So after hearing a lot many people rant about the facilities which military people get, and the so called “Free” stuff they are entitled to, I think it is time to clear up some misconceptions! Here are some misconceptions about the facilities and other things which civilians totally got wrong about defence personnel:
- There is nothing like free liquor: Free liquor is a myth! Civilians often find military people having an advantage of free liquor. Bursting the bubble I would like to tell you that they don’t get free liquor at all. All they get is liquor on subsidized rate. So the price is lesser than civilians pay.
- CSD is a boon: Yes they get things on cheaper price, but saying that they get everything on half rate is wrong. To facilitate them, CSD is there, so that they can get their daily stuff from it, at one place. Also isn’t it fair to get some perks for the things they do.
- Bar, Mess, Sports is all free: They are made for their recreation. So instead of unending gossip TV shows they rather turn up to the mess, bar for recreation. And can you imagine all work, at a place where there is an issue of electricity.
- Boarding lodging free myth: They pay for the houses they get, they pay for the uniforms they wear and the sports they play. Maybe it is lesser than the civilian world, but still they do pay.
- They keep weapons: They are authorized to have weapons only on orders. When they are deployed in operations, they are issued weapons. Weapons are allocated to people, they get it issued and deposit it. Only in operations, field areas and counter insurgencies areas they keep them. If a pilot flies a Sukhoi, he obviously doesn’t own and he obviously can’t keep it with him.
- They have a thug/cool life, with no work: Of course they have a cool life, with all sorts of facilities and enjoyments. But nobody can understand the work they do, unless they are themselves in their shoes (and here they are combat boots). They live in areas where there is no proper basic amenity; they survive in extremes of temperatures, and extremes of people. There are times when they don’t even get to sleep or bath, nobody says that.
- The misconception about peace postings: If an Army officer is posted in a city like Mumbai, Bangalore or any such peace city, people think that he is having the time of his life. No work, and only enjoyment, obviously there are no wars in such cities right? Well no, to go for war, you need to prepare in peace, no matter where an officer is posted, every day he is sweating to bleed less in war.
- People joining Defence after high education are fools: People comment that the guys who join defence after B.Tech or other such qualification, are fools, and they were obviously not getting good jobs, so they joined defence. Dude, it is their passion that they joined it. No job is good or bad, but nothing better than our Fauj!
Every job has its own perks. In your job in the non-military domain, you get so many perks for doing something which is obviously not threatening your life. So isn’t it fair that military people who spend their life and time away from their family, in order to make sure you are safe, and which in turn may cost their life, should get some perks too. Obviously they just get concessions, and nothing is free. We can’t ever pay them back for the things they do and the sacrifices they make.
