Organizations have cultures and traditions. They have immense value. The Indian Army has a very strong culture and customs and traditions play a very significant role in the lives of Army persons. Individuals have personal philosophies. These philosophies get controlled by the culture and traditions of the organization. Things can become quite interesting when personal philosophies are at odds with the culture. I am an infantry guy. I was lucky enough to get to command an infantry battalion. My personal philosophy as regards Army is:

“Either you are in operations or training for operations and rest, everything else is bullshit.”

Infantry battalions have a pipe band and some even have a jazz band. The unit I commanded also had both. These bands can generate funds for the unit as they can be hired out to civilians for a consideration. Traditionally bandsmen are presented with rum; the combination of late nights and rum have an adverse impact on the health and discipline of bandsmen (things not to my liking).

The pipe bands of infantry battalions are built around the Medical Section. The Medical Section is authorized to each infantry battalion and when I commanded the unit (2001-04), the authorized strength was one officer and two Nursing Assistants from the Army Medical Corps and 11 other ranks. Generally, the number of persons in the Medical Section is augmented by 4-5 more so that a pipe band is created, under the command of a Havildar. Customarily band competitions are conducted at the level of Divisions, thereby encouraging training of bandsmen in units. Till I served in the Army (up to 2011) I had not come across any Divisional Commander (Maj Gen) who got a medical proficiency competition conducted. The unit Jazz Bands used to have 4-6 persons and that was the number in the unit when I became CO.

Customs dictated that the unit have about 20 soldiers trained to play pipe/jazz band instruments and maybe possess some knowledge of medical issues. My philosophy dictated that the unit have 11 soldiers trained primarily to function as nursing assistants and as a secondary role be able to play the pipe band instruments. Jazz bands had no place in my understanding of things. Thus, the unit jazz band was disbanded and the equipment auctioned off. The pipe bandsmen slowly gave up their identity of band guys and converted to medical guys. The AMC Capts I had during my tenure as CO took a lot of interest in training them well. The soldiers also realized the value of medical knowledge as somewhat more significant for operations rather than playing band instruments.

Reality checks are good for everyone. Our reality check came as the Divisional Band competition became proximate. Our unit had very high morale. We were the winners of the Small Arms shooting competition as well as the Ghatak Platoon competition, the pride events for any infantry battalion.  

The bandsmen were diffident going for the competition. As CO I had failed them in giving them a fair chance in the competition. Some of our pipers were dummies (they just marched carrying pipes but only pretended to blow without actually doing so). The guys were not hoping to win but they did not want to come last either. They could not halt the competition and shout out loud to their rivals that if the competition was about medical skills, then they would have licked all others just the way their brothers had done in shooting and commando skills.  

Our unit band stood second last in the competition. I consoled my team and told them that I was proud of them. My words were not good enough. I have no idea as to whether they could comprehend how the philosophy of one mad guy as CO had resulted in their embarrassment. I did not say “sorry” to them but my body language probably compensated for it. Customs have their value; philosophies which are against the customs also have their value.