All Entries From Soldier to an Gazetted Officer

Every defence aspirants has a dream of becoming an commissioned officer in the Armed Forces . There are several entries for civilians to join armed forces as an officer via NDA , CDS , INET , AFCAT etc.

Here we will be having a detailed article on all three service based entries for serving personals in the Indian Armed Forces:

1) ARMY CADET COLLEGE [ ACC Entry ]

2) Special Commissioned Officers [ SCO Scheme ]

3) Permanent Commission Special List [ PC SL Entry ]

 Army Cadet College : 

ACC wing or Army Cadet College is a wing of Indian Military Academy (IMA)  which  provide training to ACC cadets .

   The training of ACC cadets is somewhat very similar to that of NDA cadets. A selected candidate has to go through the training at ACC wing for 3 years and 1 year at IMA.

   The ACC is also known as Siachen Battalion.

Following is the eligibility criteria for ACC Entry:

Age and Service Criteria:

        Candidate must have served for atleast for 2  years in Army / Navy / Air Force and should age between 20 to 27 years  ( at the time of joining) note :both dates are inclusive.

Educational Qualification:

         Candidate must have 10+2 pattern class 12 pass or equivalent certificate.

 Vacancy:

           Approx. 75 ( Twice a year)

Marital Status:

            Married / Unmarried

  

Examination Pattern:

             PAPER –I: GENERAL MENTAL  ABILITY TEST

                               GMAT have two types of questions – Argument and data Sufficiency. There will be 150 objective type questions of two marks each. The paper will consists of three sections:

1.    Reasoning Ability (Verbal): 75 questions: 150 Marks

2.    Non – verbal Reasoning: 15 questions: 30 Marks

3.    Numerical Ability: 60 questions: 120 Marks

             PAPER – II: CURRENT GENERAL AWARENESS

                                  This will consists of 150 objective type questions of two marks each. This

test will be aimed to test candidate`s general awareness .

              PAPER – III: INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATIVE ENGLISH

                                   There will be two papers for Interactive Communicative English. Part I will consists of 120 objective type questions of one mark each for a duration of one hour. Part II will consist of descriptive type questions for 180 marks for a duration of two hours.

              PAPER –IV: ACADEMIC CONTENT TEST

                                   There will be only one paper covering Mathematics, General Science and Humanities. There will be a total of 150 objective type questions of 3 marks each Topics to be included in each paper and the distribution of marks will be as under:

1.    Section A: Mathematics: 50 Questions: 100 Marks

2.    Section B: General Science: 50 Questions:100 Marks

3.    Section C: Humanities: 50 Questions: 100 Marks

Special Commissioned Officers: 

 SCO Scheme provides an opportunity to serving soldiers of rank  JCO / NCO to become an commissioned officer. The training programme is different from ACC Entry as candidates recommended for SCO Scheme go through their initial training for 8 weeks at Army Educational Corps ( AEC ) and post 1 year training at OTA, Gaya.

Following is the eligibility criteria for SCO Entry:

Age and Service Criteria:

         Candidate must have served for at least 5 years in Army / Navy / Air force and should age between 28 to 35 ( at the time of joining) Note : Both dates are inclusive

           Sepoys , personnels of Army Medical Corps and Army Dental Corps are not applicable

Educational Qualification:

          Candidate must have matric with 1 year of diploma or 10+2 pattern class 12 pass or equivalent certificate.

Vacancy:

            Approx. 100 ( Twice a year )

Marital Status:

            Married / Unmarried

Selection Procedure:

              There is no written examination, candidates are called for SSB Interview after clearing 3 interview rounds 

         1) Interview by unit`s Commanding Officer

         2) Interview  by Brigade Commander 

         3) Interview by Divisional Commander

Candidates after getting reviewed by three commanders are selected for SSB Interview.

Permanent Commission Special List:

 PC SL provides another opportunity to defence personnel's to make their dream come true of becoming an officer. The training programme is similar to that of SCO Scheme. Candidate has to go through initial training of 8 weeks at Army Educational Corps (AEC) and post 4 weeks training at IMA , Dehradun.

Following is the eligibility criteria for PC SL Enrty:

Age and Service Criteria:

         Candidate must have served for at least 10 years in Army / Navy / Airforce and should age between 32 to 40

For engineers and IOB  32 to 45 ( at the time of joining) Note : Both dates are inclusive

Educational Qualification:

          Candidate must have matric with 1 year of diploma or 10+2 pattern class 12 pass or equivalent certificate.

Vacancy:

            Approx 100 ( Once a year )

Marital Status:

            Married / Unmarried

Selection Procedure:

              There is no written examination, candidates are called for SSB Interview after clearing 3 interview rounds 

         1) Interview by unit`s Commanding Officer

         2) Interview  by Brigade Commander 

         3) Interview by Adam Colonel

Candidates after getting reviewed by three commanders are selected for SSB Interview.

All the three entries will provide commission in Indian Army despite candidates coming from Navy or Airforce.

Writers Corner:

     To all the aspirants who have already joined the Army / Air Force / Navy should go for ACC Entry . A candidate joining the Army Cadet College at an age of 20 will get Permanent Commission in Army at a same duration of time that an NDA cadet will. Moreover the candidate will have an exposure to officers for 2 years which will help to inculcate OLQs in him.