MP Sachin Pilot becomes Lieutenant with Territorial Army

(Will upload the pics shortly)

 

Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot picked up his rank of Lieutenant with the Territorial Army on Thursday and became one of the few politicians in the country who have 

experience the pride of soldiering. 

Unlike the other celebrity joinees of the TA who become only honorary member, the 35-year-old Member of Parliament from Dausa constituency in Rajasthan will join the ranks of politicians like KP Singh Deo and Manvendra Singh, who became regular officers in the TA. Pilot was given his rank on Thursday at a ceremony at South Block by his mother Rama Pilot and the Army Chief General Bikram Singh. Pilot had to prove his mantle before joining the force as he cleared the preliminary examination and Service Selection Board (SSB). 

 A beaming Lieutenant Sachin Pilot gave a brisk salute to the Army Chief before interacting with the media. "The decision to join army is for my personal satisfaction. My father was a fighter pilot and my grandfather was with the Indian Army. So I wanted to have a permanent link with the armed forces," Pilot told the hall packed of media persons.

Exuding confidence of a soldier and with a maturity of a politician, Pilot also deftly handled the question about conscription or enrollment in the Army shall be made compulsory to meet the shortage of officers faced by the Army.  “It is an individual’s choice. People should also look at the Army as a way of contributing to the country. In this we will not have any shortfall of officers,” Pilot added.

It was the brain child of Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju to attract young politicians to join TA. He, in fact, also organized a presentation for young Parliamentarians in the South Block some two years ago. Recently a group of these young guns have been seen going to witness various wargames in the border areas.

As part of his duties with the TA, Pilot will undergo seven months of rigorous training at Deolali and Indian Militiary Academy. Annually he will be reporting to his 124 infantry battalion Sikh regiment for 36 days unlike two months as the unit is raised on urban concept. Pilot's duty hours will be on the weekends and out of these 36 days, 14 days will be in a camp and rest 22 days will be parade for four hours every day.  

While history of US, UK and Canada has examples of politicians and their kith and kin serving in the armed forces and laying down their lives in war, Indian Parliamentarians do not have any military tradition. In such a scenario Sachin Pilot’s step would herald a new beginning that would motivate the young guns experience the pride of soldiering. Only males aged between 18 and 42 can join the TA. 

 Brigadier Deo, former Information and Broadcasting Minister, had joined the 144 Air Defence unit of TA in 1971. During his inspiring stint he participated in many high profile military operations and was awarded Ati-Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) for his exemplary services.

To make the force more popular, TA is deliberating to make its training shorter and more flexible.

Military and Politics

- 22 sitting British MPs and sons of 85 parliamentarians were killed in World War-I. Two British PMs, Herbert Henry Asquith and Andrew Bonar Law, lost their sons in the same war.

- Former US Presidents Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan were all World War II veterans.

- Wooing the young politicians was the brain child of Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju

- TA is a second line of defence after the regular Indian Army. Only meant for those people who are already in mainstay civilian professions.