342 complete training at OTA; commissioned as officers in Indian Army

Homemaker Rigzin Ladol and her retired teacher and husband Tundup Tsering from Zanskar district of the Union territory of Ladakh stood proudly next to their 24-year-old daughter Stanzin Tsangyang at the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai on Saturday morning. Their daughter had completed her training and was commissioned into the Army as a Lieutenant.

Lt. Stanzin Tsangyang was among the 342 persons who completed their training and were commissioned as officers during the Passing Out Parade (POP) at the OTA. “I was interested in sports, and I was in the NCC during my college days. I was interested in joining the Army,” says the engineering graduate. “She is the first from my family to join the Army,” says her father Mr. Tsering.

Like Ms. Tsangyang, Lt. Ritika Dubey from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh is the first from her family to join the Armed forces. There were also Lieutenants Mohit Arora, Prashant Gurung, and M.R. Raswanth, who had followed their family’s tradition of serving in the Army. Besides, 17 cadets from friendly foreign countries such as Bhutan, Eswatini, Lesotho, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe also completed their training on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, Chief of the Naval Staff, reviewed the parade in Parameswaran Drill Square. During his speech, Mr. Swaminathan said: “Courage is a muscle. It strengthens every time you use it. Whether physical or moral, courage more often than not, means the ability to stand alone to your convictions. It cannot be downloaded in a crisis; it is built and engrained over time in the small choices we make every day.”

The character of warfare might have changed in many ways but fundamentally, war remained a profoundly human endeavour, said the Chief of the Naval Staff. “Combat operations may see new weapons being used across new domains, but their outcomes shall continue to be determined by the men and women who fight, lead, inspire, persist, and persevere.”

He presented the prestigious ‘Sword of Honour’ and Bronze Medal to Battalion Under Officer Gurkeerat Singh Hora, OTA Gold Medal to Academy Under Officer Abhinab Chauhan, and Silver Medal to Academy Cadet Adjutant Niket Singh Tomar.