Smart Skills
Touch the peak of success in defence services
Usha Albuquerque

The popularity of films such as Veer Zara and Lakshya has revived the glamour of the defence services. And watching our real-life heroes come to the rescue of disaster victims — whether at the time of earthquakes, floods or the tsunami — has made these services a big draw for many students. The Press and media are also full of advertisements and notices exhorting all young men seeking a career full of promise and adventure to join the armed forces. The call of duty today is packaged with unique opportunities for young people with varied abilities and qualifications, to carve out a challenging and rewarding career. There is also the promise of a privileged lifestyle, adventure, social status, and above all, openings for women too.

The job of the armed forces is to defend the geographical boundaries of the country. The three arms of the defence services therefore are trained in offence and defence operations. The Indian Army defends the country’s physical territory against external and internal threats, and provides aid to civilian authorities during natural calamities or for maintenance of law and order. The Indian Navy is responsible for protecting the 7,000 km-long coastline and safeguarding the maritime interests within its economic zone, while the Air Force handles the air defence of the country.

You can join the defence services straight after school if you decide early enough and sit for the entrance exam for the National Defence Academy and Naval Academy, which provide the basic training for armed forces. This is the UPSC exam conducted twice a year in January and July each year, for which the requirement is 16`BD -19 years of age, and Plus two or equivalent, with physics and maths for those wishing to join the Navy and Air Force.

There are also stringent medical and physical requirements for each of the forces to ensure you will be suitable for the life in the forces. Around one third of applicants clear this exam and then have to appear for the rigorous Services Selection Board test, where they undergo medical and physical tests, as well as psychological and endurance tests which check the candidates suitability for a life in the forces.

Those wishing to join the Air Force have to take the Pilots Aptitude test, which once failed can never be taken again Around 300 cadets finally make it to the NDA which takes in new cadets in January and June every year for the three-year B.Sc. or BA degree. The three years are divided into six semesters, five of which are general semesters while the final semester provides specialised training for the service of choice. There is no fees charged at the NDA, in fact, you get a stipend for expenses during this period. But those who drop out have to pay the government costs incurred on their training.

After the three years at NDA, the cadets are sent for advanced specialised training in the three services: Army cadets go to the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun, navy cadets go to the Naval Academy at Goa, while Air Force cadets move on to the Air Force Training Academy at Dindigul, near Hyderabad, before they are finally commissioned as full-fledged officers.

If you miss out on the NDA, you can still try for the defence services after graduation. Candidates for permanent/ and short service commission who are graduates between 19-22 years, are selected through the Combined Defence Services exam for all three services. While the Navy and Air Force require graduates in physics, maths and engineering, the Army is open to graduates in any discipline. Graduates with professional degrees can also be recruited to the various specialised cadres in the services such as logistics, law, medicine, nursing etc. on clearing the Services Selection Board and undergoing training.

Short service commission, which is generally for 6-7 years, extendible to 10 years, is open for graduates as well as women candidates. Those applying to the Navy and Air Force are sent to the Naval Academy, Goa, and the Air Force Academy, Hyderabad, while Army officers are sent to the Officers Training Academy at Chennai, after clearing the SSB and medical fitness tests.

Unmarried women can join the services as short service commissioned officers after graduation in the Army Service Corps, the Ordinance Corps, the Education branch, and in the engineering, signals, intelligence and law cadres, if they have the requisite educational qualifications. The Navy, which was the first armed service to open its doors to women, accepts them in the law, logistics and air traffic control cadres. The Air Force offers entry to women in flying transport planes and helicopters, and in ground duty branches such as air traffic, meteorological, education accounts and administrative branches.

There are also other opening for women in the Medical and Dental Corps, the Nursing Corps and the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

You can get more information from the different websites. For the Indian Army- www.joinindianarmy.nic.in. The Indian Navy website is www.nausena-bharti.mil.in, while the Indian Air Force website is www.careerairforce.nic.in, or the UPSC website www.upsc.gov.in

The diverse nature of work brings together a wide range of disciplines in the armed forces, including medicine, engineering, electronics, law, economics, education, and so on, employing people with different aptitudes from pilots, accountants, computer professionals and legal experts, to architects, lawyers, doctors, logistic experts and veterinarians.

The Army is divided into several corps, from the fighting force of men and machinery, to the engineers who build the roads and bridges, others who provide telecommunication links, handle supplies and logistics, those involved in military intelligence, and a myriad other disciplines required to protect the country.

The Air Force with its formidable array of aircraft, weapons and sophisticated equipment has three main branches. The flying branch has pilots who fly fighter aircraft, helicopters and transport planes. The technical branch handles the engineering and weaponry systems of the Air Force, while the ground duties branch handles the administration, logistics, accounts, education, meteorology and other aspects on the ground to ensure the smooth functioning of the force.

The Navy is a high technology service which operates and maintains highly sophisticated ships, submarines and aircraft for use in war. The different branches in the Navy are responsible for maintaining the naval vessels as well as their design, construction, quality control, and repair, and the training of personnel for the force.

Today, with the increase in pay scales after the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission, defence personnel start on salaries commensurate with those in the private sector. From the time you sign on for training you start on salaries above Rs 8,000 per month, and once commissioned this increases considerably, and you are also entitled to free rations, furnished accommodation, free medical facilities for self and family, educational facilities for children, canteen facilities, sporting facilities, liberal travel and leave benefits and so on. Pilots in the Air Force get special flying allowances, while those in all services posted in combat areas, or handling special assignments also get special allowances.

With the reputation of being one of the finest forces in the world, a career in the Indian Armed Forces has always been a cherished dream for youngsters. More so today, as it combines technologically challenging work with the opportunity of earning honour and social standing, along with the enjoyment of a stylish lifestyle at a relatively young age.

So, if you are a young man in Class XII rearing to join the challenging world of the defence services, you can sign up for the next NDA and Naval Academy entrance test to be held on April 16, 2006, for the course starting January 2007.

Good luck! The country needs more young people like you.