The aim of listing the appointments is to give an idea on the background and experience I had accumulated in the army. In all my commands I was always considered ‘hot’ on training as I believe that it is only comprehensive training that raises the professional capabilities of officers and men and wins battles for the nation.

When I took over the reins of the Army Training Command in July 1997 from my predecessor, Lt Gen. S.K. Sharma, the age of retirement had recently been raised; hence, the tenure of four years as an army commander was assured for me. This translated into a full tenure of two years at ARTRAC and I enjoyed every moment of it. It is unfortunate that after I relinquished command of ARTRAC in October 1999, tenures of my successors have been much shorter, some merely of a few months. This is neither good for ARTRAC nor for the incumbents, who probably are unable to bring to fruition the changes, projects, studies and publications initiated by them.

In our command-oriented army, ARTRAC was somewhat of an incongruity, as most people had no idea of the functioning of a Command that had no geographical responsibility. It was a problem which needed to be addressed and by the end of my tenure, I had made substantial progress in this regard. An associated drawback was the short tenures of my staff officers. The criteria for a posting to ARTRAC were very high and many, after spending only a few months, moved out on promotions because they were high flyers; a problem which persists till date.

On assuming command, I had set a number of goals for myself. These were in the areas of earning acceptance of ARTRAC as an important organisation in the army; reduction, if not elimination, of dual control over training by ARTRAC and by directorates at Army Headquarters; gradually assuming control of additional training establishments; doctrine development; issue of publications; and last but not the least, jointmanship.

One of the most satisfying aspects of my tenure was the acceptance of Army Training Command as an important organisation of the Indian Army. A large number of training establishments that were earlier not under the command of ARTRAC were co-opted and although, I did not fully succeed in co-opting the relevant directorates under me, I did manage to make substantial inroads. Despite all these, I still feel that it is essential to remove the present duality of functioning. It would eliminate many irritants that continue to affect the smooth functioning of the Army Training Command.