Because of his Swiss citizenship, Jyoti Guptara was drafted into the Swiss Armed Forces.  After scoring high marks in his recruitment tests and being awarded with the Sports Distinction, Jyoti trained in Thun with the Armoured Grenadiers (Panzergrenadier), one of the nation’s toughest units. Upon withdrawing for medical reasons, Guptara decided to do civilian service instead of switching to a less challenging unit.

Jyoti’s military service lasted from June to August 2009, during which time he wrote a weekly column for Tages-Anzeiger, Switzerland’s largest subscribed daily newspaper, about the experience of being an intellectual author in the boot camp of an elite strike force.