Armed Forces: Best and worst of times

Dear Brig Kamboj,
To put the record straight, I am impelled to share some experiences with you and my friends.

Last week, I was invited to a party organized by an officer who is due to assume command of his unit shortly. He told me that the army is in very good shape and the morale of the soldiers is high. And I could see that from whatever I saw around. On my way to his house, I had noticed a sprinkling of cars in the JCOs quarters and most NCOs possess motor cycles. The standard of service houses has improved a lot and you can see air conditioners popping out of several windows.
Later during the week, I met the son of my sister in law, who has joined his father's unit, 161 Field Regt. He has been selected for the Staff College in Paris, and he is undergoing the language course in preparation for the same. He told me that the selection process was completely fair and I do not have to say that he sees rainbows and sun peeping out of the clouds all around him.

And then yesterday evening I was with a group of elderly veterans who are convinced that our ungrateful nation has 'forgotten' the sacrifices made by the soldiers and that the military service is condemned to indignity. They complained about the inequity in pensions, the absence of a war memorial and military museum in the country and the apathy of the polity. The 'babudom' is of course the root cause of all that is evil in our 'saare jahaan se achha, Hindostan' In short, they fear that a debacle of the kind we suffered in 1962 is inevitable.

I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between. If Charles Dickens were to describe the situation he would perhaps say: "It is the best of times, it is the worst of times, it is the age of wisdom, it is the age of foolishness, it is the epoch of belief, it is the epoch of incredulity, it is the season of Light, it is the season of Darkness, it is the spring of hope, it is the winter of despair, we have everything before us, we have nothing before us, we are all going direct to heaven, we are all going direct the other way"- in short, the period is so far like the good old days, when we were in service, that some of our noisiest authorities insist on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
With best wishes,
Maj Gen Surjit Singh (Retd)