Surgeon

Vice Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

(

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

) Punita Arora

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of India. It is the highest peacetime medal of the Indian Armed Forces, and is awarded for "dist ...

, SM, VSM is a former

Flag Officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which that officer exercises command. Different countries use the term "flag officer" in different ways: * ...

of the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

and the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

. Arora was the first woman in the

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the armed forces, military forces of the India, Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, and the Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Ar ...

to be promoted to a

Three-star rank Military star ranking is military terminology, used in mainly English speaking countries, to describe general and flag officers. Within NATO's armed forces, the stars are equal to OF-6–10. Star ranking One-star A one-star rank is usual ...

. She held the ranks of

in the

and Surgeon

in the

Early life

She was born into a

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

family which hails from

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

. When she was only one-year-old, her family moved to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

during partition and got settled in

Saharanpur Saharanpur is a city and a Municipal corporation (India), municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the public administration, administrative headquarters of Saharanpur district. Saharanpur city's name was given after the Sain ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

Education

She studied in Sophia School in

till 8th grade. After that she moved to Guru Nanak Girls Inter-College. In 11th standard while getting admitted to Government school for boys she decided to take

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

as a career. She joined

Armed Forces Medical College, Pune upright=1.1, AFMC main building The Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) is a leading medical school in Pune, India, in the state of Maharashtra. The college is managed by the Indian Armed Forces. Established in May 1948 as a post-graduate t ...

in 1963 which was the second batch of the AFMC and she turned out to be the topper of that batch.

Career

Punita Arora was commissioned in January 1968. Before becoming Surgeon Vice Admiral of Indian Navy she was

Commandant Commandant ( or ; ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ...

of AFMC. She took the charge of commandant of Armed Forces Medical College on 1 September 2004 thereafter becoming the first woman officer to command the medical college. Before that she was co-ordinating Medical Research of the armed forces at the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

headquarters as additional director-general of Armed Forces Medical Services (Medical Research). She moved from the Army to the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

as the AFMS has a common pool which allows officers to migrate from one service to another depending on the requirement.

Awards and medals

She has been awarded with 15 medals in her 36 years of career in Indian Armed Forces. *

Vishisht Seva Medal The Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM, ) is a decoration of the Indian Armed Forces. It is awarded to recognize "distinguished service of a high order" to all ranks of the Indian Armed Forces. From 1980, the Yudh Seva Medal was introduced to recognize ex ...

for providing efficient and timely help to victims of the Kaluchak massacre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arora, Punita Indian Army personnel Female generals of the Indian Army Female admirals of the Indian Navy Living people 1946 births Women in 21st-century warfare Women in war 1945–1999 Indian female military personnel Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Sena Medal Recipients of the Vishisht Seva Medal Armed Forces Medical Services officers

Early life

Education

Career

Awards and medals

See also

References