New Army Commander Lt. General Mahesh Senanayake said structural reforms should be introduced to 'right-size' the Sri Lankan Army.

This is not to ‘downsize’ the Army, but to ‘rightsize’ the Army to get the best results," he said, while speaking to a representative gathering of Senior Officers and Officers at the Army Headquarters, on Monday. 

“We have our own expertise within the organization for such forthcoming reforms since we had the skills to make war-winning strategies, tactics, small group operations, etc and apply them by ourselves. Such moves are always open to negotiations and discussions. Having fought a bitter war for so many years and admired as the world’s best Army, we ourselves are able to manage things and no outside assistance is needed for that. Such structural changes for the organization would be introduced for the betterment of the Army administration and other logistics. I am always prepared to take up any challenge in my life,” the Commander explained.

“Without compromising the national security concerns, we need to change our attitudes and mentality since the war is over now and we are now in post-conflict era. Before somebody directs us to do changes, we have to produce our own suggestions and take necessary action. I need to use two different criteria for the Officers and Other Ranks who served the Army before the year 2009 and afterwards. It’s a fair way to care for them,” he added.

"One third of the Army should always have Combat Readiness, another one third for nation-building and the remaining one third for administration. It is high time for us to re-build and promote the image of the organization. I would also suggest the appointment of a special committee for preparation of image-building measures. I also feel that soldiers must get priority over Officers because Officers could always manage easily. Remember that we are going to fight a Corporals’ War in future and not that of the Generals," the Commander said.