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Reader J Kelley sent along this Indian Army recruiting film. I’ll be honest and admit I haven’t really paid much attention to the Indian Army.

The Indian Army actually counts its roots as the regiments of the East India Company’s private army, then as an adjunct of the British Empire’s army, and then, of course, post independence, as its own force.

The Indian Army is, not surprisingly, modeled mostly along British lines, in terms of organization and doctrine, not to mention uniforms.  But the Indian post-colonial flirtation with socialism, and its perceived need to avoid neo-colonialism, saw it acquire for many years mostly Soviet equipment. How that weird blend of Soviet equipment and British doctrine works is an open question.

It should be noted that the India Army is huge, with over 1.1 million active troops, and almost a million reservists. It has a genuine threat to national sovereignty, facing as it does both a belligerent Pakistan, and the similarly large Chinese Army.  The Indian Army also has a large internal security role, in addition to being the prime provider of Humanitarian Aid/Disaster Relief inside India.  It is an all volunteer force, the largest in the world.