The women cadets of the OTA broke yet another glass ceiling, with five women cadets securing a commission in the Regt of Artillery – an elite combat support arm and significant force multiplier of the mighty Indian Army.
Since 1993, the Army has allowed the induction of female officers. They were initially selected under the “Special Entry Scheme” for a five-year term, which was later changed to Short Service Commission (SSC).
Women in the Army Education Corps and Judge Advocate General (JAG) streams were granted permanent commissions in 2008.
The Narendra Modi administration made the historic decision to give women permanent commissions in all ten of the branches where they are initially inducted for short service commissions, including signals, engineers, army aviation, army air defence, electronic and mechanical engineers, army service corps, army ordnance corps, and intelligence.
Women in combat roles
Definition of combat arms?
The term “combat arms” or “fighting arms” refers to a group of soldiers in the Armed Forces who engage in tactical ground warfare directly and directly influence the result of the war.
The infantry, artillery, and cavalry were known as combat arms because they carried out the majority of the fighting and helped decide the fate of battles in the past. Despite the fact that at the time, for reasons best known to them, artillery was at the forefront of the conflict, the British Army designated the artillery as the Combat Support Arm.
The Regiment of Artillery is said to be the second largest arm of the Indian Army, after the infantry. Artillery with its missiles, guns, mortars, rocket launchers and unmanned aerial vehicles is also described as an ‘Arm of Decision’.
With the Commissioning Board in respect of SSC-115 & SSC(W)- held at OTA Chennai on 22 Apr 2023, the women cadets of the Academy broke yet another glass ceiling, with five women cadets securing a commission in the Regt of Artillery – an elite combat support arm and significant force multiplier of the mighty Indian Army.
Even countries such as the US have only recently started inducting women in infantry combat roles.
