Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Dragomirov ya shiga cikin sojojin soja a 1849, ya zama mataimakin laftanan a 1852 kuma laftanan a 1854. A cikin shekarar da ta gabata an zaɓe shi don yin karatu a Makarantar Nicholas (kwalejin ma'aikata), kuma a nan ya bambanta kansa sosai har ya sami lambar zinare, girmamawa wanda, kamar yadda aka bayyana, an ba da shi ga ɗalibin makarantar sau biyu kawai a cikin karni na 19. A shekara ta 1856, Dragomirov ya zama kyaftin din ma'aikata kuma a shekara ta 1858 ya zama cikakken kyaftin, an tura shi a shekarar da ta gabata don nazarin hanyoyin soja a cikin wasu ƙasashe. Ya ziyarci Faransa, Ingila, da Belgium, kuma ya rubuta rahotanni masu yawa game da koyarwa da sansanin motsa jiki na waɗannan ƙasashe a Châlons, Aldershot, da Beverloo. A shekara ta 1859, an haɗa shi da hedkwatar Sarkin Sardinia Victor Emmanuel II a lokacin yakin Magenta da Solferino, kuma nan da nan bayan dawowarsa Rasha an tura shi zuwa Kwalejin Nicholas a matsayin farfesa na dabaru. Dragomirov ya taka muhimmiyar rawa wajen sake tsarin tsarin ilimi na sojojin, kuma ya yi aiki a matsayin mai koyarwa ga wasu sarakunan gidan sarauta. Wannan mukamin ya rike har zuwa 1863, lokacin da, a matsayin laftanan Kanar, ya shiga cikin murkushe tawayen Poland na 1863-1864
, ya koma St. Petersburg a ƙarshen shekara a matsayin colonel da shugaban ma'aikata ga ɗaya daga cikin rukunin masu tsaron. A lokacin yakin Austro-Prussian na 1866, an haɗa Dragomirov da hedkwatar rundunar sojojin Prussian ta biyu. Ya kasance a cikin yaƙe-yaƙe a saman Elbe da kuma a Königgrätz, kuma maganganunsa game da ayyukan da ya shaida suna da babbar daraja ga ɗaliban dabaru da yaƙin 1866.