Myths Indians have about Indian Army

The Myth vs The Reality – Army has a rich life, a really good culture and its absolutely amazing to be part of it but the reality is that it is the toughest job ever. It is the duty of a soldier to put his life on line and of course everyone is proud of each and every soldier for doing that. But still, there are a number of myths that Indians have about the Indian Army:

‘They are Superheros’ : The biggest myth is to assume them to be superhumans. They are just like your boys next door. They stand apart in only one thing. Spirit of Supreme Sacrifice. They wear an Insignia called Balidan to signify this upon being inducted as Special Forces Member. Rest follows out of it. They are willing to undergo extremely tough training. They enter operations at greatest personal risk with meticulous planning and ‘surgical precision’ to achieve the aim at ‘no or minimum personal loss’. Unfortunately operations do go wrong and they do suffer losses, often more in proportion to those of enemy. This makes them human against all odds and busts the myth of infallibility.

‘Ladies Club & Elegant saares’; Ladies Clubs are the part of the welfare and let me tell you that the toughest job in Military is to be an Army Wife. An Army Wife, no matter who she is, what she has done, how she is contributing to this society is always defined by the Army- by her husband. Her identity is associated with the uniform that her husband wears. For people there are 1.4 lac soldiers who put their life at those lines but what we always forget is always about those 1.4 lac soldier’s families. She is the strongest breed of women.

‘Free, free, they get everything for free’: False. What they get is subsidized facilities, just like any other government official department. Its just Army, Air-force, Navy, maintain these facilities with professionalism with minimum error .There is no scope for ‘Chalta hai’ attitude.

‘They live in bungalow and eat tasty food’: Sometimes they do, and only some of them. Accommodation depends upon availability and ranks. Do you really think, these governments and bureaucrats who are not giving you roads, will give money for accommodation for all armed force personnel? Most of them have to live in rented house and soldiers, they have to live in bunkers, they have to eat stale food when time demands.

By – Anjani Sharma, a proud Army daughter.