A lesson learnt from the Israel army

MY tenure in Lebanon as the Commanding Officer in the aftermath of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war will always be etched in the depths of my heart. With a tinge of sadness these days I watch on TV the skyscrapers in Beirut, which I used to drive past, getting razed to the ground by high-precision air-strikes by the Israel Air Force. The footage triggered a memory of my visit to Israel that year.

It all happened one late night when the Force Commander directed me to represent the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), for a seminar being organised by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). The next day, as my convoy of Toyota Land Cruiser Prados, escorted by Quick Reaction Teams, neared the barrier at the Israel-Lebanon border, the leading QRT was flagged down by a smart lady IDF soldier.

My men expected inconsequential queries from her and her team. 'Kahan se aye ho, kahan jaa rahe ho, kisko milne ja rahe ho'. (From where have you come, where are you going, whom are you going to meet). But they were in for a rude shock when all of us were instructed to alight from our vehicles, irrespective of our ranks. A body scanner was run over our bodies and all four vehicles thoroughly searched with metal detectors plus a physical search of every nook and cranny. All personnel and vehicles were photographed and details sent to the next check-post by secure digital means. I was then given the most respectful salute by their security chief and let off after about 15 minutes.

Since the seminar was scheduled in the evening, the Israeli Deputy Brigade Commander had, on my request, invited me to attend a Tactical Exercise Without Troops — a discussion on the ground — to get an insight into their functioning. We climbed onto a small hillock where all the young Israeli men and women officer-soldiers were seated on a rocky patch, their weapons slung over their shoulders.

I soon realised they did not differentiate amongst each other across gender or rank. It took me a while to identify the instructor and senior officers attending the exercise. In the discussion that followed, on the plan of attack on a feature in Lebanese territory, every officer participated. No one deferred to a senior officer. Everyone had a different yet innovative attack plan. No one carried a shred of paper to make notes.

I was highly impressed — here was a pragmatic approach to tactics in which senior officers were giving a carte blanche to their juniors. Soon the lunch break was announced. Everyone unpacked their lunch, which they had carried in their backpacks. I noticed that not a single officer had unhooked his or her weapon from the sling across their chests while eating.

Driving back from the seminar, I realised that the lack of hierarchy between seniors and juniors, across gender and rank, was, indeed, remarkable. Though we are a professional army back home in India, there's always something new to learn.