Bangladesh - Military Personnel

Army—paramilitary personnel, police, and civilians who had fought with the Mukti Bahini—the Bangladesh Army has expanded considerably although erratically since its formation on December 26, 1971. Between 1973 and 1975, the army absorbed many of the 28,000 personnel who had been detained in Pakistani jails for the duration of the war of independence. Following the 1975 coup, additional personnel were absorbed into the regular army when the martial law government abolished the Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini.

Under Zia's rule, army expansion slowed, in part because of his campaign to purge mutinous elements and collaborators from the ranks. When Ershad assumed power in 1982, army strength had stabilized at about 70,000 troops. Starting in 1985, Ershad accelerated the transition from martial law to elected civilian government. The army then experienced another spurt in growth. As of mid- 1988, it had about 90,000 troops (although some observers believed the number was closer to 80,000), triple the 1975 figure.

Recruitment into the all-volunteer army is open to all male citizens of Bangladesh. There are no restrictions based on religious or ethnic affiliation, though the army is composed almost entirely of Bangla-speaking Sunni Muslims. The language of the military is Bangla. All officers are required to have at least a working knowledge of English. Army officer recruits must be between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one. Before 1980 the maximum age for both officer and enlisted recruits who had fought in the war of independence as civilian irregulars was twenty-three years. With the aging of the liberation generation, however, the army discontinued preferential recruitment of freedom fighters.

Officer candidates must be unmarried and have a high school diploma or the equivalent. The minimum height requirement is 160 centimeters; the minimum weight is 49.8 kilograms. Promising candidates attend a two-year officer training course at the Bangladesh Military Academy at Bhatiary, near Chittagong. After successful completion of the course, graduates receive commissions in the army as second lieutenants. The academy graduated its first class in 1977. Advanced military training is offered at the Defence Services Command and Staff College, founded in Dhaka in 1977.

Attendance at the staff college is a preferential assignment for midcareer officers. In addition, the army operates a number of combat schools, such as the School of Infantry and Tactics in Sylhet. The only advanced training beyond the staff college point is in foreign military schools, primarily in the United States or Britain. These choice assignments are reserved for a few select officers. An officer usually serves from fifteen to twenty-five years, after which he is eligible to receive a pension, as well as perquisites such as preferential hiring in the civil service, reduced-price housing, and free land on or near military cantonments.

Military pay and allowances are fixed by the National Pay Commission into ten grades with a total of seventeen steps, or pay scales. Nevertheless, the range in pay between the upper and lower strata of the officer corps remained basically the same in 1988 as in earlier years.

Defence Services Command and Staff College is a prime military institution of Bangladesh Armed Forces. Established in December 1977, DSCSC provides professional military education to selected mid-career officers of the three services and prepares them for assumption of increasing responsibilities both in command and staff appointment. Here officers from the Army, Navy and the Air Force from home and abroad study in a joint environment operation of war encompassing Land, Air and Maritime forces. The College is well acclaimed internationally as a centre of excellence for study on subjects of contemporary military interest, and has so far graduated over 3987 officer including 860 from 37 different countries. The college is affiliated to the Bangladesh University of Professionals which offers a 'MSc in Military Studies' degree on successful completion of the course. Located at Mirpur a suburb of Dhaka city, 16 Km away from the city center, the College provides a wonderful campus with adequate infrastructure for education, training, research, housing, sporting and recreational facilities for the student officers.

National Defence College (NDC) is the premier national institute of excellence on security, strategy and development studies. The college is pursuing its vision since 1999 to emerge as the centre of distinction on strategy and development studies to meet the challenges of 21st century. The college provides an in-depth look into strategic issues and constituents of national security of Bangladesh. NDC endeavours to formulate befitting academic curricula for the potential policy planners, leaders and thinkers from home and abroad. The college allows freedom of expression following a non-attributable policy that allows for an environment of free and open inquiry, exchange of ideas and crystallization of consensus. Today, NDC Bangladesh is a home of excellence for strategy and development studies including research to create future leaders.

SI&T Sylhet was established on 19 March 1973 at Comilla Cantonment as 'School of Infantry' for providing Infantry Weaponry Training only. Later the institution was shifted to Jessore Cantonment in 1974 and Tactical Wing was added with it. As a result it was renamed as 'School of Infantry and Tactics'. In the same year, it was re-organized and divided into four Wings i.e. Armour, Artillery, Engineers and Infantry and was renamed as “COMBAS”. In August 1977, when other arms established their own training intuitions, this institution was again renamed as 'School of Infantry and Tactics'. In 1979, the institution was shifted to its present location i.e. Jalalabad Cantonment. In 1982, 'Special Warfare School' was merged with this institution as 'Special Warfare Wing'. As a result, this institution was vested with the responsibility of providing training on weapon, tactics and special warfare for the personnel of Bangladesh Army. Training Support Wing and Administrative Wing were also added with it for its smooth functioning and conduct of training.