Key Points:
- “I could feel as if he was holding me and saying ‘yes, you did it’,” said lieutenant Nitika Kaul shortly after she was officially commissioned as an officer in the Indian Army, reported HT.
- The stars on Kaul’s Uniform were pipped by Lt General YK Joshi, chief of the Indian Army’s Northern Command and he congratulated her.
- Kaul and her husband were barely 10 months into their marriage before he lost his life and 6 months after his demise, Kaul decided to step into his shoes and be an Army woman and dedicate her life to the country.
Saturday was a day of glory and sentiments for the nation. On May 29, 198 cadets passed out of the Indian Army Officer’s Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai. Out of them was Lieutenant Nitika Kaul.
What is so emphasizing about her?
Kaul is the wife of an Army Hero of the country, Late Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal who lost his life fighting the Pulwama Terrorists in February 2019 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Kaul and her late husband were barely 10 months into their marriage before he lost his life and six months after his demise, Kaul decided to step into his shoes and be an Army woman and dedicate her life to the country. The couple was married in April 2018 and Major Vibhuti was to return home in April 2019 to celebrate their 1st anniversary. Unfortunately, on February 14, 2019, Major Dhoundiyal lost his life fighting terrorists in Pulwama. He was awarded Shaurya Chakra (posthumously) for his sacrifice for the nation.
Kaul opted to join the Indian Army under the Short Service Commission. Even though a termed category of the “War Widows” relaxes the age norm, the physical and mental and strategical training has no shortcuts.
Kaul went through the relentless, multi-disciplinary training regimen for a period of 11-months from June 2020 at the OTA in Chennai which is the only Army Centre of the Indian Army to train Women Officers. On Saturday, 198 cadets, our of which, 167 were Men and 31 were Women, Kaul was a part of it.
“I could feel as if he was holding me and saying ‘yes, you did it’,” said lieutenant Nitika Kaul shortly after she was officially commissioned as an officer in the Indian Army, reported HT.
The stars on Kaul’s Uniform were pipped by Lt General YK Joshi, chief of the Indian Army’s Northern Command and he congratulated her.
Kaul, after being an official officer, thanked her family and friends for being by her side for the decision she made.
