Generalisation and clichés do not support a discussion.
There are multiple issues dogging the army, which are the causes of stress :-
1. From your time of commissioning (1966/67 ? ) approx five decades have passed, troops in Infantry are not of the 'angootha chap " variety.
2. With better education, there is a huge rise in aspiration among troops.
3. All of our recruits no longer come from purely rural areas, they come from semi urban nuclear families also. there is little or no support of the joint family in the village.
4. Officer is not the " Mai baap / ann data " as troops gave us that status when I joined in 1981, at least in my regiment. they thought the pay I was disbursing on pay day was from some fund which the " Sahib Bahadur's" controlled. Now it comes directly to their bank account.
Troops were not angootha chhaps, even if your worn out clichés of apologists are taken to be the Gospel that spanned the years I was in the Army. When I commanded the unit, it was way in the fag of 80s and beginning of the 90s. Surely, they were not what you so colourfully attribute to as angootha chhaps!
I assure, education had visited them, there were the urbanites and they did have aspirations and ambitions, as you have it today.
May I assure you that the joint family system started breaking up when the Zamindari system was abolished and accelerated to vanishing from the time Land Ceiling came into being.
It is an exaggeration to take it that when you joined in 1981 the troops thought that their pay was coming from a fund controlled by the 'Sahib Bahadur'. When I joined decades before you did, they knew where there pay was coming from and that was the PAO! I am not too sure about your Regiment's ways, but I will ask Lt Gen Ashoke 'Tarzan' Kapoor of your Regiment when I meet him this year at our Course's Golden Jubilee get together at the NDA. I have served along with 5 SIKH LI twice, once when it was commanded by Lt Col (later Lt Gen) Chatterjee in 25 Div and then at Chamkot, commanded by a very fine Sikh Officer who was my Instructor in CIJW and US returned. Also at Kanpur, 12 SIKH LI at Kanpur commanded by Lt Col Mangat was from our Brigade and was located adjacent to my Company Lines. My own Company Commander Lt Col RS Vishwen went to Sikh LI. I would disagree with you if you feel that SIKH LI chaps felt that their pay came out of some fund that was of the 'Sahib Bahadur'. Before the money that they did not draw was left in their account with the PAO and which they withdrew while going on leave, now it is with the bank!
In fact, I found the SIKH LI chaps cleverer than my boys. To indicate so, I recall an incident when 12 SIKH LI was having their Annual Adm Inspection. They had flinched things from my Company Stores to make up their deficiencies, but were good enough to return it to the CQMH after the inspection along with a plate of pakoras and invited the CQMH and some more to join them for Barakhana that was being organised for a successful Adm Insp. That is another example to rubbish/debunk another old women's tale that the SIKH LI chaps are 'dicey Joes'. In fact, they are a fine set. And they are most innovative and enterprising. Hardly, the angootha chhaps!
5. Earlier when a " jawan's" child was sick a post card was sent to him by his wife / family which took about ten days to arrive at a far flung post. By then it would be assumed that the child has recovered. Today we are technology driven, the jawan's wife gives him a call on his mobile , probably when he is on sentry duty, cursing him as she has no one from the family to assist her in taking some one sick at home to the hospital, as she is staying in a semi urban area as a nuclear family to meet the educational needs of her children.
6. Today's world that includes you, me and everyone is a trifle more materialistic than what it was 50 years back.( Do I need to give statistics ??)
people in society ask for their rights, when not given due to various reasons, they sulk / agitate / get depressed. Our troops come from the same society.
I wonder how many jawans who go to field area leave or afford to leave their wives in a rented tenement in a city or village, far away from their homes or the military. Today, there are Separated Family Quarters (SFQ) in all military stations and Regimental Centres with KVs for education of their children.
Every SFQ is like a mini township with all the facilities within the complex. There is the MI Room with an Ambulance, the kirana shops, other shops, a truck comes to do the round with vegetable (and they are cheaper than the market, since it is got from the wholesale market), school buses to take the children to school and bring them back, CSD outlet, MES maintenance team, for electricity and infrastructure problem, sentries, and the rounds by the Monthly Station Officers Wives visit to the SFQ to interact with the wives to know of the issues that vex them. Therefore, to feel that a wife rings up on a mobile to chide that why is the soldier not there to take the child to hospital, though possible, is but the exception than a rule.
I would find it odd that a jawan does not take the advantage of the SFQ and the KV Schools for education of their children and instead leave his wife in a city in a rented room, all on her own, to fend for herself and her children!
It is correct that today materialism has crept in. Nothing wrong or unusual. However, the issue is that there is a difference between materialism and greed.
There is a difference between materialism and greed. This difference is being lost sight of in the contemporary Army society as a fallout of the general Indian society. Today's, newspaper indicates that prize crook Lt Gen Sahni ex DG ASC has been dismissed but saved from being cashiered by the Army Tribunal. He is the type who is a disgrace to the military since he could not differentiate materialism from greed! I would attribute this lack of character to poor grooming by his seniors.
I would like to assure you that the basic necessities and aspirations are within the reach of all ranks, commensurate to their pay. There is the CSD where you can buy white goods, and then there is the EMI that is always there by a variety of financial organisations and the banks. It is true that one cannot buy a Lamborghini on the pay or even the EMI, but today's officers can sure buy say, a Skoda and the PBOR a Maruti or Nano. In fact, should you visit a unit at PT you would find a whole lot of scooters, cars and what have you. In my time, it was a Hind or an Atlas cycle and that too, of the officers.
The moral is – aspiration, materialism, is all very good, but one has to learn to cut one's clothes as per the cloth.
That comes about my close interaction amongst each other and with his command. Fancily, it is called Man Management!
As far as demanding of right is concerned, when you give it to him before he asks or explain to him like a rational being that it is difficult, no one is a fool not to realise the situation.
Now, what does a soldier want – pay, leave, food.
Where the problem lies is that one leaves it to the PAO and the computer. Check your pension, you will find anomalies. Likewise, the Company Commander must be on the ball and check that all the DO IIs have been accounted for. One of the allowances that is missed out is the road mileage for troops who are up in the hills. Must check that and inform the trooper. He will know you care for him! Tell him and encourage him to avail LTA. Now, that some come under IT, teach him tax planning. In short, involve yourself with your men. Sadly, few officers have the inclination or the time! There likes the disconnect.
Leave. Plan it and announce the same to the company, after getting their choice, so that each knows when he is to do and so can plan ahead. Let leave not be a game of chance or a result of buttering up the senior JCO on his district affiliation with the JCO.
Casual Leave. Explain to the troops the distribution of strength commensurate to the operational requirement. Indicate the figures essential to meet the same. Indicate the number required for Adm duties. Indicate the figures for Course and TD. Let them join in, in feeling that they are not just 'working hands' and zombies. Then have a 'Leave Committee' composed of all ranks. Let them realise how difficult it is to balance operational requirements and leave. Soon, they will give up and leave it to you. But still consult them, as if they matter! Make people feel important and useful!
Food. A very sore point with all. Ensure the cooks have a relief. They are also human. Train non cooks to be replacement. Ensure that the chappatis are not uncooked on the rims. Ensure that the spices are available and there is no overdose to make it unpalatable. Reject substandard vegetable and take it up with the CO. Ensure that the meat is delivered as per the scale and that the liver etc are not taken away by the JCOs' Mess and also ensure that the liver etc after cooking is not consumed solely by NCOs. It might take away 'quality time' from your family, but once things settle down and they know you are capable of a 'surprise' visit, the skulduggery will be less. And the important lesson that will be driven home is that You Care. If there still some gaps, they will know that it is not because you did not try!