Army chief Bipin Rawat asks armed forces to maintain integrity, not lose nation's trust

Hyderabad: Army chief Bipin Rawat on Saturday asked the armed forces to maintain high standards of integrity and not to lose the trust of the people of this country. “Integrity is the foundation of our military profession. If doubted, we may lose the trust of our society. If the society doesn’t trust its defence forces, it will be difficult for the nation to maintain its military and protect itself,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_3706989” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat. PTI[/caption] The chief of army staff was addressing the Combined Graduation Parade at the Air Force academy at Dundigal on Saturday. General Rawat reviewed the parade by 120 pilots and ground duty officers, including 25 women of the 199th batch at the Air Force academy. He called upon the officers to be alert in view of growing external threats and law and order situation in certain states. He advised them not to lose sight of the mission, which is defending the country. “Technology has changed the way wars are fought. But globalisation has brought these technologies close not only to our adversaries but also to the non-state actors,” he said. General Rawat gave away awards to flying officers who excelled in training. Flying Officer K Koushik received the Presidents’ plaque and also the chief of air staff sword of honour for standing first in overall merit in pilot course. Flying officer Bhupindra Singh and Flying officer B Lasya Vadana were awarded the Presidents’ plaque for being first in overall merit in navigation and ground duty branches respectively. At the “Pipping” ceremony, the flight cadets were given their stripes and they were administered an oath by the commandant of the academy Air Marshall Amit Tiwari. Another highlight of the parade was the breathtaking aerobatic display by Sarang, the helicopter aerobatic team of IAF, Suryakiran, Hawk aerobatic team, Chetak helicopter and PC 7 aircraft.