Army medal winners’ collective choice

PUNE: The medal winners at the National Defence Academy’s passing out parade come from different family backgrounds, but all of them have a common goal to pursue. That of joining the Indian Army.
Academy cadet captain Chandrakant Acharya, who won the gold medal for standing first overall, hails from Bhubaneswar in Odisha and is set to become a first generation army officer from his family.
“There couldn’t have been a better thing than the three years of training at the NDA and I feel really nice about the same,” he said. Constant interaction with course mates and guidance from instructors was a great learning experience, he said.
Acharya said, “I want to be a good armed forces officer and will join the army after my training at the finishing school.” The inspiration to join the NDA came from his mother and a cousin brother, who is already a part of the Indian armed forces, he added.
“My father is an assistant professor in botany and my family always supported and encouraged me to join the academy,” Acharya said.
Silver medallist academy cadet captain Hemant Poonia belongs to a family of teachers from Churu in Rajasthan. “Joining the NDA was natural as I was part of the Rashtriya Military School in Dehradun since standard VIII,” he said.
Poonia wants to be an infantry officer after his impending training at the India Military Academy. “The three years we spent at the NDA were full of hard work, but there is much more to come as we prepare to join the army,” he said.
For Poonia, his school is his role model. “It is all because of the efforts of the school teachers besides the instructors at the NDA that I have been able to achieve what I have today,” he said. “We do the training as we are told, but the real heroes are those who work behind the scene to transform us,” he added. Poonia is an avid cricket and hockey lover.
Bronze medal winner squadron cadet captain A S Dhatt from Dasuya in Punjab could have easily become a graduate in engineering, which was his first love. “There is no one in my family with a background of armed forces,” he said, pointing out that his father is an officer with the Punjab Police and mother a home-maker.
What prompted Dhatt to join the NDA was some sustained motivation from his uncle and support from his family members. “I am here only because they wanted me to be here and I have been able to achieve things because of their support,” he said. Dhatt has plans to join the infantry after his training at the IMA.