Captain

Ruchi Sharma
AllegianceIndia India
Service/branch Indian Army
Rank Captain
UnitArmy Ordnance Corps
Parachute Regiment
Awards
  • Presidents Gold Medal
  • General Oberoi Trophy

Captain Ruchi Sharma is a former paratrooper in the Indian Army. She retired from the Army in 2003 and is now an educationist.

Life

Ruchi Sharma was a 1995 batch science student of Mehr Chand Mahajan DAV College for Women.[1] Both Sharma and her father, an Indian Army officer, are alumni of Officers’ Training Academy, Chennai.[2] Sharma joined the army in 1996[lower-alpha 1], when she was 20 years old,[3] as a Short Service Commission officer and was commissioned to the Army Ordnance Corps.[4] She volunteered to become a paratrooper.[5] In an interview to Femina magazine she remembers that during training they were made to jog for 40 km with a 10 kg load.[6] Her first jump was in 1997.[6] About her first jump she says, "The first jump is like your first love"; in an Indian Express article she is quoted saying, "I was screaming my parents' names, telling them that I love them,” and adding, "but when I landed, my 'ustad' burst my bubble saying the enemy will know my position if I screamed so much everytime I jumped."[1] Sharma went on to earn the maroon beret and serve in areas such as Ladakh.[5] In 1999, she won the "General Oberoi Trophy" for "Best Women Adventurer" from her corps, and later on went on to be awarded the "Presidents Gold Medal".[5]

Captain Sharma retired in 2003. She says that if the policy of permanent commission for women had been there back in her days, she would have opted for it.[7] In 2020, on the occasion of International Women's Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s made a social media appeal to bring forward inspirational stories.[2] One of the stories was highlighted was that of Captain Ruchi Sharma.[2] In 2003 she left the forces so as to be able to look after her daughter.[1] Ruchi Sharma, now an educationist,[7] is married to an army officer, and they have a daughter.[1]

Notes

  1. ↑ Only 4 years prior had Indian women been allowed in combat roles on an "experimental basis"[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Mukherjee, Oindrila (2018-03-01). "First jump is like first love, exciting and exhilarating: Capt (Retd) Sharma". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  2. 1 2 3 "Meet Captain Ruchi Sharma, India's first female operational paratrooper". Moneycontrol. 11 March 2020. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  3. 1 2 Ganapathy, Nirmala (2020-02-14). "Barred from combat roles, Indian women seek greater role in army". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  4. ↑ Jain, Sanya (6 March 2020). "Meet Captain Ruchi Sharma, The First Operational Paratrooper Of Indian Army". NDTV. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  5. 1 2 3 "Ruchi Sharma- First operational woman Paratrooper". The SME Times. 2018-01-20. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  6. 1 2 Rathod, Kalwyna (24 June 2020). "#IndiaSalutes: Captain Ruchi Sharma, Indian Army's First Female Paratrooper". Femina. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
  7. 1 2 Banerjee, Ajay (23 February 2020). "First woman paratrooper would have opted for PC". Tribune India. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
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