An Insight into the Defence Forces for the Beginners

Has the thought of joining the forces just struck your mind? Are you going to appear for the SSB Interview for the first time in your life? Do you feel clueless about most of the things when people talk in using various kinds of short forms which go flying above your head? Do you wish that you knew these things and a few basic things about the forces? Well here is the solution for all. I have met many people, who are new to this dream of joining the forces, they are not even aware of the very basic things.

 
They want to start off with something so that they could also get to know a lot of things about the forces. The reason why you are reading this is simple, because you want to gain some knowledge, everybody has to start from somewhere, and here is where you start from. Given below are some of the very basic things about the forces, when you know them gradually your interest will develop and you can read in detail about stuff from SSBCrack, Wikipedia or the official website of the services.

1. There are four defence forces in India, Army, Navy, Airforce and Coast Guard.
2. While the boys have the option to join the forces as a commissioned or non-commissioned officer, girls can join as commissioned officers only. Commissioned officer means and officer who is selected through Service Selection Board (SSB).
   
3. You can become a commissioned officer only through passing SSB, except for the medical corps where no SSB is required. Now in some entries there may be a prior written exam before SSB, and in some entries you may be called directly based on the percentage of the qualifying exam for that entry.
4. Men can join the Army through: NDA Exam, 10+2 Tech entry, CDSE, UES, TGC, SSC Tech, JAG, NCC Special entry etc., Navy through: NDA, 10+2 B.Tech entryCDSE, UES, Direct entries etc., Airforce through: NDA, CDSE, UES, AFCAT, NCC Special Entry, Meteorological etc. Women can join Army through: CDSE, SSC Tech, JAG etc. Navy Through:  UES, Direct Entries etc., Airforce Through: AFCAT, Meteorological etc. Both can join the Coast Guard through the direct entry. Each of these entries comes bi-annually.
5. NDA stands for National Defence Academy, situated in Khadakwasla, Pune. It is a feeder institution for Army, Navy and Airforce, candidates who go to NDA do a three year course in NDA and then move for their given option of the three services.
6. AFA stands for Airforce Academy, situated in Dundigal, Hyderabad. It is the training establishment of Indian Airforce. All kinds of training is given here.
7. NA stands for Naval Academy, situated in Ezhimala, Kerala. It is the training institution for Indian Navy and the Coast Guard also.
8. IMA stands for Indian Military Academy, a training establishment of Indian Army, intended to train officers for a permanent commission. It is located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
9. OTA stands for Officers training academy. There are two OTA’s one in Chennai and one in Gaya. OTA Chennai trains officers for a short service commission in Army. OTA Gaya trains candidates for Technical entry in army (Engineers).
10. A permanent commission (PC) means a job in the service till you retire. A short service commission (SSC) means a job of 10 years with and extension of 4 years. Men can join the services as PC officers or SSC Officers, while women can join only as SSC Officers, however in some branches women are also now inducted as PC officers.
11. All the four forces are divided into different commands for easy functioning.
12. Each force has a respective head, who is the chief of that force.
13. You can also read about the ranks of the forces.
14. Indian Army Day: 15th January. Indian Air Force Day: 8th October. Indian Navy Day: 4th December. Indian Coast Guard Day: 1st February.
15. The president of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Defence Forces.
16. The Indian Army has different types of equipment’s they are the artillery weapons, tanks, different kinds of rifles etc., you can read more about it in detail on Wikipedia.
17. Indian Airforce has many types of aircrafts like Fighter jets, Helicopters, Multirole fighters, attack planes, transport planes etc. There is a detailed article about aircrafts on our website.
18. Indian Navy and Coast guard have different types of vessels, they include patrol boats, frigates, aircraft carriers, submarines, destroyers etc. There is a detailed article on vessels of Indian Navy on our website.

Now I am sure you know at least something to begin with. You can read in detail about things mentioned in each point. Reading helps in growing knowledge. Keep following SSBCrack for different types of information.

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The Editorial Team of SSBCrack consists of a group of Professional writers and aspirants. Their main aim is to provide up to date information regarding SSB Interviews and sharing quality information about Indian Defence to help aspirants. Mail us to join our editorial team now.