AFVOA Newletter August 2020

Section 7- From the Archives CV 2 No. 02 / 2020 Page 223 of 237 in the event of the demise of a retired Service officer. These aide memoirs were of great use to us. In the planning stage are a few more projects. We took a conscious decision to re designate ourselves as ‘’Armed Forces Veteran Officers Association’’ there by exhibiting Pride, Progress and Resilience. NEW TEAM ELECTED 10 June 2001 As per our norms, it was time for a fresh team to assume the mantle of responsibility. Accordingly, a team led by Maj Gen RPRC Naidu, AVSM, VSM, as President, Col N Viswanathan, as VP and Col D Subramanian as Secretary were elected unanimously and assumed charge on 10 June 2001 at the Youth hostel. Maj Gen RPRC Naidu is a highly decorated third generation officer in the Army. His Grandfather had served in the First World War and Father in the Second World War and is a veteran with experience both in war and peace. Both Viswanathan and Subramanian were SAPPERS who duly followed their motto which is “SARVATRA” meaning they are Everywhere! MASTER DATA SHEET OF MEMBERS In the early years of our forming ourselves as a group of retired Service Officers drawn from the three services, we did not envisage the requirement of a standardized entry form for new members joining the association. A mere letter to the President EXSOA conveying desire to join and giving basic details were good enough. As our membership strength started increasing, a need was felt that a standardized form to serve as an application form with broad based bio-data details be filled by a person seeking membership Accordingly the data forms were circulated to obtain the requisite information even from the existing members. Most of the members cooperated and filled the forms and enabled the Association to have a permanent record, which could be used when needed. For example details of blood group classification enabled compiling information by sub group, collating information pertaining to specific talents, interests and qualifications of both officer and spouse, enabled identification of “CHUPA RUSTAMS” (Hidden talents) to be profitably used for giving lectures both to our members and in schools/colleges/Radio/TV/Seminars. It is a continuous effort that the Association is following albeit with new formats for the forms depending on current requirements. (The old records are still held.) Points raised by Members Our elder member Maj Gen Aban Naidu suggested that there should be greater interaction between the Serving and Retired officers of the Station. Further, the interaction should be more visible to the civilian public. He particularly was referring to a practise which he had initiated in Delhi, when he was the GOC of Delhi Area. He started a system by which when a veteran officer passed away in the Area, a few serving personnel would also attend the last rites. The General proposed that the