When Rishabh walked into OGC – Dehradun Defence Academy, there was no grand declaration, no certainty of what lay ahead. There was only a decision, to prepare for the AFCAT written examination and take the first honest step toward joining the Indian Air Force as an officer.
He didn’t arrive as the finished article. He arrived willing. And in this line of work, willing is where everything begins.
It Started With the Written Exam
Before there was an SSB story, there was written exam to conquer.
Rishabh credits the early shift to the environment itself, the disciplined, structured space the academy created and the steady guidance of the written-exam faculty who kept his preparation on track.
Consistency replaced guesswork. A clear strategy replaced scattered effort.
He said, “The disciplined environment and structured guidance helped me improve my consistency, knowledge, and preparation strategy.”
And the result followed. He cleared the written stage.
But as every aspirant eventually learns, the written exam only opens the door. What happens after you walk through it is the real test – SSB.
Thirty Seconds
The real transformation came once he moved into SSB training at SSBOG, the academy’s SSB wing, and it began with a moment Rishabh still remembers clearly.
His first lecturette.
He stepped up, started speaking, and within thirty seconds, the points ran out. The room waited. He had nothing left to say.
Rishabh Said, “I could barely speak for 30 seconds before running out of points.”
For someone aiming to lead, there are few feelings more exposing than a sentence that won’t finish. That moment could have become a wall. Instead, Rishabh made it a starting line.
Building a Voice, Piece by Piece
Confidence isn’t handed over. It’s constructed, slowly, deliberately, one corrected attempt at a time.
Rishabh didn’t try to fix everything at once. He worked on what was actually breaking down: his knowledge base, the organization of his content, and the structure of how he communicated an idea from start to finish
The thirty seconds became a minute. The minute became a confident, complete delivery in front of a group.
It wasn’t a sudden leap. It was a climb, the kind that only shows its full height when you look back down.
The People Who Pushed Him
No honest transformation happens alone, and Rishabh is the first to say so.
Special credit goes to his SSB mentors, Sashi Shekhar – SSB (INT.), Colonel Anupam (retd.) – SSB (GTO), and Col S Pande (retd.) – SSB (IO). Their constant feedback, encouragement, and discussions did far more than polish his technique, they enriched his personality. They kept pushing him to communicate better and to express his thoughts with greater clarity and confidence, refusing to let him settle for “good enough.”
“They continuously pushed me to communicate better and express my thoughts with greater clarity and confidence.”
He said that special credit for this improvement also goes to Aum Bakre and Ripudaman S. Chauhan.
Just as important was the company he kept. Alongside fellow candidates like Sarthak S. Tomar, P. Musadiq Syed, and many others, Rishabh found himself in a healthy, competitive environment where everyone lifted everyone else. The discussions, the practice sessions, the open exchange of ideas, all of it helped him spot his own shortcomings and work on them, day after day, without ego.
His only real competition, in the end, was the version of himself from the day before.
More Than an Exam
Ask Rishabh what he gained, and he won’t lead with a result. He’ll lead with who he became.
He said, “More than preparation for an examination, it became a journey of personal growth.”
More confident. More disciplined. More self-aware. More adaptable. These aren’t qualities you cram for the night before. They’re built, and they stay with you long after the board is over, in every room you’ll ever have to lead.
Rishabh didn’t just clear a stage. He earned one of the proudest milestones of his journey – a recommendation from 1 AFSB, Dehradun.
He found his voice, the one that ran out after thirty seconds, and turned it into something steady enough to lead with.
And for us at OGC – Dehradun Defence Academy and SSBOG, that is the whole point. Behind every confident lecturette, every assured answer, every recommendation, there is a quieter story of someone who decided to keep going when it would have been easier to stay silent.
To Rishabh, we are proud of you.
From thirty seconds of silence, to a voice that leads.
You didn’t just prepare for SSB. You prepared for life.
Read more Success Stories:
Baibhav’s Journey: Sixty Days, One Mindset, and a Quiet Rise to Recommendation
