"I would like to start this journey with a quote: "Never let anything stop you."

     I'm writing this after 7 attempts (3 screened outs, 2 conference outs, 1 Merit Out, and 1 Merit In). I gave my first attempt with knowledge gathered from YouTube, which supported me in screening in but not in recommendation. I hesitated to seek guidance, thinking I could figure it out myself. By that time, my good friend Saravana Subha (Air 100 - AFCAT) had just completed his training under Col. Balasubramanian sir. He urged me to converse with sir. The very first call changed my view on seeking guidance. Sir enquired about my previous attempts and pointed out that I had shown less confidence, which I hadn't recognized myself. Then, I received guidance from Col. sir. The practice sets and questions raised by him made me explore more within myself to find answers. Sir's life mantra is the best knowledge that anyone can get. Following these rules made us feel more like high-valued humans. Initially, I was not able to completely adapt to the rules, so I was faking them in writing SRTs. I was still conference out in my 4th attempt. That's when Capt. Mohan Kumar sir, who was also guiding us, asked us to embody the rules. This was an eye-opener, and I started living like an Officer to become one. These were the words I said to my interviewing officer in my 5th attempt at 24 SSB Bangalore, which he repeated in our final briefing and smiled at me. I got recommended but was merit out, even though my rank was 5 as the vacancy was only 3.

     But this time, too, I didn't completely adapt to some rules. Seeing my rank, I strongly believed in the value of the rules sir gave us. In my next attempt, I got screened out in the Navy, where I learned a lot about PPDT. Then came my 7th attempt at 22 SSB Bhopal, where I had completely adapted to sir's rules and was ready to bounce back even higher. After getting screened in, I remembered the wish I had after getting conference out twice from Bhopal: "I would surely get recommended only from Bhopal and get into the forces." Self-motivation was always at its highest as I had great people around me. I enjoyed writing psych even though I was shivering in the cold. My psych reflected my life events, justifying my PIQ. I answered all WAT, answered 56/60 SRTs, and my SD was very natural.

     During my interview, I was bold enough to oppose some points of the interviewing officer. My intention was not to oppose him, but some statements made by him were not acceptable to me. I remained as I am. GTO days were rainy, but still, we did every task. We had a trainee GTO, senior GTO, and one more elderly person along with them. This time, I did convince my team in GPE, which most of them wouldn't agree with our rules. During my GOR, I highly motivated my team with a war cry and supported my team as much as I could. During the penalty of GOR, most of our teammates were tired, including me. As we were asked to run around obstacles and return, I found one teammate unable to run and coming behind. I immediately reached her, held her, and pulled her along, completing my task. This was a good memory of that attempt. During my command task, I was put under high pressure, where they asked me to work out 3 solutions for every obstacle. Our trainee GTO even yelled and threw his pen away. I remained calm and slowly found every solution.

      During my conference, I was happy to see the elderly person sitting in front as the President of the Board. The first question was, "What did you learn from this attempt?" I answered that I loved my command task, where I got a chance to experiment with the usage of the ring on different structures, which brought a smile to his face. Then my second learning was in my interview, where my curiosity was triggered to learn even more. Shortest conference ever in my history, which gave me a 2nd recommendation.

     Above the recommendation, one best memory to cherish was during my medicals, our senior GTO came to me and said that I had performed exceptionally well, which made me shocked. This shock turned to happiness when I saw my name at AIR 1 of the civil department for SSCW tech courses.

     Some tips from my side will be:

1. Be 100% aware about your PIQ and SD. This was a very important thing learned from Sir.

2. Your Psych should reflect your PIQ. You should act as what your psych was. To Do this simply start following sir's rules.

3. Form team, Practise a lot, Self-introspect

4. When you recognize you are lacking in something then immediately improve.

5. Have Self Confidence in yourself.

     Success reached me through learning from my failures. The path I came across had all ups and downs. The only thing that supported me in this journey to prove myself were the words from my relatives and surroundings: "You can't and you won't." I collected the stones thrown at me to build my success with continual improvement and trust in the process. One day or another, you'll reach your goal as well. All I could say is "Be Genuine, Keep Trying and Improving, having confidence in yourself." All the Best. Jai Hind.

PROFILE

NAME: KOUSALYA J

DEGREE : BE (CIVIL)

LOCATION: SIVAGANGA, Tamil Nadu

COURSE: ARMY SSCW TECH