Humour in Uniform
Here is an anecdote from my Humour in Uniform Archives.
ASSURED CAREER SUPERSESSION (ACS)
In his candid and controversial autobiography SPYCATCHER Peter Wright tells us about the lesson he learnt after meeting Klop Ustinov (father of actor Peter Ustinov) who was in near penury after retirement:
“...I learned a lesson I never forgot: that MI5 expects its officers to remain loyal unto the grave, without necessarily offering loyalty in return”
When one observes the plight of military veterans and ex-servicemen, it seems the same holds true in our environment too.
In the Navy, I have seen officers giving their dedicated loyalty and devotion to service, but the service does not reward them with loyalty in return once they retire or, worse, when they are superseded for promotion and fall by the wayside.
Maybe it is the same in the Army and Air Force too.
Career Prospects in the Civil Services are much better than the Defence Services.
If you join the civil services, you get benefits like Assured Career Progression (ACP) and Non-Functional Upgradation (NFU).
Military Officers get no such benefits.
In fact, if you join the Defence Services as an Officer, you must be prepared for Assured Career Supersession (ACS).
Most military officers are passed over for promotion much earlier than their civil services counterparts.
If you join the military you must be ready to suffer the ignominy of supersession.
Here is an anecdote from my Humour in Uniform Archives.
ASSURED CAREER SUPERSESSION (ACS)
An Apocryphal Story
By
VIKRAM KARVE
In his candid and controversial autobiography SPYCATCHER Peter Wright tells us about the lesson he learnt after meeting Klop Ustinov (father of actor Peter Ustinov) who was in near penury after retirement:
“...I learned a lesson I never forgot: that MI5 expects its officers to remain loyal unto the grave, without necessarily offering loyalty in return”
When one observes the plight of military veterans and ex-servicemen, it seems the same holds true in our environment too.
In the Navy, I have seen officers giving their dedicated loyalty and devotion to service, but the service does not reward them with loyalty in return once they retire or, worse, when they are superseded for promotion and fall by the wayside.
Maybe it is the same in the Army and Air Force too.
Career Prospects in the Civil Services are much better than the Defence Services.
If you join the civil services, you get benefits like Assured Career Progression (ACP) and Non-Functional Upgradation (NFU).
Military Officers get no such benefits.
In fact, if you join the Defence Services as an Officer, you must be prepared for Assured Career Supersession (ACS).
Most military officers are passed over for promotion much earlier than their civil services counterparts.
If you join the military you must be ready to suffer the ignominy of supersession.
Here is a story, which happened many years ago, in the 1980’s, much before the 2006 AVS Cadre Review Bonanza, when there was a selection board for promotion from Lieutenant Commander to Commander rank after around 15-16 years of service – now things are slightly better and every officer automatically becomes a Commander (Lt Col/Wg Cdr) in 13 years, and supersession takes place at the next rank of Captain (Colonel/Group Captain).
In contrast, civil services officers enjoy the bonanza of ACP/NFU to the Additional Secretary level [equivalent to Vice Admiral (Lt Gen/Air Marshal)].
If you are lucky to be selected for the civil services, you can look forward to Assured Career Progression (ACP), but the moment you join the Defence Services, you must be ready for Assured Career Supersession (ACS).
THE STORY OF THE SUPERSEDED OFFICER
Lieutenant Commander “X” was passed over for promotion to the rank of Commander.
“X” was devastated.
“X” was a typical service minded ex Sainik School
And since he had joined the Navy after NDA, the Navy was the “be-all and end-all” of his life.
For “X”, getting superseded for promotion was the end of the world.
It was extremely cruel for a devoted service minded officer like “X” to be told at the age of 35 that it was the end of the road as far as his naval career was concerned.
Observing how badly supersession had affected “X”, the Captain called all officers to the wardroom, and in our presence, the Captain gave “X” a pep talk.
“Come on, cheer up. What is there in a promotion? The navy is not everything. There are so many other aspects to life. Your career is just one small part of your life. And just because you are superseded does not mean you are not a good officer. There are just not enough vacancies. You must take it in your stride in the right spirit and keep working with full josh. Even as a superseded officer you can contribute…blah blah blah…and you can take up a second innings in the civvy street too – so many ex-navy officers have succeeded in their civilian careers…you must put the past behind you and move on…blah blah blah…” the Captain went on and on with his sermon.
“X” wanted to put up a representation against his supersession, but the Captain said to him: “There is no point fighting the system. You must accept your destiny with grace…blah blah blah…”
And then the Captain continued to pontificate the usual platitudes of consolation and rhetoric of motivation.
But “X” was so heartbroken that he was not convinced by the Captain’s comforting words.
“X” wanted to quit the navy there and then, for he did not want to suffer the ignominy of serving under his juniors.
However, his friends and his wife convinced him to hang on for at least 5 years more till he completed the minimum 20 years required for getting a pension.
“X” stuck on for 5 more years in the navy, serving in insignificant appointments meant for those officers who had fallen by the wayside.
The moment “X” completed 20 years of service, he quit the navy.
Meanwhile, the Captain did well in service, and in due course he was promoted to the Flag Rank of Rear Admiral.
It was strange and ironic that hardly any officer from his ship had been promoted, even his Heads of Department, the XO, EO and LO had missed their promotions, but the Captain had become a Rear Admiral.
After a few years passed, and one morning, I suddenly met “X” in the INCS Canteen.
I took him over to the club, and we sat down for a glass of beer and talked of old times.
“X” told me that he had got a good job and he was doing well in civilian life.
“Our Captain was right,” he said, “promotion is not everything. There are so many aspects to life. I was unnecessarily so upset that I did not get promoted.”
Suddenly a shipmate from the same ship came into the bar, and the moment he saw us, he joined us.
He had come on Ty Duty from Delhi .
Our ex-Captain had been posted to Delhi
“He is bad shape,” the officer said.
“He is in bad shape? What happened to him?” we asked.
“Don’t you know how desperate he was to get promoted? He was so ambitious that he even wanted to be the Chief. Unfortunately, he missed his promotion to Vice Admiral and the shock of being passed over has driven him crazy – he put up representations, statutory complaints, fought court cases – in fact, he is still fighting the system and has become very bitter and depressed – his supersession has affected him so badly that he has even had a heart attack and he is suffering from hypertension too…”
MORAL OF THE STORY
It is easy to console others, but it is difficult to console yourself.
The Rear Admiral should have mentally and emotionally prepared himself for Assured Career Supersession (ACS).
In the civil services, there can be many Secretaries and Director Generals – but in the Armed Forces there is only one Chief – so, every officer, except the Chief, is bound to get superseded at some time in his career.
If you are lucky to be selected for the civil services, you can look forward to Assured Career Progression (ACP), but the moment you join the Defence Services, you must be ready for Assured Career Supersession (ACS).
VIKRAM KARVE
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© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
1. If you share this post, please give due credit to the author Vikram Karve
2. Please DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. Please DO NOT Cut/Copy/Paste this post
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
Disclaimer:
1. This blog post is a is a spoof, pure fiction, just for fun and humor, no offence is meant to anyone, so take it with a pinch of salt and have a laugh.
2. All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the story are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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