10 THINGS THE ARMY DOES OTHER THAN FIGHTING A WAR

I intended this blog to be a pleasant army wife jamboree- where we could shindig or crib as we please about our immediate surrounding – our homes, our children, our day to day concerns.

But I am afraid the larger than life army ethos is gradually hijacking it.

The comments I am receiving are heart wrenching and thought provoking to say the least. Sometimes they are a shocking awakening to the mixed feelings we create outside our circuit. For instance it has been alleged that our men are busy “raping around” while we are “enjoying free rations”, and eating up “honest tax payers money”.

I am suddenly shaken up from my smug existence and feel the need to ignore the cause of the tambola and address these issues for once.

It shall be my endeavour to give a honest picture of what the army is upto when there is no war. (Well it is a mystery to a lot of our army wives too. Since they are hardly ever around even we wonder what they could be upto.)

Here’s a list to begin with. I will eventually post articles in each category.
The 1.2 million strong army of today is not just training and preparing for war.

1. They train and prepare to help the civil authorities in disaster management
2. Internal disturbances (like riots)
3. Nation building (running the NCC and afforestation by territorial army battalions
4. Infrastructural developments (Roads et all).
5. The army also assists in guarding the borders.
6. It has brought succour to remote communities who live in farflung areas, where probably, the only face of establishment one has seen is that of the Army.
7. The Army is one organisation that is utterly dependable when it comes to organising national level events (Republic Day / Independence Day Parades, etc).
8. The Army has given tremendous impetus to the entire sports movement of the country. It has contributed by way of giving the nation ace sportsmen in boxing, hockey and shooting (the first silver in the Olympics courtesy Lt.Col Raghuvender Rathore) to name a few.
9. It has contributed in spin-off technologies from Defence Research and Development ,DRDO ( Metallurgy, food processing and Rivers osmosis plants et all)
10. Army also carries out expeditions (The Antarctic Expedition).Infact FYI the Indian Army sailed around the world in their sailboat Trishna, even before the Indian navy.