Hello,my name is Deepak singh and iam one of defence aspirant like you.

I have been reading the articles and post on indin  army special forces for long time,both on ssb crack and other websites on internet.so i came up with the idea of writing some text on Indian army para special forces.I have grown up upon seeing these elite para commandos in front of eyes.so iam writing some facts and figures about them,hope you like them.

                                               

With my own experience,i want to tell you that life in special forces is not easy whether its Indian army sf or any other nation’s special forces.The men in sf are trained both mentally and physically to conduct special operations(mostly in Kashmir and east india) because they can jump from thousand of kms from aeroplanes,reach to any typical area,conduct special operations behind enemy lines and other special stuff that an ordinary army regiment can’t perform easily.

                                                       

Weapons they use:

Some of  the equipment  for the special forces are manufactured indigenously by the Indian Ordnance Factories controlled by the Ordnance  Factories  Board, Ministry of Defence, Government of India while others are procured from foreign sources.

• AK-47 7.62x39mm Assault Rifle                                    
• INSAS 5.56mm NATO Assault Rifle
• M4 Carbine 5.56mm US Assault Rifle
• M203 grenade launcher 40mm Grenade Launcher
  
• AGS-17 30mm automatic grenade launcher
• GM-94 Pump-Action Grenade Launcher
• Corner Shot Gun
• RPG-7 Rocket Launcher
• M72 LAW Anti Tank Weapons
• IMI Tavor TAR-21 5.56mm NATO Assault Rifle
• And other important weapons.

Transport

·          C-130J Super Hercules – transport aircraft

·         SH-3 Sea King – transport helicopter

·         HAL Chetak – utility helicopter

·         HAL Dhruv – utility helicopter

·         Cosmos CE-2F X100 two-man submarines

·         All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) & hovercrafts

·         Other military vehicles.

Recruitment

Well,there is no direct entry in para sf,you need to first become a recruit or an officer in Indian army’s  any regiment, then  you can switch to para sf  as a volunter.BUT in order to be a member of para sf,they gives you a training of  6-8 weeks of para jumping and commando course and test your physical and mental ability to be a part of them.Most of  the  men left training and gets back to their parent regiments.

             

Life in para sf:

There’s no easy day in special forces.you have to wake up at 5am,do physical training regularly each day by running 5 kms and conduct speed march of   more than 40 kms in

5 hrs,with  backpack of  22 kg+rifle  and remains in jungles or mountains for more than a week in search of terrorists.

Strength

15 Battalions (8 Special Forces, 4 Special Forces Airborne , 2 Territorial Army and 1 Rashtriya Rifles)

·         1st Battalion (Special Forces) - ex 1st Battalion, 2nd Punjab Regiment Raised 1761, conversion to Special Forces 1978

·         2nd Battalion (Special Forces) - ex 3rd Battalion, Maratha Light Infantry raised 1797, conversion to Special Forces 2000

·         3rd Battalion (Special Forces) - ex 1st Battalion, Kumaon Regiment raised 1813, conversion to Special Forces 2002

·         4th Battalion (Special Forces) raised 1961, conversion to Special Forces 2003.

·         5th Battalion (Special Forces Airborne) raised 1963

·         6th Battalion (Special Forces Airborne) raised 1963

·         7th Battalion (Special Forces Airborne) raised 1963

·         9th Battalion (Special Forces) raised 1966 as 9th Parachute Commando Battalion.

·         10th Battalion (Special Forces) raised in 1967 as 10th Parachute Commando battalion from 9 Para Cdo.

·         11th Battalion (Special Forces) raised in 2011

·         12th Battalion (Special Forces Airborne) under raising, as in 2011

·         21st Battalion (Special Forces) - ex 21st Battalion, Maratha Light Infantry raised 1985, conversion to Special Forces 1996

·         106th Infantry Battalion (Para) Territorial Army

·         116th Infantry Battalion (Para) Territorial Army

·         31st Battalion (Commando) - Rashtriya Rifles

indian army parachute regiment

The Parachute Regiment is the elite main Special Forces/airborne regiment of the Indian Army.The Parachute 

 The first Indian airborne formation was the 50 Independent Parachute Brigade raised on 29 October 1941 with 151 British, 152 Indian, and 153 Gurkha Parachute Battalions and other support units.The regimental badge for the Parachute Regiment is an open parachute, partially behind a circle with the word “Parachute” at the top and a scroll at the bottom with the word “Regiment”; wings are spread out from the circle, and a dagger is superimposed on the parachute and upper portion of the circle; the whole in silver metal. As with much of the world’s parachute forces, the normal headgear is a maroon beret, although there is a maroon turban for Sikh personnel.
The special forces, which form part of the Parachute Regiment, have a distinct insignia called Balidaan, which has a commando dagger point downwards, with upward-extending wings extending from the blade and a scroll superimposed on the blade with “Balidaan” inscribed in Devanagiri; the whole in silver metal on an upright red plastic rectangle. The special forces personnel also wear a maroon curved shoulder title with SPECIAL FORCES embroidered in light blue, succeeding the COMMANDO tab in 2006 with was in use since inception.

