As a Commanding Officer we are supposed to be where our troops are. Good to say, difficult to practice. This is what I suggest. Just take 60 minutes of your time everyday and walk through the regiment - kitchens, bathrooms, barracks, workshop, offices, warehouse, kot, every place in the regiment.
The aim is to be on the feet for an hour. You could stop at the Kot and ask the kot cdr questions. You could stop at the langar and ask questions. The questions are:
1. What do you do?
2. What are your problems?
3. What can I do to make your job effective?
And remember that the SM / J Adjt notes the replies and you solve the problems as soon as you reach your office.
One of the biggest problems I saw was that the CO was becoming more and more distant from the troops. And if the truth be told there is always a parallel economy that keeps running in the background. The CO can create all the policies he wants, it is for the officers (who actually are also clueless to a large extent)and the troops to implement them.
Col Ravi Deskhmukh and I used to go out for our daily walks and we used to learn a lot just by listening. For example a sentry when asked what his problem was told us that he was overlooked for the JN Cadre due to favouritism. Another alleged that recruits paid money to the Trg JCO to get leave. The Langar commander told us that if we tile the butcher room up to the ceiling, cleaning the walls would be so much easier. The Trg JCO on the firing range told us that the bamboos used to support the targets break in just 5 details of firers, whereas the earlier ones used to last 10. I could go on.
The point is we never would have known this sitting in our offices. The SM was told that we wanted the true feedback and any attempt on his part to silence the truth would not go well.
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