Captain Shiva Chauhan of the Corps of Engineers broke the glass ceiling and was posted at Kumar Post, located at an altitude of 15,632 feet on the Siachen Glacier – the world’s highest battlefield. This is the first time that a female army officer has been operationally deployed to an actual location on the Siachen Glacier. In the past, women officers were posted at the Siachen base camp, which is about 9,000 feet, as part of their regular posting with the unit.
The Leh-based Fire and Fury Corps tweeted a picture of a young officer from Kumar Post, saying it was “shattering the glass ceiling”.
‘Break the glass ceiling’
Captain Shiva Chauhan of Fire and Fury Sappers became the first woman to be operationally deployed at Kumar Post, after completing rigorous training, in the world’s highest battlefield #Siachen. #SuraSoi@PMOIndia @DefenceMinIndia @adgpi pic.twitter.com /nQbmJxvLQ4
— @firefycorps_IA (@firefycorps) January 3, 2023
Captain Chouhan from Rajasthan is a Bengal Engineer Officer. She completed her schooling in Udaipur and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from NJR Institute of Technology, Udaipur.
According to Army sources, she lost her father at the young age of 11 and was taken care of by her stay-at-home mother for her studies. Motivated to join the Indian Armed Forces since childhood, she showed unprecedented zeal during her training at the OTA in Chennai and was commissioned into the Engineer Regiment in May 2021, sources said.
Captain is the second rank for an army officer. Sources said that Chauhan has a rating field which is always one rank higher than his. Sources said she was inducted into the Siachen Glacier on January 2, 2023 and the team of engineers she led will be responsible for numerous combat engineering tasks and will be deployed at the site for a period of three months.
Sources explained that Kumar is the first such place on the Siachen Glacier. There are four positions on the way to the Post – Camp 1, Camp 2, Camp 3 and Camp 4 – that blast areas for soldiers before heading to their final location. Kumar Post is the headquarters of the Arctic Battalion.
While the Indian Navy and Air Force have opened up all arms of their services to women, including combat, the Army is yet to allow female officers in its true combat arm – the infantry. Sources said special arrangements have been made to accommodate a lone woman officer at Kumar Post.
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