Short Service Commission : Dr. Parmeshwar Kumar ( view bio )

Short Service Commission (SSC)

Hi everybody! I’m really grateful to KKV that he convinced me to pen down my thoughts about something that is close to my heart and could probably be of use to like-minded people. At the risk of sounding immodest, I would nevertheless like to take you through this journey into an entirely different life; that of a Doctor in the Armed Forces.

To a lot of people, this might sound like an un-ambitious, last-resort career move. And believe me, to some, the best career option. This is an attempt at a fair picture drawn for everybody. And it’s for you to decide where you fall in.

This article is a first hand account of someone who is very enthusiastic about the whole idea (so it maybe a little biased) but I have also included information that I’ve gathered from a lot of sources including doctors in the armed forces and soldiers. A word about my background – I was born and brought up in a military campus. Father happens to be a retired Central Government Gazetted Officer (Civilian) and my Brother in law is a Lt. Colonel in the Army. So I had access to a lot of information.

The SSC

The SSC is for a period of 5 years. It means either in the Army, the Navy or the Air Force. You will be a commissioned officer and work as an RMO (Resident Medical Officer). So you are not leaving the profession at all! The choice of the three forces may sometimes be given to you, but it ultimately lies with the Defense Personnel (interviewing you).

You will be initially commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Army OR a Flying Officer in the Air Force OR a Lieutenant in the Navy. You would pick up the rank of a Captain (Army) and the equivalent posts in the other two Forces, the day you report for duty. That is, two months of training at a Military Cantonment nearest to the district from where you apply (for eg. Pangode, in Trivandrum). And then you would be undergoing a training called the MOBC (Medical Officers Basic Course) at Lucknow. This is basically to train you as military man and to give you some basic training in your duties as a doctor in the defense. All that, we get back to later. First, how to get in there.

The Call

The Call for SSC comes out in most newspapers, but your best chance is with The Employment News. Look out for it in the months of February to mid-April. The application would require you to send a copy of your original certificates attested, your attempt certificate for Final Year, details regarding your present employment and most importantly, the order of your preference of the Forces ie. Army, Navy or Air Force. This order is important because finally they may like to give you what you chose. So decide it diligently when you apply. There is also an option for people from NCC to fill. Those of you in NCC would have an edge over the others. Mention if you are an A, B, or C certificate holder.

I believe that they divide the entire applicants into Zones from where they apply. Usually, the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu fall in one Zone and candidates can expect the interview towards the latter half of September. To give you an idea, we discovered that there were nearly 4, 800 candidates all over India applying for an approximate 450 vacancies this year. The number of vacancies varies every year and there is no way to know exactly how many are there beforehand. So you might expect a call in the form of a printed postcard by late August.

The Interview

The interview is held in New Delhi in one of the blocks in South Block near a place called Gurudwara Rakabgunj. The address is easy, that’s where the entire Ministry of Defense is! On your day, you could expect around 100 candidates. The interview starts at 9 AM sharp and the medical is held the whole of next day. THERE IS NO TEST OF PHYSICAL ENDURANCE.

Typically, the panel would be U-shaped. You would be seated at the Centre on a revolving chair facing a Lt. General (the top-most post for a Doctor in the Defense). He would be flanked probably by a Brigadier, a couple of Colonels, a Squadron Leader and a couple of Naval Officers. All except for two, are doctors. One being a psychologist and the other a non-professional Army Officer. Surprisingly this year, we also had a Civilian Doctor from Government Hospital in Delhi. Pretty intimidating, huh? Well, that’s the whole idea, to push you against a wall and see how you stand!

The Preparation

Frankly, no one can tell you exactly what they could ask. All I can advice you is how I prepared. Not to sound pompous, I took a four-pronged approach.

1. The Academics
2. Information about the Armed Forces & missiles
3. General Knowledge & Hobbies
4. Preparation for the Interview proper

1. The Academics: This should be no problem for guys who have been preparing for the Entrance Exams, even for a few months. But since I wasn’t, this was probably where I had to concentrate the most. Believe me, they even asked questions from Pre-Clinical and Para-Clinical subjects, mainly Anatomy and Pharmacology. I however, focused on clinical subjects, on topics really! Some topics where you should focus

2. Information about the Armed Forces & missiles : The best and the easiest place to find out information about the armed forces is the Internet. There is an elaborate official web site of the Indian Armed Forces. Make sure you learn up the hierarchy, the names of the three Chiefs, recent missile treaties, missiles bought, our recent submarines in the news. You don’t need to go too deep into this.

