Vadodara: Asit Mistry, only the third of Gujarat who rises to the rank of Lieutenant General, will be respected with Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM), awarded service distinguished.
Mistry, who comes from Vadodara, will be served a medal by President of RAM Nath Kovind at the Investiture ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Monday.
Previously, General Rajendrasinhji Jadeja, former head of the Indian army commander and Lieutenant General Mahipatsinh Jadeja was the only other Gujarati officer to rise to the rank of Lieutenant General.
Senior officers, who retired from service last month, have joined Rashtriya Raksha University, Gandhinagar as Director of School of Internal Security, Defense & Strategic Studies and will settle in Ahmedabad.
While in service, his final role was the commander of the National Defense Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla, known as the birthplace of military leadership.
In Nda he oversees the training of nearly 2,000 young cadets.
He also became a colonel of mild maratha infantry regimens.
During his military career which stretched nearly four decades, he had pocketed three other leading service awards – Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Sena Medal and Vishisht Seva – In addition to the praise of the Army Chief of Staff and Commander Commander General.
He was given a coveted PVSM at night 72 days.
Born in Vadodara, Mistry, 60, did his initial school in an experimental school.
From a very young age, he had seen his views to join the Army and joined the Sainik School in Balachadi in 1972.
He was chosen for NDA, Khadakwasla in 1978 and was assigned to 12 Infantry Maratha Light in 1982.
He was the first officer to be assigned to the infantry which he then ordered.
Heaven Staff Soft College and Command Command, Mistry has a master’s degree in defense studies from Madras University and Mphil from Devi Ahilyabai Vishwavidyalaya, Indore.
During his long military career, Mistry had varied and challenging tasks starting from the post of frozen drass and Siachen Glacier for operations of active and counter-terrorists in Assam and Kashmir Jammair.
As a young captain, he served as the commander of the team at the National Security Guard, better known as black cats.
He had extensive experience of the UN peace maintenance mission and was a UN military observer in Liberia in 1996-97 and the deputy commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan in 2012-14.
Back home, he had led the Republican Day Parade in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and two independence parades in 2018 and 2019.
Lieutenant General married Mira Mistry.
Fixing her legacy, their only son, Major Shrey Mistry, has also joined the Indian Army and the same unit.