A small girl would stand in awe of her father dressed elegantly in authoritative army uniform. Every morning, her combined emotions of “respect” and “wonder” for the uniform would draw her imagination closer to being one like her father. On the eve of International Women’s Day, in the lawns of the South Block, a group of women Army officers shared their stories during an interaction held with media. The Sunday Guardian talked to the youngest officer of the lot.
Captain Preeti Chaudhary, 26, from Binjhol village of Panipat, dressed in an olive green uniform manifesting the commitment of “reliability” and “obligation” had a thing glossed in her memories since her childhood, that one day she would be like her father. “My father being in Arm, I have seen him wearing the uniform since I was kid,” Chaudhary said.
Today, she is the youngest woman Army captain. Had been a best cadet graduating out of OTA. Recipient of “Sword of honour”.
And had also been a crew commander of upgraded Schilka weapon system during the Republic Day Parade 2021 and Army Day Parade 2021. Meanwhile, standing in the lawns, she depicted an aura of a firm lady born to defend the nation. “I feel very proud wearing this uniform,” Chaudhary said. Chaudhary’s best moment in her life has been an opportunity when she got the chance to represent her equipment at the Rajpath on Republic Day Parade she was placed as a mechanised crew commander. “That was a big opportunity I got and I went through it,” she added.
“Since my childhood, I wanted to be an army officer, I wanted to be part of defence forces, I liked talking about it and gradually as I got on in years, I got the exposure to understand what I was going to be a part of, so I pursued it wholeheartedly,” Chaudhary said.
Initially, after her graduation, Chaudhary had to clear the SSB to get to the academy. “A year in the academy was full of regressive training and needed both physical and mental robustness,” Chaudhary said.
Describing her time spent in training, Chaudhary said, “In the beginning, transforming body for the physical stress was a little difficult as I had never been in any sport before which I think could have set a better precedent for training.” She relishes the support of her instructors, who helped her grow, in all the spheres of Army activities. “We used to train religiously, executed all the exercises regularly, and on top of that, we would have camps, which helped us build our psyche on how to survive in uneasy places and actively set our momentum straight to deal with all the challenges in Army,” Chaudhary said.
“It’s not like one day you wake up and say that I have to join the defence services. One has to be firm and disciplined to take this decision. And once you have taken it, it is the way of life. If you want to come here, be bold enough, be ready with the challenges then only come here, otherwise just don’t come.”
Chaudhary vehemently gives the credit of her upbringing to her parents as she says that they have been supportive in all her endeavour, and believes she got the exposure to army life in her early age as her father had to move to different places in line of duty. “Moving to different places with my father was one of the reasons I could think of stepping out to pursue my career and achieve something in my life,” she said.
She recounts her journey passionately, “Luckily till now, there has been no such moment where I felt out of place, I have not had any such moment. I am blessed with the amazing unit and amazing people that I am working with.”
Chaudhary believes that the times are changing. “Earlier, parents wouldn’t like their daughters getting into army and that is why women wouldn’t join it. That is a reason why we see less number of women officers in the army, but now the times are different, people have started accepting it. To define the army in few words, this is a beautiful organisation irrespective of gender.”
The message Preeti Chaudhary has for the audience of The Sunday Guardian is, “Men who think women can’t make it in the Army should open their minds and stop being gender-biased. They should see functionality of a person while he or she performs a job, and not presume things based on gender.”