When we don uniform, there is no gender difference: Women Army officers

PTI, Mar 8, 2022, 8:15 AM IST

Image source: Agencies

New Delhi: Fondly recalling her cadet days at the Officers Training Academy in Chennai, Army officer Lt Col Shikha Mehrotra said the rigorous training at the academy coupled with the spirit of camaraderie taught her a valuable life lesson — when a soldier dons a uniform, the gender difference dissolves.

”We all used to wake up in the morning, men and women cadets, and train hard. We performed our drills with the same enthusiasm and had the same passion to serve our country. When we trained, we trained just as cadets, not as male or female cadets,” she reminisced.

On the eve of International Women’s Day, a group of Army officers, young and experienced, with multiple accomplishments over the years shared their stories during an interaction held in the lawns of the South Block here on Monday.

Besides Vadodara-born Lt Col Mehrotra, who is an expert in satellite imagery interpretation and commissioned in 2005 after graduating from OTA in Chennai, other achievers from the Army included two Mt Everest summiteers, a recipient of the ‘Sword of Honour’ from OTA, an ace skydiver and a Limca Book of Records holder.

Lt Col Anila Khatri, who has been serving in the Army for 15 years, said the beauty of armed forces is that ”everyone is treated equally, and merit and hard work are the factors that decide the growth of people who join it”.

”On Women’s Day, people are asking us how does it feel to be a woman officer and the challenges (we have) faced. But for us, a soldier’s identity is gender-neutral. There are no male or female soldiers per se as when we wear our olive-green uniform, we are just soldiers. And that’s how I see it too,” she said.

Delhi native Khatri, who according to information shared by the Army, is ”the only woman officer Indian Army to qualify as a demo-jumper in skydiving,” asserted that ”women don’t have to carry the burden of proving themselves equal or better than men all the time, they should just live their passions and work hard to make it a reality”.

Captain Preeti Choudhary, the youngest among them and commissioned in the Army three years ago, said, it was her ”childhood dream to wear an Army uniform”.

Recipient of ‘Sword of Honour’, which is given to the best cadet graduating out of OTA, Panipat native Choudhary has more feathers in her cap as she was the crew commander of the upgraded Schilka weapon system during the Republic Day Parade 2021 and Army Day Parade 2021.

”When I wear my olive green uniform and look into the mirror every day, I feel very proud. And in the Army, we all are equal. This is what is inculcated in us irrespective of caste, creed, religion, and region or any other differences,” she said.

The young officer asserted that in the armed forces, ”a soldier or an officer is never a person and since training days, it is imbibed in us that we are always a team”.

”This beauty of togetherness is what makes the Army experience very special,” Choudhary added.

Asked if ego clashes may come in between two persons of the opposite gender, she said, ”In Army, we don’t salute a man or woman officer, we salute a rank and therefore, the ego doesn’t come into the picture”.

Major Kanika Singh, runner and para-jumper, who had a podium finish in Khardung La Challenge 2019, also shared her thoughts on the occasion and said, ”I never think, women were ever ‘abla’ (helpless), as we have the examples of formidable Maharani Laxmibai and our former prime minister (Indira Gandhi) who represent feminine strength.” ”And on Women’s Day, people may talk about equality for a day, but in the Army, every day is a women’s day as we all feel equal,” she said.

Lt Col Mehrotra also recounted her participation in the UN peacekeeping missions and Indo-US joint exercise Yudh Abhyas 2021 in Alaska, US.

”Women may have role models but ultimately they have to motivate themselves and find that fire within, whether they seek a career in armed forces or elsewhere. And if they have dreams and talent, nothing can stop them,” she said.