Facing dilemmas

There's insufficient understanding of dilemmas that young army officers like Major Leetul Gogoi face

While making interesting points, both the editorial, “The general goes ballistic” (May 30) and Aakar Patel’s article, “History lessons for current armymen” (May 26), have an insufficient understanding of the dilemmas that young army officers like Major Leetul Gogoi face.

They get three to five opportunities in their careers to show exceptional capabilities in challenging situations. In this instance, if Major Gogoi had followed the rule book and got some of the soldiers, the paramilitary forces and the election party killed or injured during the stone-pelting in Jammu and Kashmir, he would have not only have brought much joy to Pakistan but also faced lifelong opprobrium and boring postings in the Indian Army.

Alok Sarkar   Kolkata

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