Is BDF ready to mobilise its reserves?
Richard Moleofe | Friday June 24, 2016 18:01
Regardless of the fact that in this standoff between the two countries there have not been any shots fired, the Ukrainian reserves were eager and ready to serve their country with pride. The fact that Russia is a nuclear power and possesses far more superior firepower did not serve as a deterrence to the mobilisation of many men and women who remain in the countryside as reserves.
Bringing the question closer home; is the BDF ready to activate its reserves in times of need? The BDF Act provides for the creation of a reserve force but it is the implementation part that still lacks a great deal. The Act provides that any member of the Defence Force shall remain within the reserve force five years after their separation with the military institution. What the Act does is to provide the Defence Force with a pool of manpower to meet their needs in any eventuality. At the moment BDF is haemorrhaging from retirements and this comes as a natural consequence in that this military institution has matured from the time it was incepted in 1977. Government has continued to help BDF in recruiting new officers and soldiers to fill the rank and file that become vacant.
In this process, what is lost is the myriad experiences in the different fields and arms of the institution. For instance, a signal or logistics officer with 25 years of experience cannot be replaced with a freshman Officer Cadet who has just commissioned from the barracks.
Reserves could be put into use in many different ways. They could be dedicated to addressing and assisting in disaster preparedness and thus leaving the regular force to deal with more serious security issues. Disaster preparedness should be managed in that fashion when taking into account the fact that adverse weather has now become a security issue within a global context.
Old soldiers don’t always find a place in the existing civilian labour force due to the current employment imbalances in the country. In this manner, their experiences go to waste when that could be harnessed and channelling their energies into more productive means for the country.
In fact the growing number of old soldiers in our society is an interesting subject that human resource specialists need to be studying. Most of these are found in the countryside where they try their hand in farming. Some are successful while others have hit a blank. The BDF should consider using the reserve soldiers in a hybrid force for disaster management and external UN peacekeeping operations. One third of the deployed component could be drawn from the reserve force. Most of the soldiers who took part in the successful peacekeeping missions in the 1990s are now retired and most of them are still able bodied and are resting with a wealth of experience that needs to be harvested. If government decides to take up a UN peacekeeping mission now, the current crop of serving members would have to re-invent the wheel in order to reach the same levels of success that was attained in the 1990’s operations.
The interesting factor about the BDF personnel is that after serving 20 years of active service, one can opt to go on retirement regardless of their age. An officer who was enlisted into the force at the age of 18 can retire at the age of 38 and still have many more years of productive life ahead of them. The truth is, these people have only known a life in the barracks and no wonder many of them end up with failed projects after their separation with the military. This in turn has caused many retired soldiers to wallow in poverty with insufficient incomes from their monthly pensions.
Unlike in other countries like Lesotho and South Africa where soldiers get a handshake with a greasy cheque at the end of their service, in Botswana old soldiers are just treated as any other civil servant hence the need to advance their lives with getting the reserve force working not only on paper but also in actuality.
The existing BDF’s Retired Officers Association should be driving the advancement of the welfare of all retired officers and men. At the moment the association’s direction is unclear as its primary role is not to pursue the advancement of the welfare of the old soldiers. Retired soldiers through this association should still be benefiting from the welfare scheme that they helped to establish with their monthly contributions in 1992. The scheme has grown so much more and the inclusion of old soldiers would be a great gesture of recognition on their part.
The idea of creating a reserve force is not only provided by the Act, it is also an idea that our neighbours have put into use. South Africa and Zimbabwe are two examples that can be brought forward for discussion in this whole debate. In actual fact, Zimbabwe used its own reserve elements when the infamous land grab started in that country and they were referred to as war veterans.
The other important factor that compels Botswana into the creation of a reserve force is the size of our population. Besides harnessing the pool of retired soldiers, we could allow any willing able bodied youth to train and serve for two years and be allowed to find civilian employment elsewhere. Then once a year all reserves would be activated to participate in a one week exercise that will help sharpen their skills. This would require the BDF’s budget to be raised to maintain the reserve force. But this would serve us better as a country rather than keeping a large standing force which may never see action in the battlefield.
The United States as the biggest spender in defence relies so much in her reserves and it works out cheaper for them as that helps reduce the financial burden of maintaining full time soldiers. The civilian contractors that employ these men and women who form part of the reserve also get to benefit from lucrative tax incentives to cover for the inconveniences they would suffer as a result of any recalls to active duty. At the moment, Botswana only risks having dangerous men skilled in weapons’ handling going idle in our towns and villages. Surely idle hands like idle minds are the devil’s workshop.