“It keeps you fit and jovial. Makes you disciplined. Gives you an identity. Teaches you true sacrifice. And, above all, it makes you a real patriot. It is high time more and more youths joined the defense forces,” says Gen Tej Kaul with passion while describing why youths should look at the armed forces as a strong career option and not the last resort.

The defense forces offer several advantages besides the usual salary, which makes it among the most sought after job. For some, the idea of taking up the defense job is triggered by the sentiment of nationalism, but it is the lure of the perks tagged to these jobs, that attract many others to them.

Let us count the top most fascinating reasons to join the Indian armed forces.

It is a permanent job.

A job with the armed forces is a government job, which means it is a secure job for a candidate once recruited. No pay cuts, just regular increments, irrespective of how the economy is doing. This is backed by a host of perks that every job band in the army provides. What more, the same standard of living continues after retirement.

Look at the perks!

If you are a commissioned officer, you begin with a decent salary. Plus all kinds of travel allowances. For the studious, the army offers a lot of opportunities in colleges across the world. Degrees in any faculty from reputed defense colleges where seats are reserved for the army, foreign assignments, and a paid leave of up to 2 years for this!

And for the family…

Free schooling for kids, free medical services for dependents, loans with lesser interests, government accommodation. Add to this the recreation facilities — playgrounds, swimming pools, badminton-tennis-squash courts, cheap memberships to clubs, gyms and golf courses.

Food free, almost!

An unmarried officer gets free food. After marriage, the ration is delivered at enviously subsidized rates. As Maj Gen TK Kaul points out, hardly any corporate job would give you that.

Foreign Assignments.

Unlike MNCs, where you have to work hard to get those foreign destination assignments, armed forces give ample opportunities of foreign postings to officers. Similarly, officers go to reputed defence colleges abroad for Masters. There too, they get a luxurious treatment. Officers can also pursue their M.Phil, MBA, or PhD, which shows the scope for higher education.

Army training programs.

Very few people know about the training programs the Indian Army holds for those who are retiring and also who have already retired. This is a measure to help officers smoothly rehabilitate to civil life. Various useful management and administration courses are part of these programs.

High regard.

The kind of respect an armyman commands from his family and society can’t be compared to any job in the civil sector.

The compulsory physical fitness.

What job makes you think about your fitness? Office jobs or private jobs hardly give any thought fitness and so make you lethargic. But when you join the armed forces, the first and most important thing that it gives you is complete fitness.

Post retirement.

First of all, a retired armyman gets a handsome pension. Then there are equally attractive jobs with leadership roles in various big organizations readily available for them. The leadership training in the armed forces comes in handy here.

Maj Gen Tej Kaul, who has been ceaselessly working to create awareness about the significance of joining armed forces, has this to say: “The style and charisma that the uniform gives is simply incredible. There is no other place where you could get that smart and handsome appeal. And the pride of the uniform automatically brings a sense of responsibility, a unique patriotic feeling, which could only be experienced.”

Does all that together stir something inside you? The nation needs you.