I’ll speak about Indian army.

1. Extreme competition. Indian army is a dog eat dog world. There’s competition for everything, be it for staff college, UN Postings, instructional assignments or for def attache postings. Sometimes, this heavy competition can get unhealthy.
2. One bad senior, one bad acr. Your career will be spoiled forever, unless you have a Regimental Godfather, or have served on the staff of a top officer and managed to impress him.
3. If you’re from OTA, you’ll be somwhat looked down upon by exNDAs and IMA DEs. It’ll not be in your face, but sublte. Very less in quantity, but yes, it’ll be there. “ Which academy”- “OTA” -”Oh”
4. Having said point 3, let me tell the aspirants, it doesn’t matter which academy you pass from. All officers, irrespective of the academics are same and legally, everyone has the same promotional chances. No one will be discriminated for promotion on the basis of entry.
5. Inter-regimental rivalry amongst the various Infantry regiments.
6. “Mandalisation of the Army” as col Ajai Shukla puts it. Here vacancies for higher ranks and staff college are based on the size of the arm. Basically a quota system. Infantry, being the largest and Artillery being the second largest are the biggest benefactors. Armour, engineers and signals are the losers.
7. Usage of outdated machinery.
8. Buttering for promotions. Merit matters, but per se not much if you can be an average worker and in the good books of your Seniors.
9. Some officers really misuse the sahayak system. Its a shame. Such misuse wasnt prevalent in my father’s time. But now…?
10. Sometimes, but very rarely, your wife’s activities in AWWA can have a say in your Acr. Some commanders take it personally, if your wife isn’t particularly active in battalion/formation welfare activities. (Actually, the commander’s wife takes your wife’s actions personally and will complain to her husband who’ll then hold it against you). This depends Commander to commander. You can get screwed if you get such a petty commander but such jokers are a rarity, not the norm.
11. The 2nd biggest dark side – separation from your family. I miss my parents and my GF. As a kid, I didn’t see much of my father. Being from the Infantry, he had frequent field postings.
12. Biggest Dark side- Everyone takes you for granted. People would rather miss sridevi than my course mates who were matyred. When sridevi died, almost everyone in my WhatsApp contact list gave out status updates/stories. When a coursemate of mine got matyred a year ago, very less people cared.
13. When I remember Kapil Kundu and Ummer Fayaz, i remember their brilliant future which vanished into thin air, thanks to our ineffective bungling netas. When I remember Cols Mahadik and MN Rai Sir, i remember their children, who’ll have to grow up without a father. I also remember a friend of my grandfather. ( grandfather was an officer too!) This friend, despite being a war casualty in 1965 had to fight with the IDAS babus for his disability benefits. Mostly, you get apathy from babus. Politicians will say their sweet words, but will forget them within seconds, for we are not a votebank.
14. I also remember this. In 2014, Matyr Capt Debashish Sharma’s home was robbed. Amongst various things stolen was Capt Sharma’s Kriti Chakra, the award for which he had paid his life. Guess what happened when his distressed old mother went to police station and requested them to trace the late matyr’s medal? The police, demanded a bribe. Yes, you read it right, the police demanded a bribe to trace a matyr’s medal. Such a shame.
15. When one is posted in the field, his family will be forever scared and anxious. Prayers will forever be in their lips. I have seen my mother, anxious, her prayer time would be considerably longer when father would be in field.
16. But despite these dark sides, I feel, army is the best career for a adventure seeking, ambitious youth who wants to do his bit for the country. Although the babus are trying to downgrade the aukaad of the fauzis, the izzat they command will never diminish. I would like to quote, “ What’s a better way to die, than fighting fearful odds, for the ashes of his father and temples of his God”.