LT GEN ARVIND WALIA APPOINTED CHIEF OF STAFF OF SOUTHERN COMMAND

Lieutenant General Arvind Walia assumed the appointment of Chief of Staff at Headquarters Southern Command, Pune with a solemn wreath laying ceremony to honour the fallen soldiers at the National War Memorial, Pune. The General Officer is an alumnus of Indian Military Academy, Dehradun where he received the prestigious Silver Medal.

An officer of December 1986 seniority of the Corps of Engineers, Lt General Arvind Walia has a comprehensive and well rounded operational experience through varied command and staff appointments during his distinguished military career. He has commanded an independent squadron in the desert sector, his Regiment in Jammu and Kashmir and an Engineer Brigade along the western front, besides commanding the MEG and Centre at Bengaluru.

He is a graduate of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, College of Defence Management, Secunderabad and the prestigious National Defence College at New Delhi.The General Officer has excelled in all courses of instruction of the Indian Army. His academic qualifications include BE (Hons), Civil Engineering from BITS Pilani, MSC Def and Strategic Studies from Madras University, Master of Management Studies from Osmania University and M Phil from both Osmania University & Madras University. He has been an instructor at College of Defence Management, Secunderabad and National Defence College, Delhi.

He has held prestigious staff appointments including Brigade Major of a Mountain Brigade, Director in Engineer-in-Chief’s Branch at Integrated Headquarters of MoD (Army), Brig Q in a Strike Corps and Chief Engineer of a Command. The General Officer and his wife, Mrs Anita Walia were accorded a warm welcome by the military officials at Pune.

SOUTHERN ARMY COMMANDER VISITS SHIVNERI BRIGADE

Lt Gen J.S. Nain, GOC-in-C Southern Command visited Shivneri Brigade. The General Officer inspected the Foreign Training Node Infrastructure and was briefed on the modalities of conduct of forthcoming Foreign Training Exercises. He interacted with troops & exhorted them to maintain a high level of combat readiness. He also complimented the formation for its efforts in recently concluded OP VARSHA 21 wherein nearly 2,300 people were evacuated and provided medical aid.

The General Officer laid emphasis on operational effectiveness, tri-services synergy and cooperation with sister services to gain a holistic picture of the situation for a better and effective response to any contingency. He further highlighted the requirement of integrated training to enhance the capability to fight effectively. He motivated all ranks to keep working hard and maintain a high level of operational readiness.