I THINK most Zambians watch too many movies and think the military is just running around shooting guns. They think all you need is muscles and basic literacy to be a soldier.
That is further from the truth in the modern military. The number of people needed to get a guy in the frontline shooting guns is tremendous.
You need to feed, clothe and arm that guy. It is called logistics and is a highly specialized and complicated skill.
You need to ensure he can communicate so he can report and receive instructions. It’s called C3I or C4I.
He needs air support and artillery covering him. Firing artillery is sophisticated calculations are needed which allow an artillery shell to land at the place indicated.
It requires human resource management to ensure he has right skills to carry out his job and that the right personnel are allocated in his units to fill all the slots. His battalion will have a drivers, clerks, storesmen, armourers, paymasters, accountants, IT personnel, telecommunications specialists, mechanics etc.
Specialists in the storage and transportation of all manner of stores from artillery shells to bread and eggs and fuel.
The military is a sophisticated multidisciplinary force that requires a multitude of skills to get that guy in the frontline to fire bullets at the enemy.
Even the modern enlisted man nowadays needs to be able to operate very sophisticated equipment.
Sitting inside a Shilka ZSU-23 self propelled anti aircraft gun is a computerised system for tracking enemy aircraft and firing at them.
The modern armoured personnel carrier has GLONASS and GPS navigation systems built in.
Modern 4.5 generation aircraft like the L-15 are completely computerised with glass cockpits.
The modern Zambian military operates sophisticated communications systems which combine telephony, the internet, video conferencing and so on.
The modern military is a far cry and far more advanced than the military of 30, 40 or 50 years ago.
Some of the best IT technicians I have worked with were ex-military. They trained not just in the military’s own technical schools but at CBU and UNZA and also abroad. It is interesting interviewing someone who has a diploma from ZIT, another diploma from a University in Yugoslavia and a degree in Electronics from the Hellenic Defence Academy and yes he has just retired as Warrant Officer from the AirForce or another with a Diploma from Nortec in heavy vehicle mechanics, an East German degree in Electronics and some Russian qualifications in mechanics and motor vehicle engineering. And you ask him what he did in the army. I drove tanks was the answer.
Then someone tells you about how one time the Zambian Army was in Mozambique fighting Renamo and a Zambian platoon got trapped deep in Mozambique. How he and other soldier were dropped by choppers to counter attack and surround Renamo. Then you ask how did you know the guys were trapped ? Oh we we re e listening on the Radio in Petauke and our commander was listening in Lusaka. So you get a map and realise there was a radio network working from deep inside Mozambique and officers could follow what was going on 300 kilometers away and could despatch more troops by helicopter to trap the Renamo forces. So what happened to the Zambian troops trapped ? Oh says the retired Colonel we used them as bait. They ran for the Zambian border. We put a force there. We also choppered troops on the flanks of the Renamo guys. And then when they were pushed back they ran right into a trap. Only lost one guy in the trapped platoon but killed 73 Renamo.
It’s not all guns and macho Rambo style shooting there is lots of brain work too. Let me not even go into psychological warfare and winning hearts and minds. How there are specialists in the military trained in mass communication and can do training in diverse things like public health, sanitation ? Or print leaflets and set up radio stations and broadcast propaganda?
By Brian Mulenga
Kalemba