Before he became known to the world as Sam Bahadur, Manekshaw was a doctor's son at a Nainital hill school who sat the army exam to spite his father. Before the parade ground at Khadakwasla carried his name, Arun Khetarpal was a schoolboy at Sanawar. Before Kargil, Vikram Batra was a nervous boy at a coaching academy near Chandigarh. This is the story of how India makes its officers: at the military college at Dehradun, at the Sainik Schools thrown open in 1961 because the officer corps had belonged to too few, in the NCC, and at the academies run by retired soldiers who could not stop serving.

So, you too can lace your boots and march in step with them!