Gunjan Saxena, an example of courage, patience, and determination, proved that the assessment of courage is not based on gender. During the Kargil war, she fearlessly flew a Cheetah helicopter in the war zone. Pakistani soldiers were continuously attacking with rocket launchers and bullets. Missiles were also fired at their aircraft but the target was missed and they narrowly escaped. Without any weapon, she fought the Pakistani soldiers and rescued many soldiers from there.
47-year-old Gunjan is now retired. She is known as Kargil Girl. Gunjan is the woman who proved on the sting that women can not only become pilots but also prove their mettle on the battlefield.
At the age of five, Gujan had seen the cockpit for the first time and had decided that one day she would fly a fighter jet for the country. Gunjan Saxena's father and brother were also in the army. She has done her graduation from Hansraj College, University of Delhi. During that time she applied for the recruitment of women pilots and joined the Air Force after passing SSB.
17 years ago, women in the Air Force were not given full commission like today, but through short service commissions, they got a chance to serve the country only for 7 years. In such a situation, Gunjan Saxena, belonging to a military family, was among the 25 trainee pilots who got a chance to join the first batch of the Indian Air Force in 1994. All she needed was a chance to prove her mettle which she got during the Kargil War in 1999. During the war, when the Indian Army needed a pilot, Gunjan and Sri Vidya were sent to the war zone. To complete her mission, she also flew very close to the Line of Control many times so that the position of Pakistani soldiers could be detected.
The cheetah helicopter has nothing in front of enemy guns and missiles as it is unarmed. In such a situation, she had nothing for self-defense. But she flew many sorties in the dangerous area of North Kashmir without caring for her life. In that area, Pak soldiers were targeting the helicopters and aircraft of the Airforce with bullets and missiles on sight.
In the name of self-defense, Gunjan had only an INSAS rifle and a revolver, which she had to use if her chopper crashed in enemy territory. During this, she had only one aim how to take the injured soldiers to the hospital as soon as possible and these injured soldiers were also maintaining this spirit of them.
Indeed Gunjan not only proved that she is a true soldier of the country, but she also showed the world what women can do. Now women pilots can also fly fighter planes in the Indian Air Force and the credit goes somewhere to courageous IAF pilots like Gunjan Saxena.
Honored with Shaurya Chakra
However, seeing her courage and bravery as a chopper pilot, she was also awarded the Shaurya Vir Chakra. She also became the first woman to receive such an honor from the military.
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