There remains a single airborne brevet: an open parachute in white, with light blue wings extended from it, the whole on a grey-green drab background. (Some other variants have existed for ceremonial/mess uniforms, e.g., with gold wired wings on a maroon flanel, the same on a scarlet background for the PBG on their ceremonial tunics. This was formerly worn on the upper right sleeve but since, 1975 appears above the right chest pocket and name tab. There is also a small enameled version (white parachute with blue, yellow, or red wings) worn on the left pocket as Jump Indicator Wings (for 25, 50 or 100 descents, respectively). The small enameled badge has now been replaced by a brass badge with stars at the bottom of the parachute, with one star denoting 25 jumps, two stars 50 and three stars 100.

The regiment has a total of 11 regular, one Rashtriya Rifles and two territorial army battalions; of the regular bns, four are Special Forces (Airborne) battalions, while eight are special forces battalions. Formerly designated "commando" units, they are now designated special forces:

• 1st Battalion (Special Forces) - ex 1st Battalion, 2nd Punjab Regiment Raised 1761, conversion to Special Forces 1978

• 2nd Battalion (Special Forces) - ex 3rd Battalion, Maratha Light Infantry raised 1797, conversion to Special Forces 2000

• 3rd Battalion (Special Forces) - ex 1st Battalion, Kumaon Regiment raised 1813, conversion to Special Forces 2002

• 4th Battalion (Special Forces) raised 1961, conversion to Special Forces 2003.

• 5th Battalion (Special Forces Airborne) raised 1963

• 6th Battalion (Special Forces Airborne) raised 1963

• 7th Battalion (Special Forces Airborne) raised 1963

• 9th Battalion (Special Forces) raised 1966 as 9th Parachute Commando Battalion.

• 10th Battalion (Special Forces) raised in 1967 as 10th Parachute Commando battalion from 9 Para Cdo.

• 11th Battalion (Special Forces) raised in 2011

• 12th Battalion (Special Forces Airborne) under raising, as in 2011

• 21st Battalion (Special Forces) - ex 21st Battalion, Maratha Light Infantry raised 1985, conversion to Special Forces 1996

• 106th Infantry Battalion (Para) Territorial Army

• 116th Infantry Battalion (Para) Territorial Army
• 31st Battalion (Commando) - Rashtriya Rifle

Honorary Officers

• Mahendra Singh Dhoni was commissioned into the 106 Para TA Bn with the Hon. Rank of Major by the President of India on 1 Nov 2011

• Deepak Rao was commissioned into the 116 Para TA Bn with the Hon. Rank of Major by the President of India on 1 Nov 2011. He is cited to be Indias foremost pioneer and specialist in Close Quarter Warfare by the Indian Ministry of Defence. His method of Reflex shooting has been used to modernize close quarter combat shooting in Northern Command and Eastern Command under directive of Army commanders.

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The whole ssb procedure

There are three Selection Centres located across the country. These are at Allahabad, Bhopal and Bangalore. Each selection centre consists of four to five Service Selection Boards(SSBs). Your SSB interview will happen at one of these centres.

RECEPTION.  On the day of arrival you have to report to the Movement Control Office(MCO) at the railaway station. Here, a representative of Selection Centre manning the reception will receive you and direct you to a bus that will take you to the Selection Centre. Those arriving late or by road should proceed directly to the Selection Centre. After reporting you will get sufficient time to settle down. Normally the afternoons are free(Except your interview day). You can make use of this opportunity to visit places of interest, shop and have fun.

SCHEDULE AT SSBs.

OPENING ADDRESS AND FORM FILLING .

            The duty officer gives an introductory talk, explaining matters of administrative details, DOs and DONTs and  code of conduct at Selection Centre. You are also required to complete documentation including verification of required certificates for age/educational qualifications. All candidates are allotted chest number for further testing. It is important to remember that you are not competing with other candidates. All of you will be assessed against a common standard of suitability and it is possible for everyone in the group to be recommended/Not recommended.

