As the Air Force turns 88, let’s acknowledge the crucial role of logisticians
The back-end warriors
The IAF has turned 88 today. While its professionalism has been showcased many times over, this year brings with it a special responsibility on its young shoulders. As the India-China standoff lingers into the coming winter, all eyes are on the jawans on the front lines and on pilots manning cockpits at IAF air bases. The media lenses stay focused on these war fighters, as they should rightly be, but it is also imperative to acknowledge the invaluable role played by the silent war enablers — the back-end team of logisticians who provision the nuts and bolts that ensure that India’s deterrence stays in place to prevent war — and if that fails, to impose our will on the adversary. A logistician’s crib is that he gets remembered only when war is about to break out. To paraphrase Clausewitz, it’s because it’s his (the logistician’s) art that moves armies — practically everything other than strategy and tactics of war that a nation embarks on. A break in the supply chain disrupts progress o…
