Ex-ADC Major Sambyal details Special Forces probation ordeal

Major Rishabh Singh Sambyal (Retd.), former Aide-de-Camp to President Droupadi Murmu, described Special Forces training in a podcast with Raj Shamani. He said probation runs roughly 90 days in a cut-off, controlled-stress environment with sleepless nights and continuous missions. A 72-hour stress phase involves no rest, food or water, carrying logs, a 30 kg backpack and a diving tank drill. Sambyal moved from the Jat Regiment to 4 Para (Special Forces) and earned the Balidan Badge.

Written by AI from Hindustan Times — India · not yet reviewed by an editor · Published 23 Sept 2026, 3:28 pm IST

Source

Hindustan Times — India · read the original report ↗

#special forces#indian army#para sf#military training#rishabh sambyal

Desk check · compared with the source

What the desk checked (5)

Sambyal served as Aide-de-Camp to President Droupadi Murmu and took premature retirement from the Army. — Stated in source as fact; no document or official statement cited.
Special Forces probation lasts roughly 90 days with rigorous training and sleep deprivation. — Directly quoted from Sambyal in the podcast; he also references a Discovery documentary.
A 72-hour stress phase involves no rest, food or water, log carrying and a 30 kg backpack. — Attributed to Sambyal's quoted account; figures appear in source.
He served with 4 Para (Special Forces) and earned the Balidan Badge after the Jat Regiment. — Stated in source, attributed to his account; no service record cited.
Operation Mahadev was a response to the Pahalgam terror attack and a recent major Special Forces action. — Characterisation attributed to Sambyal; source gives no further corroboration.

Written by AI from Hindustan Times — India · not yet reviewed by an editor · How we use AI · Report an error

Analysts’ view opinion

AI Political Analyst

This reads as a military story, but its political value is not trivial. A former Special Forces officer who served as ADC to the President and was dubbed a social-media "national crush" is now describing the Balidan Badge, the 72-hour stress phase and Operation Mahadev on a podcast — content that widens an already strong public emotion around the armed forces and national security. The channel matters as much as the message: reaching young audiences through digital platforms is a different route of political influence than legacy media.

Public sentiment built around the army and Special Forces is a political resource any party can draw on; who converts it, and how, is the question to watch.
The reference to Operation Mahadev as the response to the Pahalgam attack pulls national security back into public conversation — a frame that generally works to the advantage of the incumbent side.
His service as ADC to the President lends institutional credibility to his words, while also raising a fair question about how close to public messaging someone who served near a constitutional office should sit.
Indian politics has a broad pattern of recruiting recognisable ex-officers with large followings, but this story states nothing about any such intent on his part.
Podcasts have become primary venues where political narratives form; military-experience storytelling arriving there shapes opinion with less adversarial journalistic filtering.

What to watch — Watch whether parties begin inviting popular ex-officer voices like this onto their campaign platforms, or whether the story stays purely in the inspirational-military-content lane.

The story establishes no political ambition, no party affiliation and no stated reason for Sambyal's premature retirement — all of that remains unproven.

Deep dive

Research brief · 8 facts · 5 dates · exam-ready

The brief

Context

Major Rishabh Singh Sambyal (Retd.), who served as Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to President Droupadi Murmu and became a social media sensation dubbed the internet's "national crush", recently took premature retirement from the Indian Army. Originally from Samba in Jammu, he served with the Jat Regiment before qualifying for the Special Forces with 4 Para (SF), where he earned the Balidan Badge. In a podcast with Raj Shamani, he described the roughly 90-day Special Forces probation, including a 72-hour stress phase and a diving tank drill, citing a Discovery documentary that had shown the procedure.

Key facts

Special Forces probation lasts roughly 90 days in a completely cut-off world under controlled stressful situations, with rigorous training, sleepless nights, tasks and missions.
Sambyal said candidates are barely allowed to sleep during the 90 days, being pushed to human limits to see if they break: "we are looking for a human who doesn't break."
The stress phase lasts 72 hours with no rest, no food and no water, with difficulty increasing every minute.
Tasks in the 72-hour phase include carrying logs on shoulders and a 30 kg backpack with weapons while walking continuously without water.
The diving tank drill involves instructors pressing down on the candidate's shoulders underwater and repeatedly pulling him up and pushing him back under.
Sambyal said initial resistance underwater lasts five to 10 minutes until muscles are completely exhausted.
Sambyal served with the elite Jat Regiment, then qualified for 4 Para (Special Forces) and earned the Balidan Badge, which he described as a symbol of sacrifice.
He cited Operation Mahadev, the revenge operation for the Pahalgam terror attack, as one of the recent biggest Special Forces actions.