You could read something about the recent headline grabbing defense stories like the Brahmos missile, the Advanced Jet Trainers recently acquired (following the Controversy of the “Flying Coffins”, the MiG 21) etc. from the papers, magazines and the web sites.
• http://armedforces.nic.in (Armed Forces)
• http://indianairforce.nic.in (Air Force)
• http://indianarmy.nic.in (Army)
• http://indiannavy.nic.in (Navy)

3. General Knowledge & Hobbies: This is kind of linked to the second point. So read Frontline, India Today or magazines of your choice. Make sure you read the headlines on the day of the interview from any standard National Daily. Some candidates were asked dumb questions like the name of Vice President of India and the state he belongs to and the name of Lok-Sabha speaker and the name of the Governor of the state you belong to. You can’t possibly read up everything. Leave something to fate.

About hobbies: If some of you are into sports, make sure you know the sport and the leading sportsmen for the year. Some of these interviewers are heavily into sports. My suggestion is you could say you have past times or interests because, if unfortunately for you, someone in the panel shares your hobbies, he could really drill you about it. But if you are really into it, nothing like it. For example, I read up a few things about Squash and Music (Hindi Film Music).

4. Preparation for the Interview proper: This is probably the most important part of the four approaches that I’ve suggested. Just take it as an advice. You have all the freedom to experiment. In the end I’ve given a list of suggested questions and some tips that I hope might be useful. The interview would typically be for 10 – 12 minutes. So, make sure your answers are not for more than a minute or two.

a. Carry yourself off well: Recall all things that people ever told you about interviews.

I. Confidence: If you have little else in your kitty, carry this pouch along. Act, walk and talk confidently. They don’t want people who appear under-confident. All defense are taught to behave confidently.

II. Manners: Don’t bow too much. Give a slight nod. And wish the entire panel in one go. And if there’s a lady in there, wish her first. Unless your first impression is awful, you would be offered a seat. Sit only when asked to.

III. Body Language: Very important. Don’t slouch in the chair. Make good eye contact. Face the person who asks the question. Don’t have obtrusive hand gestures. Appear alert and a little enthusiastic, but don’t come across as edgy. Don’t fidget with the your fingers. You can sit with your elbows resting on the arm of the chairs and you hands clasped in the relaxed manner. The idea is to come across as earnest, but not tensed.

IV. Dress: Clothes maketh the man. More so, in the armed forces. Although some of us think that this is unimportant, but in the military your dressing sense matters. An example of a dress code for men could be a Dark Colored trousers, and a light shade plain shirt (never come across as intimidating in an interview). The belt has got to be of leather (black/brown) and not flashy. Don’t use the shirt color to make you appear bright. A tie would be fine but not mandatory. I’m sure you would look into the color combinations. Shoes should be black and polished. Socks maybe a contrast between the trousers and the shoes. Ladies, help yourselves. Anyway, gentlemen in the Forces would never get a negative impression about a well dressed lady. Spend some money on you attire. Believe me, it pays.

b. Language: Speak ONLY in English. Don’t be too wordy. Be succinct and to-the-point. This is not a test for you grammar or your grasp over the English Literature. Don’t use complicated, hand-picked-dictionary-words. You could say “Sir” once when you answer but don’t fill the sentences with “Sir”s.

c. Answers: Never argue and never bluff. There is a very good possibility of you not knowing the answer. Just say, “Sir, I don’t know.” politely or “I don’t quite recall”. Let the interviewer finish the question (Don’t cut him short.). Pause for a moment for you to structure the answer and then speak slowly and clearly.

d. Honesty: Follow the Cardinal Rule of Interviews. Feel convinced about what you are saying. There are psychologists out there. The best thing is to be yourself. For eg. Lot of people give the reason for them joining the Forces as their patriotic zeal to serve the people who serve the nation. This might be true but it sounds too rhetorical. They may ask you go and treat the poor who also serve the nation in their own way!

e. Certificates: You could carry a good folder of your College Certificates, and any other certificate of extra-curricular activities, especially sports. Have an attested copy of the original academic certificates.

f. Yourself: Be prepared with a 2 minute presentation about your back-ground, education, interests and anything else that you find not personal enough to divulge in an interview.

g. Physical Fitness: Frankly, I was over-weight. There’s nothing better than getting into shape for an interview. It does wonders to your self esteem and builds up your confidence.

h. Relax : Learn to relax for the last 15 minutes.

i. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

After The Interview

Let’s be positive. A thorough person like you has already made it across, provided you haven’t rubbed anybody the wrong way and the interviewer hasn’t had a fight with his wife in the morning!

