Beyond the call of Duty.

We must understand what is duty,before looking into "Beyond the call of Duty "

               The term "Duty " gains extra importance in Army service as offences and punishments are clearely defind in the Army act.So generally one can find more cases of performing  "Beyond the call of duty "

              People might not have forgotten the "Pulwama "attack.On 18 Feb 2019 the Pakistan supported terrorists had used a car Bomb to blow off one C R P F veh,in a convoy killing 40 personnel.The Prime minister directed the Army to do the needfull.It was decided to destroy the terrorist camps at Balakot,The Indian Airforce of western Air Command took up the challenge.

                Air Marshal Hari kumar,the then AOC-in C western Air Command was given the task to retalite and destroy the Terrorist camps.The operation code named "Bandar "was meticulously planned with super security.

             At 0115 hrs on 26 Feb 2019,20 fully armed aircrafts took off from Gwalior Airfield.Six of them were armed with Spice 2000 and crystal maze missiles.The Aircrafts first flew towards Bareilly,then headed for J &K,crossed LOC at 30,000 feet altitude to avoid Pak Radar detection.At the same time a decoy operation towards Bhawalpur was launched. The Indian Air convoy safely returned after 21 minutes,destroying maximum training camps of the terrorists.

                    Indian Air space was put high security alert as retaliation from Pakistan was expected.Sqn Ldr Minty Agarwal was on duty.

       A brilliant officer ,Minty Agarwal ,air traffic controller  was very alert in screening the Pak air space and observed unusual Air activities in Pakistan.She rightly alerted Indian Pilots.In Pakistan,28 Aircrafts took off to attack Indian bases.But they were rightly intercepted and driven back.

                    Wing commander Abhinandan who was flying an indian Mirage chased the Pak F-16 and shot,bringing down the aircraft.But unfortunetly his Aircraft was hit by an anti air craft gun and Abhinandan baled out.He was cought by Pakistani villagers and handed over to their military.At the same time the F-16 which was hit by Abhinandan also crashed and that pilot was killed by his own people in a mistaken idendity. Abhinandan later on was released through diplomatic channel.

                  The whole scenario was seen by the Air traffic controller Sqn Ldr Minty Agarwal.Both Abhinandan and Minty Agarwal were honoured by the President of India on 15 Aug 2019.Abhinandan was awarded Veerchakra,while Minty Agarwal was awarded Yudh Sewa Madal.  

War scenario does not differentiate gender difference but acknoledges the skill.Sqn Ldr Minty Agarwal has done proud to the Nation.She became the first women in Indian history to win a bravery award.