What happens to the new cadets when they join PMA? is fooling by seniors allowed?
when a cadet enters PMA or any other PA military institution, there are two seniors who are directly responsible for him. one is course corporal and other is course sergeant. The cadet is part of a platoon of a course. Course can be 20-25 cadets.
Course corporal is of third term, course sergeant is of final term. These two can literally do anything with their assigned course of cadets. Rag them, punish them, reward them etc etc. The best of the senior term cadets are chosen as course corporal and course sergeant because these two will teach, train, guide and polish them for the first 6 months.
The most important person in a cadets life is , platoon commander (rank either captain or major). Its is truly said, " aasman per khuda hay, zameen per platoon commander". In PMA slang lang, he is called "palta". He is the only one after God who will decide the cadets fate. His recommendation can make a cadet 's fall or rise and even expulsion.
Company commander and battalion commander rarely interact with the cadets. Other senior officers are out of question regarding direct interaction.
The staff. Drill staff, P.T staff, weapons staff, horse riding riding staff, library staff...long list of staff. Staff's are the NCO/JCO who interact alot with cadets and wear the distinctive red sash. They are notoriously famous for giving RESTRICTIONs by making notes in their handy notebooks.
A RESTRICTION is a penalty which could be. NO weekend pass. NO night pass, NO vacations etc. This can also be to report to a certain area for a certain penalty at cerain time of the day for x number of days.
Restrictions are written as (Number X R).... e.g (2 X R means two restrictions).
First term cadets are now allowed to walk, even if its a few paces, they will double up means run. even walking with a senior they will jog along him.
They will hold satchels of books in a certain manner, they will always move in "Fall in" position.
Fall in position is the three row, shoulder length distance apart standing in army fashion. Any cadet who wishes to join fall in position will first take permission from the senior or the staff conducting the fall-in and then join from back side in an empty space on the right most side .
FALL IN position and joining it cannot be described in words here, its not complex but sometimes hard to understand procedure. cadets will always move in fall in position if in group of 2 or more. You can only breathe in a fallin, you cant move a muscle even if a mosquito bites you. you move and u get restrictions or ragging.cant talk, cant gesture. only look straight. not speak unless spoken to.
There is always course corporal or staff or any other senior cadet walking along the course when its moving in fall in position. if an officer like adjutant approaches the course, only the senior cadet will salute and report to him.
At night, there is a mandatory punctual inspection fall in and attendance at 9:00pm, (dont know if its changed now). The course corporal gives course status to course sergeant who gives to platoon commander. But this can vary in company fall in and battalion fall in.
Inspections are a pain in the butt. room inspections include a 30 item check from creases on beds to tooth paste, shaving blades, shining in boots, uniform with all buttons closed of every buttoned shirt blazer.
The clothes in cupboard need to be kept at certain racks with left or right as instructed only. the socks in a certain manner in certain drawers. damn, even show laces are checked. one thing out of place and u r blessed with RESTRICTIONS. stationery is checked. pillow, quilt properly placed is checked. There are alot of items.
Honesty, its hard to escape restrictions in a room inspection. FALL IN inspection includes shaving also in which a senior can use a paper to run on cheek upwards to check shave and if he hears a sound, RESTRICTION. shaving is must even if u r sick. If you go without shave one day, every senior, officer and staff you come across will make your life hell the whole day.
Now the fooling and ragging. Honestly, the seniors who rag you will become your best friends in later life as officers. its like they own u in the academy but owe u for the rest of your life.
Ragging is helpful in many ways. Its brings the cadets of one course/platoon together. One of the cadets makes a mistake, the rest of the course suffers and goes through punishment. its good as it brings trust in the coursemate standing next to u and strengthens bond.
ragging is a long list: push ups, front rolls, legs up the wall(especially after breakfast, haha), standing in sitting position, standing without moving, without blinking, look up at the sky eyes staring out though not in sun. and even stupid kind of things that waqar zaka copied from PMA in his dare shows, haha.
Mess and messing is another lengthy topic. no sound of crockery or utencils or u go under the table and the other cadets are advised to start kicking when u move from under one table end to another.
usually one senior stand at one end of table, other at the other end, one walks around and the waiters keep serving. yes, there is a fall-in before you enter mess and another after u exit. You enter the last, exit the first from the mess.
you enter in a straight line. stand behind chairs. you are then advised to sit. you stand on left of chair, pick it up quietly, no sound of chair dragging or any sound of chair with floor or else early exit from mess without eating. after you pick chair in right hand, you place it behind you. no sound. u r still standing. then when ordered, u softly drag the chair under toward u from behind, no sound, best to do is to already place it at an approximate position where u will sit and not too far from table. place the bum at the edge only. if u place bum in middle, early exit from mess or cocktail.
COCKATILS is 1/4 water filled glass, with curry , with the amount of black pepper or salt as the senior wishes and drinking in 3-5 seconds. didnt finish? fill again and do again till u vomit. worst is when senior fills this with raita or dessert also. and then says," dont worry, it will look all the same in your stomach in a few secs"
U wont believe the amount of crockery broken and vomiting scenes in cadets mess. if the senior doesnt the way u eat or drink, he will break a few plates in disgust and ask u to leave without food.
Okay the rules, sit straight with bum at the edge of chair, back always straight. looking forward. eat only when told to eat. you cannot get up. want something? ask your fellow cadet to pass it to u.
tell the course/platoon to follow these TIPS: always eat the curry first. leave the meat piece please for the end coz that will incur a sound from the fork. when eating rice with fork and spoon, if you cant handle fork, please leave the fork, grab what u can with spoon and eat before u make a sound with fork and everybody goes hungry. if u cant handle fork in a curry plate, just hold it and eat with only roti dipping in curry, dont learn to use fork when the whole course is eating.
Lastly, if u cant use spoon properly eating a dessert, take small chops or just pretend you are eating. make a sound and its cocktail dessert with 1/4 water in glass, rest dessert( kheer/trifle/halwa/sawaiyaan etc) and gulp in 5 secs.
Your buddy (batman sort of guy , one for 5-6 cadets) will polish your shoes, wash and iron your uniform, bring your assigned daily rations of milk pak and one fruit to ur room. can bring you other stuff if u bribe him with money or food or milk or CHITS...there are many ways. obviously one needs supply cigs, mobile cards or one mobile phone call from his cell or any other necessity for inspection thats gone missing etc
keep your buddy happy, your life will be happy. Forgive him if one fine day he decides to eat your assigned fruit or drinks the milk pak. He is a life saver in many other important circumstances when only and only he is your saviour after God.
damn i havent even come on ragging yet, will write that in next post.
mate, u use your buddy for this matter. obviously there are ways to go around ! he brings your supplies.
) between 10-11 am and then around 2pm. Its mandatory to serve tea break to any guest. Its considered extremely offensive not to offer tea break to any visiting officer/guest.
