Software Engineer Shares Inspiring Story Of Never Giving Up On His Dreams, Joins Indian Army At The Age Of 39

Many give up on their dreams after a certain age thinking that it's too late for them. After thirty, people mostly think of settling down and earning for their family and abandon all their aspirations.

But a man named Sathish Kumar shared his journey on LinkedIn of joining the Indian Territorial Army at the age of thirty-nine.

He shared the entire selection process and it truly is inspiring for someone who has given up their dreams.

Written Exam

He started off by telling how he was one of the 2079 candidates who got selected for the personal interview out of the 1.5 lakh candidates who gave their written exams. After reaching Pune for his interview he said, "Looking around at the fellow interviewees, a good chunk of them were under the age of 30 and there I was, at 37 years, one of the oldest to have shown up. Self-doubt started creeping in whether the interview was merely a formality and I¡¯d be rejected based on my age alone."

Aaj Tak

Personal Interview

After being interviewed by a Major General, two Lt Col officers and a psychologist, Sathish got selected for the next round which was SSB (Service Selection Board). It is a 5-day process that every officer aspirant has to clear and is probably the toughest selection procedure to get through.

816 candidates were divided into two groups to appear for SSB. His batch, which was originally supposed to arrive in April 2020 but due to covid-19, got delayed to July 2020.

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Service Selection Board

On day 1 around 172 candidates appeared out of which only 16 candidates could make the cut after six long hours of the screening test. Sathish then described how tough were the next four days of SSB. However, he came out victorious and was one of the four candidates who finally got selected for the medical examination.

Medical Examination

However, all four of them got rejected. "The army doctors have stringent guidelines for evaluating the candidates and all four of us were rejected for a host of reasons. We were also given an opportunity to appeal the rejection at military hospitals of our choice. I chose the command hospital in Bangalore and cleared the medical in September-2020."

Selection

After this, he went through all the documentation and waited for six months to get his offer letter. He finally received it in April 2021. He said, "I was assigned to the 118 Infantry (TA) battalion of the Grenadiers Regiment. It is a great privilege to be inducted into this prestigious regiment and my happiness knew no bounds when I received my offer letter. I reported to the unit for one-month officer commissioning training and was put through a structured program of four weeks consisting of physical conditioning, weapons handling and battle tactics."

LinkedIn

After two years he finally became a Lieutenant. Sathish shared that wants to inspire people to join the territorial army through his struggle.

Territorial Army is currently accepting applications for officers until 19-Aug-2021.

Social Image Picture Credits - Arjun Menon