions and scenario building based on history, politics and current geo-economic compulsions. But of what use is this? Only the service officers take this one year course seriously. Civilian officers do not. Particularly those from the IAS and IFS are self sponsored to NDC not because they think that the course provides value addition to their CV but because they can prolong their stay in Delhi between deputations, reduce cooling period and also make it possible live with their families. Even these insouciant civilians very rarely get posted to positions in MOD, JIC and so on. Of course there is absolutely no chance for the uniformed to sit in any desk at the MOD under the present hegemonic occupation of critical positions by the members of the IAS whether they know anything about National Security, Threat perceptions, Force Levels and so on.
With the innovation that are taking place all around us in the
technology and basic science, there will be two classes only in all the
cross sections of societies- Defense families inclusive, in the coming
generations, 5-7% of population possessing extra ordinary IQ and EQ who
will be in charge and the balance just ordinary.
I totally agree with Arjun Sir in moulding the officers to not only wield the gun when necessary but also to stimulate the intellectual skills from the start. The IMA photo at the top makes one feel so proud , I wish I too could be part of it.
Absolutely agree with Air Vice Marshal. We must nurture the soldier -
scholar and upgrade his thinking & intellect. It is vital to the modern
warfare which might not be fought on battle fields.The modern world
requires a completely different set of capabilities,Now that regimes are
being overthrown by the help of social media, and Governments are
threatened by Anna movement, its a completely different ball game.
Gone are the days, when Army or Air force were restricted to the battlefields. Today, the modern warfare scenario has changed drastically, where troops are engaged in city streets and political premises and the enemy is equipped with latest information and weapons.
Our soldiers are trained to fire lates tweapons but they are helpless when it comes to install a software on hard disk. Our warriors need to show more quests for gaining ideas and using those ideas for networking with social and political world,more efficiently. Yes, Only systematic problem solving abilities will not be sufficient but must be accompanied with creative practical skills at every level.
Steps like sending officers to IITs and IIMs, usage of advanced cyber and space technologies is highly recommended. As developed individuals will in turn lead into dynamic leaders both intellectually and bureaucratically.
As a veteran of the 1965 and 1971 Ind-Pak wars as also having written articles for 28 years on the subject of warfare as a major component of Statecraft, I have a point to submit. What exactly is our government's policy on our relations with Pakistan? Nehru had categorically stated at the time of Partition that India's policy towards Pakistan must always favour that country. That is why he created the Kashmir problem by ordering a wholly unjustified unilateral ceasefire during the 1947-48 war just when our army was chasing the aggressors out of J&K, thus gifting POK to Jinnah. We surrendered our superior military gains of the 1965 and 1971 wars to Pakistan at Tashkent and Shimla respectively, without putting any pressure on it over our main dispute, Kashmir. No matter how many soldier-scholars we may produce, our authorities will never support their patriotic views.
The AVM definitely has a point. However I would like to add that the process of broad basing a military officer's education starts at the NDA where he is exposed to subjects like. Geopolitics, Political Science, Military Geography and Public administration. This is further reinforced at the Staff College and at various higher command courses. Therefore it would not be correct to state that NDC is a "late stage" to start this process. In fact the CDM was modeled on the ICAF of the US. As suggested by the author before we network with foreign universities let us network with our own govt institutions like ASCI, LBS at Mussoorie the Railway Staff College etc.Other than defence trg institutes there is not civilian training institute where the military and the bureaucracy train together.Many a times we don's know what and how something is happening in various organisations of our own country. Finally reading habit among officers especially outside professional subjects is abysmally low
A timely and apt argument. But ..."affiliations with the Indian Institutes of Management/Indian Institutes of Technology..." Unless the author is referring to the Humanities divisions in these institutions, it is not true. These institutions have extracted the brightest men and women for generations but did not turn out any leaders. The so-called leaders in the global private sector who are role models for today's youth are not the type of leaders the society needs.
yes,the point projected by the two writers is ok but only to a
limit,the ground situation is a bit different though,the defence services are in sucha state now that out and out importance is given to courses and how good a person is in writing papers whereas things are quite different on the ground which generally the scholar misses..its entirely a different thing to write and study in rooms and a totally different thing to fight the enemy.when the enemy will be in front of the scholar warrior..he will only be killed if the scholar can fire straight and not by his intellectual powers and his ability to write papers.its almost a written rule now that one who graduates from the staff college will surely be promoted to the next rank not realising that staff college only teaches us about staff duties and not command.when bullets fly..the true mettle of the man is
exposed..education/studies don't give you that.
Absolutely true. National security is a comprehensive term encompassing an individual and collective response to all conceivable threats to our citizens. Such responses need not necessarily be viewed in terms of SF actions. From that perspective, soldiers are equal partners in any debate on national security, and being active participants in the process of keeping our borders secure, they ought to be encouraged and trained to participate in such debates. In almost all western countries the national strategy formulation gets its inputs from security professionals in the form of individual experts, university teachers, senior corporators, politicians, and also key bureaucrats. Military professionals are able to do that because while in service they are encouraged to study, research, and publisize on issues concerning national security. Indian military too should encourage our lower and middle wrung officers to participate in academic pursuits as a part of their professional development.
Agree totally. But while mentioning all the others, the writer missed
India's Late General Sam Manekshaw, who was equally intellectually
gifted.
Have you ever given a though from which section of the society this basic soldier comes from? Is he from a middleclass, a political family, a cosmopolitan class or an intellectual class? No, basically he comes from lowest strata of our society - farmer family, rural poor, urban low educated poor. In fact, even middle-class family youth will think about SSB exam & becoming officer and not about becoming soldier. So, reality is, any modern democratic nations's borders are guarded by lowest section of its society. Which is highly deprived of basic rights, services & civic amenities. Now imagine if we enrich minds of these basic soldiers. Eventually, they will realise that they are guarding the society which is not equal enough towards poor people - from which they have come from. [e.g. we had & have many intellectually rich Naxals]. So, its bad idea to teach soldiers anything more than following Orders. Thats the blunt truth.
Please Email the Editor