Born in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), Try graduated from the Army Technical Academy in 1959.

During his career, Try held the positions of Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Army (1986–1988) and Commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia (1988–1993).

His father then worked as a medical officer for the Poncowati Army Battalion, forcing Try to stop his schooling and make a living as a cigarette and newspaper seller.

[citation needed] At age 13, Try wanted to join the Poncowati Battalion and fight, but no one took him seriously, and he ended up being employed as a courier.

[citation needed] After graduating from high school, Try joined Army Technical Academy (Atekad) in 1956.

The rebellion was led by a group of separatists in Sumatra wishing to establish an alternative Government to that of President Sukarno's.

1984 would see the Government pass a law which required all organizations whether it be political or non-political to adopt the national ideology of Pancasila as the sole guiding principle (Azas Tunggal).

Hermanu, on an inspection run in North Jakarta, came across a mosque with leaflets which asked for women to wear the hijab.

This was a leaflet which encouraged Muslims who read it to defy the Government's policy of discouraging women from wearing the hijab.

Finally on 12 September 1984, the crowd at Tanjung Priok began attacking shops owned by Chinese Indonesians as well as going after the headquarters of the North Jakarta District Military Command (KODIM).

Try finally reached the pinnacle of his Military career in 1988, when he was appointed ABRI Commander to replace Moerdani.

Suharto was reportedly angry that he had been pre-empted by the armed forces[7] but did not want an open dispute with its delegation in the assembly.

Defense Minister Benny Moerdani was determined that ABRI would choose a vice president for Suharto in the 1993 MPR General Session.

He successfully kept Pepabri united as one under his Chairmanship despite the prevalent mood at the time that each branch of the Armed Forces gets their own veterans' union.

In August 2005, Try, together with Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Sukarnoputri, Wiranto, and Akbar Tanjung formed a forum called the National Awakening to Unity Movement (Gerakan Nusantara Bangkit Bersatu).

This forum criticized Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Government for its memorandum of understanding with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Try somewhat softened his stance with the Government after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla in September 2005.