Lieutenant General Dalbir Singh Suhag took over as the next Chief of Army Staff here on Thursday, succeeding outgoing Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh. Lt. Gen Suhag, 59, a Gurkha officer who had participated in the 1987 Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) operation in Sri Lanka, will formally assume office on August 1.
He will have a tenure of 30 months as the 26th chief of army staff.
Lt. General Suhag joined the National Defence Academy in 1970 and was commissioned into the 4th battalion of the 5 Gorkha Rifles in June 1974. He is an alumnus of Sainik School, Chittorgarh. He was an instructor at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun and served as a company commander during Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka. He has commanded the 53 Infantry Brigade which was involved in counter insurgency operations in the Kashmir Valley from July 2003 to March 2005, and the 8 Mountain Division in Kargil from October 2007 to December 2008. He was also appointed as the Inspector General of the Special Frontier Force. He has completed various Indian and foreign courses including LDMC at College of Defence Management in 1997-98, National Defence College in 2006, Executive Course in USA in 2005 and Senior Mission Leaders Course (UN) in Kenya in 2007.
He will serve as the army chief for a tenure of two years and five months till December 31, 2016. He will be the second officer from the Gorkha Rifles to become the Army chief, after the late Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.