SSB Experience Series: Recommended in 5th Attempt for Indian ARMY- Part 1

Hello potential officers. I feel extremely privileged to have the opportunity to walk you through my pursuit to join the Indian Army. My story started in 2012, I had cleared my NDA written and was all set to join the esteemed National Defence Academy. For this I didn’t want to leave any stone unturned and also took coaching. I still consider it as the BIGGEST BLUNDER of my life, the coaching made me too much conscious and anxious. It placed a mental block in my mind and as a result I was not able to think freely. It made me an IMPOSTER that too a bad IMPOSTER of a military leader.

As a young Delhi chap, full of Josh ,I went to Allahabad, got conferenced out, it was a shock. After couple of months I visited Varanasi, got conferenced out again, the MENTAL BLOCK still haunted me and I felt a sickeness in me. This sickness came due to my inability of being GENUINELY MYSELF, the coaching I received had put a veil on my real personality and transformed me into a PET PARROT who repeats what he’s told without using his mental faculty. I longed for Freedom, I wanted to free my mind of this bondage. Then I came across a book “My Appointment with a Psychologist”, don’t wory! Its free and you can download it here. This book explained in detail the psychological profile of a suitable candidate for the forces, I read and re-read it many times till its lessons were ingrained in my mind. I felt liberated as the confusion surrounding the SSB slowly faded and I felt confident that I can be what they are looking for.

I didn’t look back from then on, I was not a good leader back then, I lacked persuasion, decision making, managing men n material, public speaking, mental and physical stamina. In the past 3 years I worked extensively on developing my leadership potential. I participated in various competitions, organized events and served at various leadership positions at NCC, co-curricular clubs, class representative etc. I did a lot of reading – newspapers, books, blogs etc. I kept hunting for knowledge about anything and everything relevant to FAUJ. I did a lot of adventure activities at various esteemed institutes in the country which includes Rock climbing, mountaineering, paragliding, rafting, skiing, trekking etc. etc.

Some say that taking coaching shows your interest in joining the forces. For some it’s the first-hand experience of the SSB environment. I feel going to an institute is OKAY as long as you don’t get influenced too much by them, especially in the Psych tests. Having an experience in GTO and Interview is always a help. Even if you want to go for it, just keep one little advice in mind- Never compromise your true self, always maintain the originality of your responses and you are at the liberty to express the same responses in a better way. So if someone helps you in tweaking your responses and at the same time respects the originality of your response, make him your GURU.

Then in December 2015 I went for my third attempt in Bangalore, I was pretty confident this time as I felt I had done my homework. I was relatively at ease from the beginning. I did my psych test with 0% stress and for the first time enjoyed it, I my self was astonished by my performance, in WAT I was often left with 2-3 seconds to relax before the next word is projected. I did 35 SRTs only , I didn’t practice before and it was pointed out by the IO. My interview lasted for hardly 15 minutes, it went good. I gave to the point replies and he looked fairly satisfied. I blew it in the GTOs. I went for it with full and extra josh and enthusiasm than I naturally project. In PGT, our GTO told that Army jawans have finished this task in 18 minutes and that he expected better from us. I remember in the back of my mind, I smirked and thought, “ this task is not worth 18 minutes I’ll get it done in 15”. That’s it, then and there I became the victim of the stress that the GTO created by adding a time constraint. 

I was regulating almost everything, from the front, my tone and tenor were far from being polite, also projecting a bad body language (constricted eyebrow, palms down and directing), I openly showed dissatisfaction and lost my composure. For me the completing the task was paramount and I neglected the interpersonal relationships n courtesies. In GD, there was a guy sitting next to me who was way too dominant, he spoke constantly and interrupted everyone, this made me insecure. I gave in to the pressure and joined the chaos sponsored by him. Again as the heavens had decided to teach me a lesson, I was conferenced out for the 3^rd time. But something peculiar about this SSB was, I felt I just missed the bull eye by a little fraction and rather than being shocked by the result I kept pondering and introspecting.  This helped me in zeroing into my grey areas and subsequently transform myself into a better being, more officer like.

Lessons That I learnt from 3^rd attempt:

1)      Giving into the chaos is detrimental

2)      Being in total control of your emotions in paramount

3)      Cooperation and exchange of ideas make a good team player

4)      GTO is a team sport

5)      Good relation with group mates ensure cooperation on ground

6)      Positive body language influences people

7)      Calm and assertive people are accepted and heard to

As soon as I was conferenced out my mind was racing with with all the mistakes I did, I introspected and discovered things that henceforth I didn’t give much importance to. I learnt about projecting a positive and widely accepted body language, worked on my tone and tenor, developed my patience while persuading someone, did more listening than talking, and observed my friend’s body language and tone and pace of speaking and its effect on the group. I talked to my group mates, took their feedbacks, improved the grey areas, took some tips from them and at the same time maintained the originality of my responses, participated in GDs, practiced Psych tests, GDs, GPEs etc

I resolved not to ever give into stress. I read experiences of recommended candidates from online blogs and figured out the commonality i.e. staying composed and balanced throughout the testing and now I know that is what MATURITY really is. People all around us will keep on testing our patience and limit, giving into these cheapness by showing anger, frustration etc is a WEAKNESS. Keeping all the interactions positive and healthy helps in building long term and trusting relationships and this helps in generating cooperation on the GTO ground.

Then in Feb 2016 I went to NSB Coimbatore, there I hit the deepest low of my story. I was aghast at getting screened out. The reason for this was by the time I decided to speak in the GD the GTO signalled the closure of the discussion, my contribution towards the GD was 0%. However I took this failure as a reminder of my weaknesses and vowed to correct them before the next attempt. In the same month, I went to Bangalore. Got screened in,  sailed through the rest of the tests acing it in the process and the rest is HISTORY. 

Hope you are eager to hear more about what happened in the final attempt and how this guy who failed four times made in the fifth attempt. Keep reading and learn from the failures.Stay updated to get latest updates and be connected on facebook where aspirants discuss what to do and what not to do. Follow us for not missing a single update on defense.

Click here : SSB Experience Series: Recommended in 5th Attempt for Indian ARMY- Part 2
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About the Author: Jeet, is a diehard Army aspirant, a rock climber, a mountaineer and a marathoner. He had his setbacks early in life and made a gentleman out of himself by constant efforts and dedication. Today his persistence and Never say die attitude paid him the biggest honor of his life.