Posting Travails in Armed Forces: Part IV

• Respective recruiting agencies of three arms of the Armed Forces recruit personnel in
  different cadres’ right from Officers to JCOs to ORs (Other Ranks) – who are classified as
  Combatants – to Non-Combatants who essay similar role to that of support staffs’ in the
  civilian parlance. Training durations varies catering to numerous verticals manning three
  arms of the Armed Forces viz. the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. Going into details on
  the matter entails elaborate explanation and hence would be touching base on the same
  subsequently.

PC: Pradip R Sagar

• Once training nears end, anxiety levels are bound to witness scaling up as personnel on the
  cusp of passing out eagerly await their posting orders. As the Establishments / Stations
  /Units are spread across the geographical locations of the country, one can never anticipate
  posting to a particular place and therein lies the answers for such nervous energy seen
  amongst the freshly minted servicemen. On receipt of posting orders, preparations to move
  out and join respective places on the date earmarked gains momentum in right earnest.
  Journey begins!

PC: Smart Design

• Upon joining the respective places of work, servicemen seamlessly integrates into the nitty-
  gritty of their daily routine while also learning the regimented lifestyle that are so uniform
  across the verticals. Usually, the tenure in any of the Establishments varies from 1 to 5 years.
  Extremely harsh living conditions of forward bases necessitates a tenure of 1 to 2 years
  followed by choice posting, out of 3 options offered, which is usually nearby / nearest to
  home. Peace time areas have a tenure of 3 years to 5 years under normal circumstances.

PC: Storypickers

• Challenges arise when personnel are posted out after every completed tenure of 3 to 5 years
  from a particular work place. As a consequence, service personnel can never ever exercise
  the option of feeling settled down nor content staying at one place since constant moving
  around assumes a permanent fixture in their lives. More affected are those married
  personnel with school going children who are bound to brace not only dislocation pangs but
  also encounter challenges locating suitable educational options, where there may be none
  whatsoever.

PC: Brett Affrunti

• Such perpetual uprooting / moving around unwittingly prepares every servicemen to
  develop a sense of detached attachment whilst discharging responsibilities. Amidst all this,
  exemplary standards of ethos, morale, motivation, camaraderie and pride of serving one’s
  nation expected of a true servicemen never gets compromised. Jai Hind!