One of the most useful things that a CO can do for his troops is to ensure that the troops get what they are authorized, especially salary and reimbursements. In our unit we had a number of cases where the ORs salary was in negative - we could not pay him for the month, however the OR claimed that many of his dues were still outstanding. Reminders, letters, etc were no good. This is what we did for them.
We got an officer to intervene. All such cases were collected and of the 800 almost 100 plus had large outstanding amounts to be paid to them. Then the officer went to BEG Roorkee and met the officers there. Our officer carried a clerk with him who sat with the BEG clerk. The officer sat with the other officer. If the officer was not successful then it was the 2IC who went and sat with the counterpart. They had to just be there in front of the officer and every 1 hour contact the CO using the phone and tell the CO how many cases had been resolved.
Simultaneously we also did something interesting - one of the ORs who was to retire complained that the clerks were asking for a cut to get his work done. I with the blessings of the CO, contacted the anti-corruption authorities. We got the currency that was to be paid countersigned by a board. The plot was that the OR would pay the bribe and the police would apprehend the individual with the notes that were initially marked. We could have solved the problem of corruption in BEG to a large extent in one operation. Unfortunately the Col Comdt had to be informed and he was a wimp I guess.
But guess what, the information travels fast and a message was sent to the concerned. And in those 2 years we sorted the accounts of every soldier.
As an officer we ensure that every outstanding due is paid to us. And as an officer it is our responsibility that the same is true for our ORs. I dont know what the situation is with ORs today, but there is always a way to make things happen, if you want them too.
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