Servicemen effectively tackled - mostly a self goal

I have been pondering over the ease with which successive governments have managed to take the armed forces and the ex servicemen ( ESM ) for a ride. It is now clear. The serving officers are kept in check by the agonisingly low chances of promotion. A slight assertive move by any and it is sure curtains for him. The same government allows IAS officers to have an association since their promotions are almost assured. The government also allows their own ministers to make anti-govt statements, since the government is dependent on some ministers and not the other way round. That takes care of the serving community. As for ESM, the community has committed hara-kiri by wanting to maintain its officer like behaviour in their dealings with the government. They like to retain their 'correct' image and are not prepared to be the street-fighter. This is surprising since they would surely be seeing the success rate of those who do so and the failure rate of those who, while in Rome, do not behave as Romans do. They pride themselves on holding all the correct cards without realizing that the game being played is chess. So the service community and the ESMs are destined to get an occasional crumb here and there, few and far between.