Lt-Gen Raj Sujlana (retd)

THE Army has a hierarchical chain of ranks from a Lieutenant to a General. Officers gradually progress up the ladder, manning a host of appointments at various levels of command and staff. Besides, there is an appointment of the Colonel of the Regiment (COR) which is not a part of this chain. It is different, and a privilege which comes only to a few. It differs from the rank of a Colonel and is held by a senior officer of every regiment, normally a serving General Officer of the same Regiment. It bestows on the officer, who is a fatherly figure for the regiment and responsible for the morale and welfare of his regiment. He regularly visits battalions of his regiment to address their issues, give advice, look after welfare of war widows and all ex-servicemen. The selection is by common suffrage but is restricted to one vote for each officer i.e. Colonel rank and above of the same regiment. The COR has a special privilege —he can wear the rank insignia of a Colonel whenever he visits any of his battalions. The analogy being that, a Colonel is the last rank which is in direct and daily contact with the troops. Officers thus selected have spent over two decades with the troops, earned their spurs in the junior ranks through thick and thin up to a Colonel’s rank and then move to higher command a bit detached from the direct contact with troops. This appointment, in Army parlance is referred to as ‘The Colonel’, and is a continued process and pinnacle of Regimentation in the Army.

I had the privilege of being ‘The Colonel’ of the Sikh Regiment. The tenure of over half a decade remains specially etched in mind —the wonderful interaction with the serving fraternity in varied conditions and situations, reaching out to war widows and ESM, ameliorating their problems and not to forget the tot of rum and vigorous Bhangra with them!

‘One travels in a time machine of yesteryears donning a colonels’ rank while holding the rank of General and can often land up in a humorous situation. In peace locations, formal social gatherings, if organised, are attended by officers from other regiments as well. During one of such evenings, as I mingled with the officers, a young Major, a doctor came up and said, “

“Sir, I owe you an apology!” A bit perplexed, I looked at him and wondered what possibly the reason for this was, but memory failed to ring a bell. His embarrassment was obvious as he went on, “Sir, during the evening I had observed many Colonels in the party, but you were drawing particular respect from all present, so I asked one of your Regimental Officers why this elderly Colonel was getting unwarranted respect, and reality dawned. So, sir do pardon me as I was somewhat unparliamentary!”

In another social evening, I was in conversation with a group of young Lieutenants when suddenly one of them said, “Sir I observe you are posted at the Indian Military Academy (IMA), what appointment you hold there?” Not expecting such a query, I looked at him and replied, “Well, whenever I have spare time, I love to put on The Colonel;s rank and visit battalions of the Sikh Regiment, otherwise, routinely, I perform the duties of the Commandant, IMA!” The poor guy looked shell shocked.

In both cases, I broke into a smile and told them, “to relax and enjoy the evening, life is a learning process and I am sure today you are wiser that there is an appointment of ‘The Colonel’ in the Army!