            Other than the day of arrival/reporting, the SSBs have a five days testing schedule. With these tests we aren’t looking at your physical fitness. The tests are also geared to let us know more about various shades of your personality. The exact schedule of tests may be varied depending on the No of candidates to be tested, and GTO Tests may be done in a single day, if warranted. Details of testing are as under:-

DAY –I (STAGE – I)

Stage one selection system includes the following:-

            (a)        Intelligence Test (verbal and non verbal).

            (b)        Picture Perception and Description Test Picture is flashed for   30 seconds. The candidates have to broadly note down seven basic parameters viz number of characters, age, sex, mood, action relating to past, present and future for each character in one minute.  Time for story writing is four minutes.

                             (c)        Discussion of the picture – 30 Minutes     In this phase batch is divided into different groups.  Strength of group is around 15 candidates.  Each candidate narrates his individual written story verbatim.  Subsequently, in Part-II all the candidates have to discuss amongst themselves and achieve a common consensus about the characters and theme of the story.

                             Once all candidates have undergone stage one. The results for stage one testing are declared. Recommended candidates are retained for stage-II testing and those not recommended are dispatched back.

DAY – 2 (STAGE – II).

Psychological Tests include the following:-

            Thematic Apperception Test.         12 Pictures including one blank are shown. Candidates are asked to write a story around what led to the situation? what is going on and what would be the outcome ?.  Each  Picture is shown for 30 seconds and  candidates are asked to write it in 4 minutes.  In the blank slide, they have to think a picture of their own choice and write a story around that.    

            Word Association Test.       In this test, a series of 60 words are shown to the candidates one after another for 15 seconds each. The candidate is required to write down the first thought or idea that comes to his mind.

            Situation Reaction Test.      This test consists of 60 routine life situations regarding day to day activities.  The situations are printed in a booklet and the candidate is asked to write his reactions by completing the sentences, as to how they would feel, think and act in these situations. 

                        Self Description Test.     Candidate is asked to write five separate paragraphs on each context about the opinion of his parents/guardian, friends, teachers/superiors.

DAY – 3(GROUP TESTS)

            GTO – Day 1     This includes the following:-

            Group Discussion.   Two topics of common interest (social issues and     current events) are discussed. It is an informal discussion and not a debate. Each topic is allotted 20 minutes each. No definite conclusion is required to be deduced.

            Group planning exercise.  It comprises of five stages viz., explanation of the model, reading of the narrative by GTO, five minutes for self reading by candidates, 10 minutes for individual written solutions and 20 minutes for group discussion. Narration of the group solution and definite conclusion is required.

          Progressive group task.      It is the first outdoor task. A set of four obstacles with progressively increasing level of difficulties are to be completed in 40 to 50 minutes. Structures, helping material and load are provided to the group.

Group obstacle race.     In this task the group is pitched against each other over a set of six obstacles with a snake like load to carry.

           Half group task.        It has one obstacle similar to progressive group task with helping material and load to be carried.  Group is divided into two Sub Groups and assigned the same obstacle in turn in such a way that when one group is working, the other is not allowed to watch it.  Time allotted to each sub group is 15 minutes.

            Lecturette.     It is an individual task and the candidate is required to give a short talk to the group.  Three minutes are allowed to prepare any chosen topic from the four given in the Lecturette Cards for the talk.                  

DAY – 4

              GTO – Day 2

            Individual Obstacles.  A set of 10 obstacles is set to be tackled individually. Obstacles are numbered from one to ten, denoting the points each one carries. Each individual is given three minutes.                                         

                            Command Task.  Each individual is nominated as commander for one task consisting of one obstacle similar to the Progressive Group Task Time given is 15 minutes.

             Final Group Task. Task  consisting of one obstacle similar to the Progressive Group Task .  Time  given  to  complete  this  task is 15 - 20 minutes

DAY –5.

             This includes the following:-

                        (i)         Closing address

                        (ii)        Conference.

                        (iii)       Announcement of results.

(iv)         Dispersal.

INTERVIEWS:- Interviews are normally conducted in the afternoon by the interviewing officer. The interviews will carry on from day 1 to day 4. You will be interviewed only once and will be informed about it well in advance. The atmosphere throughout the interview is relaxed and informal. The questions are generally based on your everyday experience.

It is important that you understand that failure to clear the SSB interview is no reflection of your abilities. You could do exceptionally well in other professions. In fact, qualifying for the SSB itself means that we shortlisted you amongst the thousands.

For more info click the video link:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCIcbbXpda879qFaYUuP4rXlKY2ut6x1z-U77p6N3wdil9rVvQiWxZ0g8VGMN3gEil1GYDc4VgiE7cmpf_NPn5UIQktl6LP8NwGV9O9_Ev_mxuFS56_2Sj64f0RfV0zOklbgzP102gYrw/s200/personal+interview2.png