7th CPC Report : Indian Army is one of the largest professional volunteer land forces in the world
Cadres of Defence Forces Personnel : Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO)/ Other Ranks (OR)
Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO) and Other Ranks (OR) number 13.2 lakh across the three Services. JCOs/ORs can be broadly categorised in terms of their roles and skills. Roles
Army : With a strength of approximately 11 lakh, the Indian Army is one of the largest professional volunteer land forces in the world.
The cadre of the Army consists of:
i. Combat Arms (Armoured Corps, Artillery, Infantry and Mechanised Infantry)
ii. Combat Support Arms (Engineers and Signals)
iii. Specialised Cadres (AMC, ADC, RVC, AEC, CMP and APS)
iv. Logistic and Maintenance Services (ASC, AOC, EME and Pioneers).
Air Force : ‘Airmen’ comprise all ranks of combatants other than commissioned officers in the IAF. They perform a variety of functions ranging from aircrew duties on board helicopters and transport aircraft, maintenance of the most sophisticated and complex aircraft, radar, weapons and other equipment, secretariat and administrative duties involving maintenance of accounts of cash and stores, personnel documents, catering, discipline and medical care.
Navy : Every sailor is basically a seaman, irrespective of the branch to which he belongs or his trade specialisation. Seamanship duties comprise ship husbandry, hull maintenance, handling of small arms and ammunition, elementary store keeping, boat handling, firefighting, nuclear, biological and damage control as also first-aid, besides being proficient in a host of other seamanship activities such as anchor-work, rope-work, replenishment of fuel etc.
Skills
Every soldier is allotted a trade which becomes intrinsically linked to his subsequent career progression. There are numerous trades in the Army, Navy and Air Force. These have been grouped in two pay groups X and Y, as detailed in the table below:
| Services | Total Number of Trades and % age of Total Strength | |
| X | Y | |
| Army | 28 (2.58%) | 96 (97.42%) |
| Navy | 11 (12.00%) | 42 (88.00%) |
| Air Force | 23 (47.72%) | 28 (52.28%) |
The trades grouped under X require higher entry level qualification (Class XII). Entrants in group X also receive more intensive training. As against this entry level qualification for group Y is Class X only and the training.
In the past decades those who carried their personal belongings and reached at recruiting centre were sent to army training centres if considered fit. Later trend changed and those who didnot get any job other than defence forces started taking up army service. Now since around one & half decade youths making crowd infront of recruiting centres. I think this is happening due to rising unemployment and indeed certain changes and improvements have been made in the systems. But longtime exsistence in the army I feel still difficult for pbor and upto mojor level in th officer cadre. This is my personal views on this subject please.