Timeline

Before Special Forces selectionSambyal serves with the Jat Regiment, then qualifies for Special Forces and joins 4 Para (SF), earning the Balidan Badge.
A couple of years agoA Discovery documentary showing the Special Forces probation procedure is released; Sambyal cites it in the podcast.
Recent (date not stated in the source)Operation Mahadev, the revenge operation for the Pahalgam terror attack, carried out as a major Special Forces action.
RecentlySambyal takes premature retirement from the Indian Army after serving as ADC to President Droupadi Murmu.
RecentlySambyal details the probation ordeal in a podcast with Raj Shamani.

Who has a stake

Major Rishabh Singh Sambyal (Retd.) — Former ADC to the President and 4 Para (SF) officer; his account is the source of the disclosure on probation training.
Indian Army Special Forces / 4 Para (SF) — Their selection standards, probation methods and operational role come into public view.
President Droupadi Murmu — Sambyal served as her Aide-de-Camp, the role that brought him public attention.
Special Forces probationers and instructors — Probationers face the 90-day and 72-hour ordeal; instructors are described as highly skilled in taking candidates to their absolute limit.
Regular infantry and field commanders — Commanders call in Special Forces when regular infantry is not specially trained or equipped for a particular environment.
Raj Shamani (podcast host) and the public — The podcast platform through which a rare first-person account of SF probation reached a wide audience.

Why it matters

First-person accounts of Special Forces probation are rare, and Sambyal's description explains why selection is built around physical and psychological breaking points rather than skill alone — the stated aim is officers who can hold out under enemy torture. It also clarifies how Special Forces are employed: inserted by helicopter when terrorists hide or a situation exceeds regular infantry's training and equipment, as in Operation Mahadev.

UPSC angle

Prelims pointers

Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the President of India: Sambyal held this post under President Droupadi Murmu before premature retirement.
Balidan Badge: insignia of the Indian Army's Parachute (Special Forces) units, described by Sambyal as a symbol of sacrifice.
4 Para (Special Forces): the unit Sambyal served with after the Jat Regiment.
Special Forces probation: roughly 90 days; stress phase of 72 hours with no rest, food or water.
Load carried in the stress phase: 30 kg backpack with weapons, plus logs on shoulders.
Operation Mahadev: cited as the revenge operation for the Pahalgam terror attack and a recent major Special Forces action.

Mains framing

Sambyal's account illustrates that Special Forces selection in the Indian Army is designed less as a skills course and more as a deliberate search for psychological resilience: a roughly 90-day cut-off probation of sleep deprivation, continuous missions and controlled stress, culminating in a 72-hour phase without rest, food or water involving log carries, a 30 kg loaded backpack and a diving tank drill in which instructors repeatedly hold the candidate underwater. The stated rationale is operational — in real combat a captured officer will be tortured for secrets, so the force needs individuals who can hold out as long as possible, "a human who doesn't break". This shapes how such units are used: commanders insert them by helicopter when terrorists are hiding or when a situation exceeds what regular infantry is trained and equipped for, as in Operation Mahadev following the Pahalgam terror attack. The implications are twofold: extreme selection produces a small, high-capability pool for surgical tasks, but it also raises questions about attrition, retention and the human cost of such training — questions the source does not address. Any way forward must rest on evidence beyond this single testimony; the source does not state official Army policy on probation design or retention.

Key terms

Aide-de-Camp (ADC): A military officer attached to a high dignitary; Sambyal was ADC to President Droupadi Murmu.
Balidan Badge: Badge worn by Para (Special Forces) personnel; Sambyal calls it a symbol of the sacrifice of one's soul, earned through blood, sweat and sleepless nights.
4 Para (Special Forces): The Special Forces battalion Sambyal served with after qualifying out of the Jat Regiment.
Probation (Special Forces): Roughly 90-day selection phase in a cut-off, controlled-stress environment to assess whether a candidate breaks.
72-hour stress phase: Part of probation with no rest, food or water, increasing difficulty every minute, including the diving tank drill.
Operation Mahadev: Cited by Sambyal as the revenge operation for the Pahalgam terror attack and among the biggest recent Special Forces actions.

Practice questions

Special Forces selection emphasises psychological endurance over physical skill alone. Discuss with reference to the probation process described by serving and retired officers.
How are Special Forces units employed differently from regular infantry in counter-terrorism operations in India? Illustrate with recent examples.
What is the Balidan Badge, and what does it signify in the Indian Army's Parachute (Special Forces) units?

Grounded only in the source report — figures and dates are the source's, not inferred.

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