Prof. Dr. Deepak Rao Conferred Honorary Rank in the Indian Territorial Army

Online, November 2, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Prof. Dr. Deepak Rao, MS Dhoni and Abhinav Bindra were pipped in by the Army Chief Gen VK Singh on November 1st, 2011. Deepak Rao commissioned as a Honorary Major in the Territorial Army and MS Dhoni and Abhinav Bindra have been commissioned as Honorary Lt Colonel.

Deepak Rao is the first Indian to specialise in modern Close Quarter Battle Training (CQB) and has imparted his expertise for 17 years to train soldiers from various Indian forces without compensation. He has also been an Instructor in Reflex Shooting and Deep Sea Diving. Despite his outstanding achievements he remains committed, selfless and has dedicated his life for Army as an organisation. For his yeomen service to the nation and specifically providing assistance to training of the Armed Forces in Close Quarter Battle and Advanced Commando Combat System, Dr Rao has been bestowed with the honour. Having authored books on Close Combat Ops which was distributed by the Home Minister of India P. Chidambaram, a Manual on Commando Unarmed Combat and a Handbook on Terrorism, he has also been appointed as Official Training Resource person by Ministry of Home Affairs. Under that directive he has imparted modern CQB training to various Indian State Police forces. He has always followed the ethos and culture of the Indian Army and has trained almost all elite forces of India:

• Infantry Battalions, Divisions, Corps & Commands
• Indian Army - Commando Wing, Para & Special Forces
• Indian Navy - Marine Commandos
• Indian Air Force - Garud Special Forces
• National Security Guard - Black Cats
• Academies - Army Officers Training Academy & National Police Academy
• Central Police Orgs - ITBP, BSF
• Major State & City Police Forces

Dr. Rao has also been awarded the [b]World Peace Award[/b] and multiple citations by Army Chiefs in 2001, 2005 and 2010 and Army Commanders in 2007 and 2008. He also received the Home Ministers Appreciation in 2009 and aims to continue his work in contributing to Indian forces.

All the three honorary officers have donned the Olive Greens and will be an inspiration to many youngsters of our Nation. As Brand Ambassadors of the Indian Army, they will strengthen the citizen-soldier bonds. Col (Honorary) Anil Habbu, Lt Col (Honorary) Kapil Dev and Lt Col (Honorary) Mohanlal are the other Honorary officers of the Territorial Army.