The results are declared the same afternoon by around 2. 30 pm. You have to give your attested photo-copies to the Section in charge there. You will be given a booklet with instructions about how the medical core functions. It would include a form to be filled as well. You will be requested to report the next day for the medical check-up.

Go sight seeing. Delhi is a beautiful place to visit. Lot’s to see!

The Medical

Unlike what most people think, this is NOT an eye wash. However, it is a little more lenient on the people from the same profession. It starts at about 9 AM and often goes on till 5.30 PM in the evening. You have around 30 candidates, those who have cleared the interview the day before.

1. Venue: It will be held at the Armed Forces Clinic.

2. Specialties: You would have to appear for check-ups at the Dental, Ophthal, ENT, O&G (Ladies), Surgery and Medicine departments with the specialists.

3. Investigations: Routine Blood and Urine, X-Ray Chest and any other investigations the specialists regard mandatory will be taken.

Sorry for being rude, but certain conditions are criteria for outright permanent rejections and are declared are medically unfit. But certain other conditions could be a clause for declaring the candidate temporarily unfit. You would be given a span of 42 days for an operative correction or any other remediable measures.

The discretion of the specialist is FINAL. In some cases, they might be generous, but that’s not in our hands at all. I’m just including criteria that might fall into temporary rejections for you to pre-empt them. Some examples

? Minimum height for men is 157.5 cm for men. And falling short of minimum height by 1.3 cm will be dealt as special case.
? It’s not possible to lay down precise standards for weight in relation to height and age. A 10% departure will be considered WNL. For eg. 175 cm should ideally weigh 62 kgs if he’s between 24 – 29 years. I weighed 68.5 kg. I guess 72 kgs and beyond were rejected. They were 6 candidates rejected because of obesity.
? Chest expansion should be minimum 5 cm.
? Myopia of not more than 5.5 including astigmatism and Manifest hypermetropia 3. 5 including astigmatism.
? Female candidates: most physical standards apply for female candidates as well except minimum height should be 142cm and weight at least 36 kgs. They may be asked to render a certificate declaring that they do not suffer from any menstrual complaints.

You are SELECTED!

Congratulations! Now you need to think. What happens next? This is not the final merit list, but mostly selected candidates are informed within a month of their selection. My best guess is that there will be a couple of months of orientation and you will be commissioned at the nearest military cantonment (around January). I believe, you would have a four or five of training called the Medical Officers Basic Course (MOBC) at Lucknow.

Appointment:

I’ll be sticking to the army part because that’s what I have the most idea about. It’s similar for the other two forces as well. After an initial appointment as Lieutenant, the officer will be commissioned as a captain during the MOBC course. This is an ante-dated commission. And ante-date for 2 years if the candidate holds a PG qualification like M. D. or M. S.

Promotion:

It is by time-scale upto the rank of Lt. Colonel. On completion of five years of recongnisable service, and passing satisfactorily, the Medical Officer Junior Command Course at AFMC, the Captain is promoted to a Major. Lt. Colonel on completion of 14 years is from the date of commissioning.

SSC officers are eligible for promotion upto the rank of quasi-substantive Major, only for pay purpose. (That is, if you are plan not to go into Permanent Commission, you don’t pick up the rank of a Major, but get to the pay scale at the end of five years. For eg. A Captain gets a basic of Rs. 9, 600/month along with other allowances.

SSC Officer is on probation for 1 year. So if an officer I found suitable during that period, his commission might be terminated during that period.

Leave

No Study Leave is admissible for SSC officers. A 2 months leave every year is given as any other officer in the military.

Chances for Permanent Commission (PC):

Three department chances for PC: At the end of two years, depending your ACRs (Annual Confidential Reports), there would be a board to allow you to go for permanent.

Thank for reading through this article. I hope it helps!

Dr. Parmeshwar Kumar

(Did this article help you in anyway? Do you need further information on some points? Feel free to write to Parmewshwar and the webmasters about this article.)

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