*Unit Officers-A Brotherhood for life*
Major (R) XXXX /9FF
As young men, or even as school boys we develop associations mostly with our peers , playmates, school or class mates, very early in life, and some of us who attend boarding schools, know that the friendships that are initiated in that environment are life long & the strongest of all.
Atleast that’s what I thought before joining 9 FF !!
You see I am a 3rd generation Infantry officer who grew up in a military environment and although my own Father embraced shahadat in 1971 when I was very young and therefore did not grow up as a typical “Military Brat” , however most of my uncles were infantrymen therefore the word “Unit Officer” was kind of part of my vocabulary since younger days.
But it confused me as a young kid when when a family visited us and my mother told me “ Baita they are your father’s Unit Officer” !!
I could not grasp the meaning of that word, why would someone who worked ( yes it was “work” not “Serve” for me at that stage) with my father have any reason to visit us ? And sometimes they had not even worked together and joined Army after my father embraced shahadat !!
I remember me asking my uncles what the heck is this “unit officer” and they would smile & say it’s a brotherhood for life ...
and in my head I would say
“B*^lSh!t”....
But that was before I joined 9 FF ...
in March 1988.
The first ever Unit officer I met on Joining 9 FF at Kharian was a 2nd Lieutenant I had not met in my life .. he had passed out from OTS and I came from PMA ... he was from Lahore & I was from Pindi ... we had never crossed paths in our lives, had no common friends ...
(I was even much more handsome then him
... )
But that was the day the word “Unit Officer” started to dawn on me .. it will take a lifetime and many wonderful officers to give me a full understanding of this bond however when I look back today ...It was 2nd Lt Shoaib Ahmed , who introduced me to this comradeship by welcoming me to his room for a night.. a floor bed (he himself also slept on floor) a very good dinner , an introduction to the unit & its officers ( I don’t want to share that intro of officers but just to give you an idea he he described Lt Kamran as a 6ft 2inch tall angry man I should avoid !! )
So this was my first unit Officer .. and to be honest it was the best introduction to the word anyone could hope for ... today after 33 years of knowing Col Shoaib Ahmed I can safely say that you don’t get better Unit officers than that ... I was lucky that I found a friend in my first day in the unit...
The word Unit Officer is Ofcourse used by many in the Army but in my opinion it is adopted in its complete concept by “Infantarians” ..
Joining my Battalion 9 FF taught me the difference between “ Working” and “Serving” .. and later on postings to NLI, or formation HQs, Frontier Corps, also made me realise why my unit is my “Parent” as well ... really both these words “unit Officer” & “ Parent Unit” were very confusing and even superfluous for me ... but that was before I joined 9 FF & became part of a family ...
But trust me, there is still another word or relation that was yet to surprise me ... “Mother of the Bn” Jee ... It was funny when as a young Lt this was mentioned by a senior who referred to 2i/c of the Unit ... and I said in my head “Have I joined the Army or some family stage show” !! A parent unit , brother officers and now a “Mother” even !!!
But I was up for an awakening .. early in my unit life in 9FF, during a waterman ship training, I contracted an ear infection that turned bad and I was stuck to my BOQs with terrible pain and I wished my mother was there to look after me .. little did I know that our dearest 2i/c was the other mother Army had placed there for me Maj Qazi Shiraz (later Col) ensured that I don’t miss my mother through daily visits to make sure I was ok, taking my meds, and eating healthy ... Sir I remain in your debt for the love and care you gave me then, and also for the lesson in comradeship and brotherhood through that care
I was always volatile to the level of stupidity even,(I can imagine most of my Unit officers smiling at that because they know how stupid I have been) however no matter how silly I was, I always had a family, the “Wilde’s Family” to back me up and take me out of trouble ... yes it was more than a 100 times they came to my support as I was mostly in it ... but that’s not what it’s about .. it is about some of the most patient and caring officers who make up unit families like ours ..
I can go on and on about the incidents that cleared my confusion about the words “ Unit Officers” “Parent Unit” & “Mother of the Battalion”.
I cannot imagine to cover all in one write up but one incident of my stint at Convey Saddle & Boltoro Glacier would tell you how Unit Officers Family comes to your support even when you are far and away ...
I was in 7 NLI & deployed on convey saddle in 1992 where I developed HACO ( High altitude Cerebral Odiema) incidentally the Bde Comd Brig Masud (later Lt Gen) was known to my CO in 9FF ... I was evacuated after a lot of efforts by the bde HQ, brought to Skardu CMH, Bde Comd Brig Masud Pervaiz was there to recieve me at the Helipad ( A great man in his own right , Allah bless his Soul) but it was in his second visit to see me in CMH that he told me how Lt Col Manzoir Iqbal Awan of 9 FF had made his life miserable from the day I was sick at saddle and how this 9 FF Officer had told the Comd that “Get My Officer down even if you yourself have to go up there “ !!
I thank Allah for blessing me with such caring Unit Officers.
So here I rest my case about why Unit officers are “Brother Officers” & Why 9FF will always be my “Parent” ...
And why all Infantrymen can relate to what I mean ...
We all live our lives, some do good in profession or some lag behind ... Some our headstrong, Volatile.. some easy going,accommodating .. But the brotherhood of the Unit is above all that , it is only understood by those who are lucky to land in families like “Wilde’s Family“ .. Some think that such units only accept “Claimants “ to their folds.. I don’t agree ..I am a living example ... If this family is still there to support me then they surly accept everyone ..
We the Veterans have lived this brotherhood and are still cherishing the times that we had together that strengthened our bond, we recieved it from our seniors and we must pass it on to our next generations... The “Unit Officer” bond is the essence of Infantry life , this comrade ship is what military life is all about and it must live on.
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