Be khatir hameen ism khudtoon ro artesh intekhab kardeen , artesh ro ehmiat medheen az sipah?
where are you from ? ,if I may know.
Good Persian trying, for a non native Persian speaking person.
And your answer, yes.
According to some sources, Iran's Army is oldest active military formation in the world.
My father, grandfather, great grandfather, great great grandfather, etc. ... Were in Army for years.
Also I served in the Army, too.
I like parallel organisation, too.
But there are some things a little hard to understand for a non Iranian person.
If you have access to Persian keyboard, look for genocide of Army generals and high ranking officers after 1979.
And also look for a video of Nakhoda Samadi that reacts to an Iranian movie called KIMIA.