Sqn Ldr Was A Big man Then!
The AVSC gave us many more Generals. Alas! The Major lost his glory!
Until the turn of the century, a Major, and likewise his equivalent, a Sqn Ldr was a big man. Among junior officers in the Air Force, Pilot Officers and Flying Officers were not required to ‘Sir’ and salute Flight Lieutenants. Therefore, attaining the rank of Sqn Ldr was a big change as one began receiving salutes from a whole lot of squadron boys. Thereon, one remained a Sqn Ldr for many years before consideration for the select rank of Wg Cdr.
On my first posting to 10 Sqn, Maruts, I was formally received by my Flt Cdr, who was officiating for the Sqn Cdr. I always remained respectfully in awe of him. Jodhpur, one of the biggest stations then, had Wing Commanders as O/C Flying, CTO, S Adm O and SLO, besides the Squadron Commanders. The next in the rung, Flight Commanders were Squadron Leaders, and considered operational pillars of the base. Later, when I was in 6 Sqn, with twin Super Connie and Canberra flights, we had a few more Sqn Ldrs besides the Flt Commanders and Nav Leaders. They were all my revered seniors.
The steeply enhanced inductions post 1962 war began showing adverse effects on promotions in late 1970s. A much-needed policy informally called ‘Deep Selection’ was introduced to ensure that officers did not stagnate while waiting in the queue for promotions. With few vacancies for Wing Commanders, many professionally acclaimed officers missed promotions. By now, having nearly completed the mandatory 20 years’ service for pension, many of them decided to prematurely retire as Squadron Leaders. Their professional dignity did not permit them to continue as superseded officers for a few more years to go out as time scale Wing Commanders. Thanks to the ethos of service, irrespective of the rank at the time of retirement, all those officers continued to be highly respected by their veteran colleagues as well as the serving officers.
A big change, however, took place around the year 2004. The military wished to get at par with the civil police and paramilitary forces, whose rank structures had gone up manifold. It was proposed to make armed forces younger by promoting officers early to take up higher responsibilities. The Ajay Vikram Singh Committee recommended a change in service terms and conditions, to now promote all officers much earlier and by time to the rank of Wg Cdr. And all those who later missed the select promotion to Gp Capt would now become Group Captains by the time scale. So, all permanent commission officers staying on for pensionable service, now retire at least as Group Captains. With roughly half as much service as the old timer Squadron Leaders, today, the short service officers also go out as Wing Commanders..
Within the constraints of limited vacancies and the slow rate of growth of our military, early promotions could not give officers holding higher ranks adequate responsibility and authority. We do now have Group Captains as Squadron Commanders as well as Flight Commanders. Notwithstanding that, all services have adapted well to the revised rank structure. Officers are happy to don higher ranks and enjoy better salaries early.
However, there has been an extremely adverse impact on those veterans who retired as Squadron Leaders after significant contribution to the Air Force for over 20 years. The downward shift of the rank structure scale finds them standing alongside today’s officers who have put in under 10 years of commissioned service.
The old timer Sqn Ldr’s service seniority should correspond to that of today’s Wg Cdr or Gp Capt. However, with pensions determined on the basis of rank held at the time of retirement, his pension is substantially lower than that of a Wing Commander.
One comes across only a few of these old time veterans today. Everytime I greet one with a smart salute, I am reminded of my most admired Flight Commanders. Sad, that “The rank of Sqn Ldr has lost its grandeur!”
Pramod Athawale
