“Under a new proposal from the US government, the army of that country will hire American visa holders from various countries of the world and they will subsequently be given the opportunity to become American citizens.”
The above news item – or call it advertorial – sounds rather bizarre, yet it was given prominent coverage recently for the reasons best known to the editors. It seems that they wanted to inspire the Indian youth to join the distant army. But perhaps in the recent years they never gave so much importance to the problem of the Indian army, navy and air-force, which too are facing acute shortage of both personnel and officers.
So young, physically and mentally talented men and women of the third world are supposed to die for a country where they were not born and brought up; with which they have no emotional, religious or patriotic attachment whatsoever. Just for the cause of the US citizenship they are expected to blindly accept this offer and become trigger-happy.
Perhaps those queuing up for the US visa are not aware what they mean by joining the US army, navy or air-force. They would not be living in the cushioned air-conditioned apartments of that so-called land of great opportunities and earn fast bucks. This citizenship will extract a huge price. The army job, anywhere in the world, is full of hardship, risk and challenge. But the adversities with the US army are even more. Recruits from all over the world are not supposed to defend the borders with Canada and Mexico as they both are friendly countries.
Besides, in the post-Soviet Union world there is no country, which can launch air or naval attack on the American mainland so easily. The army, navy and air force of the United States are raised purely for the offensive purposes. And going on offensive is always more risky and involves more casualty than defending one’s own familiar land. So once the conscripts are in the American army they are bound to be sent to the battle-zones of desert or swampy land of Iraq or the lofty snow-capped mountains of Afghanistan to work as cannon-fodder in the endless war without purpose.
Even if they are not sent in these bloody zones, they will be deployed in the NATO countries, Diego Garcia, Japan, South Korea or in anyone of the fleet moving all over the world. Very few will enjoy the hospitality of the mainland United States.
Yet there is no dearth of people from the third world countries, particularly India, who are ready to serve as mercenary for the US army and get posted in the uninhabitable land. The irony is that there are people in our own country too who will not like to serve as officers in the Indian army but would love to give up their lives as ordinary soldiers of the American army. This notwithstanding the fact that Indian army, navy and air force are offering different incentives to join them.
But giving up life for the sake of a few penny is not a new phenomenon. The Americans practised this in the past and so did the British. Lakhs of Indians as well as Nepalese soldiers died for the cause of the British in the World War-I and II. Many Muslim soldiers from Punjab, NWFP, Baluchistan, etc. were thrown into the battlefield in Gallipoli in Turkey and Basra-Baghdad region in Iraq. Even in the battle which led to the loss of Al-Aqsa from the hands of Ottoman Turks, many Muslim soldiers took part from the Allied side. They were perhaps not aware what historic blunder they were committing.
To achieve their weird and bloody objectives, the British, or all the European colonial powers, adopted a unique strategy. They started encouraging Gorkhas, Rajputs, Sikhs, etc. by calling them martial race. The truth is that the myth of martial race was later exploded by the western researchers themselves. The Americans and Europeans used the same expression to recruit Black soldiers in their army.
Today the politically naïve Gorkhas still love to serve the British army. May sound even stranger, nevertheless true: a handful of Sikh mercenaries from India went over to Lebanon to take part (from the Christian-side) in the civil war of that country in the late 1970s.
If, during the British rule in India, the Indians served the British, they had at least one excuse, that is, the country was under their occupation and in the army one cannot disobey the order. But how can citizens of sovereign countries volunteer to go to the US and serve and die for the alien land?
In the past Prisoners of War (PoWs) were used as shield by the enemies. So when the Allied launched the counter-offensive in the World War-II they, much to their horror, found their own men – then PoWs – being used as buffer in between the two armies. Most of them died in the cross-fire from both the sides.
Even in the Medieval Period there are examples of mercenaries from outside coming to serve other richer and more powerful empires. There were women guards from Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia) who used to protect the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. It needs to be mentioned that Mughals often had women army battalions and even the Wahabis, who fought the British in 1857 and before, had their quota of women volunteers.
But one aspect needs to be observed carefully. Most of the time in history a nation or empire starts relying on mercenaries when their own men or women turn coward, soft, luxury- and pleasure-loving or lose their battle-hardiness.
The Americans do want to become the world conqueror, but they do not want to sacrifice their own lives. They want others to do their fighting. Perhaps they do not know that smart bombs like daisy-cutters may bust the mountainous bunkers but to catch the enemy number one, Osama Bin Laden, they will have to risk their lives and indulge in hand-to-hand fight. Men behind the weapons still matter.