Wiranto graduated from the Indonesian Military Academy in 1968 and spent the early part of his military career in North Sulawesi, far from the centers of power in Indonesia. There he worked his way up from being a Platoon Commander to a Battalion Commander in 1982. From there he worked in the Armed Forces headquarters (formerly known as ABRI HQ, or headquarters of the "Angkatan Bersenjata Republik Indonesia") for two years before joining the high-profile Kostrad (a corp-level and well-equipped command within the Indonesian armed forces) in 1985 as a Brigade Chief of Staff in East Java. In 1987, he was transferred to Jakarta where became Deputy Operations Assistant to the Kostrad Chief of Staff.