Indonesian Military Academy

The Military Academy (Indonesian: Akademi Militer or Akmil) is a military academy of the Indonesian Army, part of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Academy System or the AKABRI. Founded on the early stages of the Indonesian Revolutionary War and located in the city of Magelang in Central Java, its alumni forms a professional officer cadre for the army, with all Indonesian Army Chiefs of Staff since 1988 having graduated from Akmil.

History
In October 1945, several months after the Indonesian declaration of independence, then-Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Armed Forces Oerip Soemohardjo ordered the establishment of a military academy, which was called the Militaire Academie and was based in Yogyakarta. On the aftermath of a ceasefire with the Dutch armed forces in 1949, interest in the school dropped with only 9 cadets in Class 3 (1949 intake) compared to 200 in Class 2 (1946 intake), and the academy was closed in 1950 with remaining students sent to the Dutch Koninklijke Militaire Academie. In the following years, several army officer schools would pop out in Indonesia.

Partly in effort to transform a regional, guerilla force into a professional, national military, Army Chief of Staff Abdul Haris Nasution established the National Military Academy (Akademi Militer Nasional), which was officially opened on 11 November 1957 and included Mount Tidar in its premises within Magelang giving the academy its nickname of Lembah Tidar (Tidar Valley), modeled on the United States Military Academy. The first cadets to graduate from this new institution in 1960 was recognized as Class 4 and numbered 59 graduating officers. Soon in 1961, the Military Technological Academy (ATEKAD) based in Bandung was merged with the school and the cadets transferred to Magelang. Later, it was integrated with the Indonesian Naval Academy (Akademi Angkatan Laut), Air Force Academy (Akademi Angkatan Udara) and the Police Academy (Akademi Angkatan Kepolisian) to form the Indonesia National Armed Forces Academy System (AKABRI).

In 1984, reorganization of the armed forces resulted in the academy renamed to its current form, the Military Academy Magelang (Akademi Militer). The Taruna Nusantara high school, established in 1990 by Akmil alumni Try Sutrisno and located just outside the military academy, was created in order to attract young talent to the academy. After the reformation and the removal of dwifungsi, the Police Academy was separated from AKABRI leaving Akmil, AAU, and AAL within the structure.

Recent developments
Starting in 2011, graduates of the academy were awarded a Bachelor's degree (in applied defence sciences, Indonesian: Sarjana Sains Terapan Pertahanan) along with other academies in AKABRI. In 2017, the academy had its first female graduates, among a graduating class of 225 cadets.

Curriculum
Just like so many military academies in the world, the INA Magelang is a medium-sized, highly residential baccalaureate college, with a full-time, four-year undergraduate program that emphasizes instruction in the arts, sciences, and professions with a graduate program, preparing men and women to take on the challenge of being officers of the Indonesian Army. The academy is accredited by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education. Cadets who passed the initial selection process will first attend a 1-year basic program with students from the Air Force, Naval and Police academies, prior to 3 more years of specialized study in the Magelang campus.

Undergraduate program - academic
The academic program consists of a structured core of subjects depending on the cadet's chosen specialty as a future Army officer, balanced between the arts and sciences. Regardless of major, all cadets graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Undergraduate program - military
As all cadets are commissioned as second lieutenants upon graduation, military and leadership education is nested with academic instruction. Military training and discipline fall under the purview of the Office of the Vice Governor and Commandant of Cadets. Entering freshmen, or 4th class cadets, are referred to as New Cadets, and enter the academy on Reception Day (in September) to start off their military service training as future officers and are recognized as full cadets in a ceremony in January the following year alongside cadets from the other service branches and the National Police, where they receive ceremonial daggers. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th years of study, aside from the usual academic work, also involve specialty training in the combat arms of the Army in their respective combat training schools. Selected cadets are also selected for foreign exchange studies in the military academies of Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, the United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, among others.

The Academy also has links with military academies in the Asia-Pacific, the United States Military Academy and the Royal Military College of Canada and thus also has a sizable number of foreign exchange cadets who graduate as Second Lieutenants and with a bachelor's degree and thus return to their countries of origin to serve in their ground forces. Given its Dutch traditions as a former colonial territory the academy is also linked with the Koninklijke Militaire Academie in Breda, The Netherlands.

At the end of their final year, the cadets, after finishing their final exams, march out of the Academy fields in July in their graduation parade, and graduate within days in a national ceremony in Jakarta's Independence Palace, wherein the top Academy cadet receives his/her Second Lieutenant shoulder board, while the no.2 cadet of the academy recites with his/her fellow graduates the commissioned officers' oath of office.

Cadet life
Cadets are not referred to as freshmen, sophomores, juniors, or seniors. Instead they are officially called fourth class, third class, second class, and first class cadets, or generally as Taruna-Taruni Akmil (Cadets of the Academy) as a whole. As the national military college its cadets, male and female, come from all over Indonesia as well as foreign exchange cadets from many countries of the world.

The Corps of Cadets is officially organized as a full Regiment of Cadets with four battalions of 3 companies each. Today the Cadet Battalions are led by Cadet Sergeant Majors and Cadet Staff Sergeant Majors, similar to US service academies, until 2000 the Regiment was staffed with military personnel in keeping with the former Dutch practice leading the 4th class cadets. Given its current curriculum and the joint service training program being done by the fourth class cadets the Battalions are manned only by the third, second, and first class cadets in order of increasing precedence.

Ranks of the Corps

 * Prajurit Taruna (Cadet Private), 1st year (4 months)
 * Kopral Taruna (Cadet Corporal), 1st year (8 months)
 * Sersan Taruna (Cadet Sergeant), 2nd year, most academy cadets begin their studies in this rank after their joint service training the year before
 * Sersan Mayor Dua Taruna (Cadet Sergeant Major), 3rd year - held by platoon commanders
 * Sersan Mayor Satu Taruna (Cadet Staff Sergeant Major), 4th year - held by company and battalion commanders

Organization of the Regiment of Cadets

 * Regimental HQ
 * Commandant
 * Assistant Commandant
 * Command Sergeant Major
 * 1st to 4th Cadet Battalions
 * Support Battalion
 * Special Troops Battalion
 * Corps of Drums Canka Lokananta
 * Regimental Band of the Military Academy Magelang
 * Dependencies

Corps of Drums Canka Lokananta and Regimental Band of the Military Academy
The Corps of Drums "Canka Lokananta" (Drum Band Genderang Seruling "Canka Lokananta") and the Regimental Band of the Military Academy Magelang (Korps Music Upacara Akademi Militer) are the official military band and corps of drums, respectively, of the Indonesian Military Academy, having started in 1958 after the reopening of the Military Academy in its current Magelang campus, thus they are the senior premier musical representatives of the Indonesian Army. While the Band (composed of 30 musicians) is manned by active duty military personnel assigned to the academy, the Corps of Drums of around 200 drummers, fifers and trumpeters is manned by the officer cadets that are part of the Corps of Cadets. Both organizations fulfill all of the official musical requirements of the Academy, including military and patriotic ceremonies, public concerts, sporting events and radio and television broadcasts, as well as social activities for the Corps of Cadets, alumni of the academy and the entire community of Magelang. The Gita Bahana Nusantara Marching Band (GBNMB) of the Taruna Nusantara High School is affiliated to the Corps of Drums. While the Band is led by a Director of Music and a Bandmaster, the Corps of Drums is led by a Senior Drum Major and 4 Assistant Drum Majors.