What do they do?

An Army officer leads a platoon, company, division, brigade, corps, command or battalion in the Indian Army, depending on his/her rank.The Army broadly has three arms — for fighting, support and service.  In the fighting arm officers deal with purchase of arms and ammunition, are sent on combat missions and handle  risk-infested tasks. The support arm backs them with ancillary services like electric and mechanical repairs to equipment, telecommunication signals and other technical help. The service arms provide logistical support to the entire army e.g. food supplies, rations and medical services.

Skills Needed

You need to possess officer-like qualities (popularly known as OLQs) in order to become an officer. These qualities are: effective intelligence, reasoning ability, organising ability, power of expression, social adaptability, cooperation, sense of responsibility, initiative, speed of decision, group influencing ability, self-confidence, liveliness, determination, courage and stamina. Learn some tips and tricks to ace the SSB interview at http://indianarmy.nic.in/arms/aec/join.html.

How do I get there?

You can either write the National Defence Academy exam (if you have passed Class 12) for entry to NDA, Pune, or the Combined Defence Services exam (if you are a graduate) for entry to OTA (Officers’ Training Academy), Chennai, or IMA (Indian Military Academy), Dehradun. OTA is for officers who want to join the short-service commission, while candidates wanting permanent commission should apply for NDA or IMA.

There is a technical entry also, where budding and current engineers can apply. Technical entry is open for engineering graduates/engineering students (final year or pre-final year)/Class 12 passed students (with physics-chemistry-maths). For all these entries, check out newspaper advertisements in March/April and October/November. After the written exam, you have to appear for the Service Selection Board (SSB) interview, which lasts for five days and tests your leadership qualities.

Typical day in the life of a Army Officer

Pros & Cons about this career