General
Vijay Kumar Singh PVSMParam Vishisht Seva Medal is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then till 1980, it was awarded in recognition to peace-time service of most exceptional order.-External links:...
,
AVSMAti Vishisht Seva Medal is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces....
,
YSMYudh Seva Medal is one of India's military decorations for Wartime Distinguished Service. It is awarded for a high degree of distinguished services in an operational context. "Operation context" includes times of war, conflict, or hostilities. The award is a Wartime equivalent of Vishisht Seva...
, ADC (born 10 May 1951) is the 26th General of the
Indian ArmyThe Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
and the current
Chief of Army StaffThe Chief of the Army Staff is the commander and usually the highest-ranking officer of the Indian Army. The position is abbreviated as COAS in Indian Army cables and communication....
of the
Indian ArmyThe Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
.
Early Life and education
Vijay Kumar Singh belongs to a
RajputA Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
family of Bapora village in
Bhiwani districtBhiwani district is one of the 21 districts of Haryana state in northern India. Bhiwani was created on 22 December 1972.The district headquarter is situated in Bhiwani town. The district occupies an area of . It is situated between 28.19 deg. & 29.05 deg. north latitudes and 75.26 deg. and 76.28...
of
HaryanaHaryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...
state. Singh is a third-generation officer. His father was a Colonel in the Indian Army and grandfather a senior Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO). General Singh did his schooling from,
Birla Public SchoolThe Birla Public School is a completely boarding, private school located in Pilani, Rajasthan, India. BPS was founded in 1944 by philanthropist and industrialist G D Birla. The school was founded by the Birla Educational Trust as a Montessori School under the able guidance of Dr. Maria...
,
PilaniPilani is a small town situated in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. It is in the Jhunjhunu district in Rajasthan, India. It notable for being the home of a large number of education institutes for its size.-Etymology:...
,
RajasthanRājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
.
Military career
General V K Singh was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion of The
Rajput RegimentThe Rajput Regiment is a regiment in the Indian Army that is composed primarily of the Rajput clans from India. The British designated the Rajputs as a martial race and subsequently employed large numbers of these warriors in the British Indian Army....
(Kali Chindi) on 14 June 1970. He went on to command the same unit when it was positioned along the
Line of ControlThe term Line of Control refers to the military control line between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which, to this day, does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary but is the de facto border...
with
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
.
Singh graduated from the Defence Services Staff College as a honours graduate of the
United States Army Infantry SchoolThe United States Army Infantry School is located in Fort Benning, Georgia. It is made up of the following components:*192d Infantry Brigade...
, a graduate of the
Rangers CourseThe United States Army Ranger School is an intense 61-day combat leadership course oriented towards small-unit tactics. It has been called the "toughest combat course in the world" and "is the most physically and mentally demanding leadership school the Army has to offer". The course is conducted...
at
Fort BenningFort Benning is a United States Army post located southeast of the city of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama...
and the United States Army War College in
Carlisle, PennsylvaniaCarlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The name is traditionally pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2010 census, the borough...
. In the US for the Rangers course, he came first in combat operations.
General Singh is experienced in counter insurgency operations and high altitude operations. He has also has seen action in the
1971 Bangladesh warThe Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian, Bangladeshi and international sources consider the beginning of the war to be Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's December 3, 1971 pre-emptive strike on 11 Indian airbases...
. During his career he has served in various positions:
- Military Operations Directorate at the Army Headquarters.
- Brigadier General Staff of a Corps during 'Operation Parakram' when Indian troops were mobilised on the border in the wake of the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001.
- Commanded Ambala-based 2 Corps and Jalandhar based 11 Corps in Punjab state.
- Instructor in the Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT) headquarters in Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
.
General Singh was awarded the ”Ati Vishisht Seva Medal” (AVSM) for distinguished service while commanding a counter-insurgency force.
He became Chief of Army Staff on 31 March 2010.
Honours and Awards
On 11 March 2011, Singh was inducted into the United States Army War College (Class of 2001 graduate) International Fellows Hall of Fame. He is the 33rd International Fellow and the first Indian Armed Forces officer to be inducted.
Popular culture
General Singh also has special appearance in the Hindi movie
Prahaar: The Final Attack-Movie plot:Peter D'Souza , wants to join the Indian Army . People have various views about it: His father John wants Peter to run their bakery after him, his fiancée Shirley wants him to marry her while his neighbour Kiran tells Peter to follow his heart. Peter leaves for the Army.Enter Major...
starring Nana Patekar.
Awards, decorations and badges
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Param Vishisht Seva Medal Param Vishisht Seva Medal is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then till 1980, it was awarded in recognition to peace-time service of most exceptional order.-External links:...
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Ati Vishisht Seva MedalAti Vishisht Seva Medal is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces....
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Yudh Seva Medal Yudh Seva Medal is one of India's military decorations for Wartime Distinguished Service. It is awarded for a high degree of distinguished services in an operational context. "Operation context" includes times of war, conflict, or hostilities. The award is a Wartime equivalent of Vishisht Seva...
for his distinguished service during Operation PawanOperation Pawan was the codename assigned to the operation by the Indian Peace Keeping Force to take control of Jaffna from the LTTE , in late 1987 to enforce the disarmament of the LTTE as a part of the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord...
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Ranger TabThe Ranger Tab is a service school military decoration of the United States Army signifying completion of the 61-day long Ranger School course in small-unit infantry combat tactics in woodland, mountain, and swamp operations. In December 2009 a British NCO earned the Ranger tab...
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External links